Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  May the incredible power and grace of God be overflowing upon all the individuals and families that are worshipping in the church, in their homes, and especially out of state.  When we face problems, we may shake, and my present state today may also be shaken because of the scars of my past.  We  may also shake because of the fear of an unknown future. Is that a strange thing? It’s normal, why is that?  That’s the moment for us to confirm that human beings are not that strong.  

What does it mean for us to believe in Jesus?  In conclusion, a problem not being a problem to you is what it means for you to believe in Jesus Christ.  The book of Hebrews was given to the members of the Christian church who believed in Jesus Christ, but they were shaking, so these words were given so they wouldn’t shake.  In that context, we are talking about Abraham and God’s promise.

If you hold onto your own strength, experiences, or ideologies, a problem may be a problem for you, but if you hold onto God’s accurate Word, then the problem will change into an answer.  That’s the difference between religion and the gospel.  Religion is about begging for your problems to be taken away, but the gospel is the fact that I’m with God who allowed this problem, and being with God within the problem, God shows me the answer.  If we begin our walk of faith with religion instead of the gospel, the more time passes, the more we will shake.  Today, may you and I have the blessing of being able to start again with the gospel.

1. God – Promise

  1) Mankind

    (1) Image of God (Gen. 1:27)

God’s promise to mankind was, as soon as He created us in Genesis 1:27 is that He created us in His image, it means human beings were created to live according to God’s will.  Then, our walk of faith is to look for God’s plan whenever we face a problem.  But if you take God out of the equation, then human beings become worse off than animals.  

As evidence of that, animals don’t have to worry about what they eat, but human beings have so many unnecessary worries they waste their life on, “Why is this person glaring at me? Is this person stronger than me?” And they die that way.  Animals don’t really care about that.  We were created in the image of God.

    (2) Blessing – Life (Gen. 1:28)

God gave us blessings in Gen. 1:28, and this blessing is far from the blessing you’re thinking of, it’s far from the blessings that unbelievers think about.  This blessing is the blessing of life.  Everything is contained within life.  The blessings you receive must be from within the blessing of life; if you hold onto unnecessary blessings, you will lose hold of the blessings of life.  

There was a very large river that flows from central Africa to the north, and humans were able to plant crops for thousands of years.  As long as the river flowed, they had fish to eat and animals would come to drink water.  As long as the river is there, people can plant crops and eat from the harvest, and they can irrigate the river to farm.  Physically speaking, the source of all physical blessings is the river; all life comes from the river.  

If the river were to dry up, the fish would die and animals would die, and all the vegetation and crops would also die.  We, too, if we lose hold of the God-given blessing of life, will lose hold of everything.  If you lose hold of this blessing of life, you’ll look for other blessings elsewhere, and that’s the curse.

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, only the Life of Christ is our blessing. Everything comes from within that blessing, the businesses, the plans for our lives, our health, and all the other blessings. 

    (3) Be fruitful, increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over (Gen. 1:28)

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful,” our lives are supposed to be fruitful.  An incorrect life is fruitless. We only bear fruit within the life of Christ. If a great branch remains attached to the vine, it will bear fruit.  The vine is Jesus Christ, and we are the branches, and the fruits are automatically borne.  But if we are not attached to the life of Christ and we’re trying to gain fruits on our own, we cannot because we’re spiritually dead.  We must constantly grow within the life of Christ. 

Today, the Bible is telling us that we must not remain within the elementary knowledge of Christ. We’ve received salvation, but we must grow from there, and that’s how a problem will not be a problem. From there on, we increase in number.  God’s desire for us is that many people will gain new life through me.  

If you don’t save lives, it’s evidence you haven’t enjoyed this life.  First and foremost, this life must be relayed to your family, this life must be relayed through all my human interactions at my workplace. If you’re enjoying your life, that will naturally happen.  If a river is flowing, then there’s no effort to be made; you just go and eat. If you just plant a seed next to a river, automatically it will grow with life.  The seed doesn’t try so hard to bear its fruit; it will naturally bear it over time.  

It is normal that through me, people will gain continuous life and disciples will arrive.  But there are some people who don’t have this life, and they try to mimic the fruits with their own diligence.  Because it is not from the Life, it will absolutely face a limitation and end in spiritual death.

The next blessing is to fill the earth.  That’s the mission and blessing God has given to humans.  Subdue the earth.  You should be subduing your job; what if you’re constantly dragged around by your job?  “Pastor, how could I conquer this business?” That’s no ordinary feat.  The competition is so cutthroat that most people won’t make it; how could we subdue this?  If you remain within the Life, this is the promise God has given you.

Rule over.  Of course, we should rule over things; we shouldn’t be dragged around, but if you’re always dragged around, you’re a slave. What happens if you’re constantly dragged around by depression or your panic disorder? The strength to overcome those things is from Life, and that Life is Jesus Christ.  All we have to do is enjoy it, and as we enjoy it, one day we will receive the strength of life.

If you leave your problems alone, Life will move them. There’s no need to worry about a future that has come yet because the Life has already designed and planned it.  If someone does something wrong to you, forgive them and pray for them. If you keep holding onto that in your heart, then the devil will work upon it.

God created all the animals and vegetation in the Garden of Eden, and God told Adam to rule on God’s behalf, but if Adam fell under the misconception that all of that belongs to him and not God and tries to do all this on his own, he will die.  Everything belongs to God; your body is not your own.  Because I think my body belongs to me, I keep using it for corruption, pleasure, and other things.  We use our body, our studies, our business, our time as vessels of righteousness for God’s will.

That’s the one who will receive the works of God according to God’s promise to rule and subdue.  Everyone here without exception has this, God has told us to rule and subdue for God’s glory. If you meet an unbeliever, the devil has taken away all their business.

  2) Sin – Disobedience

    (1) Death (Rom. 6:23)

Because of human being’s disobedience to God and their sin, in Romans 6:23, we all face death.  If you’re spiritually dead, then everything is finished.  Living is not even living.  If the river is all dried up, then the animals there will die, they will waste away. Just like trees next door, there may be trees but they will all wilt away, and it doesn’t matter how much time passes, those trees will not bear fruit.  That’s what happens to humans.

    (2) Authority of Satan (Jn. 8:44)

Jn. 8:44, we’ve been completely handed over to the authority of the devil, so the devil continuously deceives us to live for ourselves and for our own glory. 

    (3) Cursed (Gen. 3:17)

We are going into an inescapable curse, and that’s why God gave us a promise.

  3) Promise

    (1) Offspring of woman (Gen. 3:15)

    (2) Crush the serpent’s head – Authority of Satan (Rev. 12:9)

What is that promise? He promised to give us the offspring of the woman to crush the serpent’s head.  Why must it be the offspring of the woman? Because the Messiah cannot be the offspring of a married man and woman. Only the One God personally delivers with the Holy Spirit will be the One to crush the serpent’s head. 

    (3) Strike heel – Death as ransom (Mk. 10:45)

Because of our sin, we’re in a state of spiritual death and we cannot escape from that, but the method is that the serpent will strike the heel of the offspring of the woman.  The work where Jesus Christ momentarily died on the cross and went to hell is the moment that freed us from all sins, curses, and disasters.  Jesus Christ went all the way down to hell, overcame the authority of Satan and death, is seated at the right hand of the throne of heaven, and is with all believers in Spirit.

2. Promise to Abraham

This is the promise given to Abraham, and this is why today’s Bible passage talks about this promise.  The promise God gave to Abraham is the same promise God gave to you. Why are you not holding onto your God-given promise, and instead, you stumble around with this beginner-level faith?  A baby is born but because it isn’t maturing, it cannot eat solid food and is only drinking milk. Then, the way for us to mature is to look at Abraham.  God gave him a promise. 

  1) Leave your father’s home (Gen. 12:1)

    (1) To the land I will show you (Gen. 12:1)

Gen. 12:1, Abraham was born to an idol peddler.  They sold idols in the developed land of Mesopotamia, spiritually dead and without life, and God told Abraham to leave. This is not telling you to leave your house; it is telling you to escape from death, then God gave Abraham life by grace.  “Now, go to the land of Canaan,” why must he go to Canaan? Because that is the land where Jesus Christ will be born. therefore, go towards Jesus Christ with faith in Jesus.

    (2) Blessing (Gen. 12:2)

He says, “I will bless you, I will give you the blessing of life.”

    (3) Make you into a great nation (Gen. 12:2)

    (4) All peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Gen. 12:3)

“I will make you into a great nation.” This is exactly the same blessing God gave us in Genesis 1, that whoever believes will be fruitful and multiply and rule over and subdue the earth. “And through you, all peoples on Earth will receive this blessing of life.” This is not something you can struggle for, but if you’re believing and enjoying the Life, it happens automatically. 

If you get married, then automatically, you’ll have a baby.  There’s nobody who will go and study abroad to try to make a baby, or pay a tutor $10,000 a month to try to make a baby. If you have the life of Jesus Christ, you will naturally give more life, but if people are dead, even if they try so hard, they cannot have more real life.  

  2) God swore by himself (Heb. 6:13, Gen. 22:16)

God gave this promise to Abraham, and Abraham listened to it, but because he didn’t have enough faith, he made a lot of mistakes in the beginning. He went down to Egypt and sold off his wife and God brought him back to Canaan.  When Abraham was 75 years old and his wife was 65 years old, God promised to give them a child, but that’s an age where they couldn’t conceive. They laughed at God’s Word. Do you think God is joking around?  Abraham and Sarah were so old, they were too old to conceive, and those words are correct, scientifically, medically, and logically, but these thoughts block God’s Word.

Is God someone who jokes around? We can joke around but God doesn’t joke around. If God tells you He will give you something, He does it. So, God comes back to Abraham when he’s 99 years old and tells him again, that means from the time Abraham was 75 to 99 years old, he still wasn’t given a son.

Then, Abraham’s wife misinterprets God’s Word with her own desires, “Maybe God wanted to give us a child through my servant Hagar,” so Abraham slept with Hagar and they had Ishmael, but that’s not God’s answer. We accomplish things with our diligence, but that’s not God’s answer. That’s just our diligence and our efforts. I’m not telling you not to try hard, but it’s not God’s answer. God gives you His answer with the faith according to the Word He gave you.  

When Abraham was 99 years old, at the point of giving up, God found him again, saying “I will give you a child this time next year. “ Then He is ultimately saying this son Ishmael is not the answer, he does not have the covenant of life.  “The one that you receive with faith will have the covenant of life.”  That’s how they had Isaac, and when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, it meant to kill him.

    (1) Isaac as burnt offering (Gen. 22:13)

In Genesis 22, Abraham takes Isaac up as a burnt offering, meaning he would have to stab his son with a knife, separate his bones and burn him up, and when Abraham was about to do that, God stopped him.  God said, “Now I know you truly believe in My Covenant.” 

    (2) Bless you, make your descendants numerous (Heb. 6:14, Gen. 22:17)

    (3) After waiting patiently, received what was promised – 99 years old (Heb. 6:15, Gen. 17:1-5)

That content is Genesis 6:14, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants,” it’s the same content in Genesis 1:28.  Now that you truly do believe I have given you life, you will enjoy it and naturally bear many fruits and have abundant life.  We have the life of Christ. You have to accept it to have it, in other words, you have to believe in Jesus. You have to believe that Jesus is the Christ; you can’t believe in Jesus as something else, you must not believe in Jesus however you want to believe.

Jesus is the Christ.  Biden is America’s president.  You have to know him as America’s president; you shouldn’t know him as your next-door neighbor.  Jesus is the Christ, what is the Christ?  The anointed one.  Who was anointed? Only the prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil, and this is the ministry God does directly. You must believe in that.  “King” means He is the King who conquers over me and casts out the forces of darkness.  “Priest”  means He is the One Who has blocked all the curses and disasters of sin.  The fact that He is the Prophet is that he is the only way to meet God; He is the Way, the Truth, and the life.

Therefore I hope you will not just know the fact that Jesus is the Christ, but believe it as well.  As a result of that, the life of Jesus Christ is within you. You must grow from that faith.  You can just leave the problems alone; don’t try to solve it with your strength, but if you’re simply enjoying the life God gave you through Christ, you will see the answer. 

  3) God’s promise – Heirs (Heb. 6:17)

    (1) One who belongs to Christ (Gal. 3:29)

But it says in Galatians 3:29 that Jesus Christ is the One Who will receive the inheritance as the heir. That Jesus Christ is Abraham’s seed. 

    (2) Abraham’s descendants (Gal. 3:29)

This is not about being a physical descendant of Abraham, but if you believe in Jesus Christ, you belong to the same lineage spiritually, so that means I will also receive the same spiritual inheritance as Abraham.

    (3) Heirs (Gal. 3:29, Gal. 4:7)

God has given us the spirit of sonship, we are sons.  Some strange women may say here, “Is God sexist? Why does He only talk about sons and not daughters?”  Some educated women may say things like that, but when the Bible talks about “sons,” it’s not about “sons and daughters.”  The “sons” receive the inheritance, so you are all sons.  

    (4) Sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts (Gal. 4:6)

If you believe in Christ, then through Christ, you have received the inheritance of Christ.

    (5) Calls out, “Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6)

Therefore, we have the right to call upon our Abba, Father. Our status is important.  It’s hard for you to distinguish between the fundamental sin and consequential sins.  So when you’re told to repent, you keep repenting about consequential sins you see with your eyes.  You can repent for 100 days, and it’s not something bad, but it’s like repenting to someone like Kim Il Sung or some dictator, or it’s like the death of your ego, you criticize yourself, “I’ve done this wrong, I’ve done that wrong,” and it’s the same with others as well.

I’m not saying that’s wrong, but I’m saying there is a sin even before the sin you committed, you committed the sins because you’re a sinner.  You are repenting for the sins you’ve committed as a sinner, but true repentance means you are no longer a sinner, but you enjoy being a child of God through the life of Christ.  Every single thing that happened is a result of me not knowing or enjoying my identity.

I’m a child of God. Then, it means nothing is a problem. But we push that status aside and look at the problems we can see and beg to try to solve them–that’s our level of faith. Once you believe in Jesus Christ, all the problems of your past, present, and future are finished. You must get to the level of maturity where you believe in that, because a problem that is finished is not a problem for me.

Christ is with me, and then I discover the plan of God Who gave me that problem, and it becomes a blessing. But if you do not get to the next level of faith, you’re going to be stuck in your problems and scars, wondering, “Why did this person glare at me? Why is this person always on my back?” You get caught up with yourself.

Every Saturday, my daughter does something and I take her home, and during the breaktime, the kids were downstairs on their phones.  So, I told her, “During those times, there were some kids who went upstairs to listen to the pastor, what were you doing downstairs?” And she flipped out; Jacob had actually come upstairs to join the worship.  I asked her, “You know, Jacob joined the worship, and it’s not a problem that you’re on your phone, but you’re always staying up late doing homework. Couldn’t you have done your homework during this time of worship?” 

As soon as she heard those words, she started getting mad at me and arguing, “Am I a workaholic?” I was wondering if she didn’t understand what I was trying to tell her. She was getting mad all the way until we got home. So I sat her down and brought my wife because I wanted an impartial judge, and I relayed to her exactly what happened.  It turns out that she has this arrogant nature inside her heart where she doesn’t like being compared to others.  I didn’t mean to compare her, I was just saying that there were other ways to use this time, but she had this scar, so that’s how she received it.  

So, my wife had to give her the Word of God and said, “You have this inside you, you have this arrogant heart where you’re always comparing yourself to others, wondering if they’re better or worse than you, and you’re going to oppress yourself.”  I was saying the words out of a desire to bless her, but she got so mad by herself that she almost wanted to kill me because of it.

How can you get rid of this arrogance, these scars, or the inferiority complex? You can never get rid of that, even if animals have this kind of sense, they’ll compare themselves with others and try to fight.  I didn’t even notice that women compete with one another, who can wear the shorter miniskirt or who can wear higher heels.  Men might not verbalize it, but as soon as they meet each other, they’re competing with their eyes. They talk to each other and wonder, “Is this person more educated than me or have more money than me?” and then they talk. Why is that? Because we don’t know who we are.

And that doesn’t go away. You’ll always be afflicted. That’s why you don’t like being around people; you’d rather be alone because you hate doing that when you meet others.  We call that a disease, because you don’t have the strength to overcome that and go through it.

Nothing is a problem for a child of God; there are no comparisons. It doesn’t matter what that person is, because I’m a child of God, and the background of the throne of heaven is my background. You don’t have faith? Even if you just believe in that, that’s faith, that’s the beginning of a mature faith. What could possibly be a problem? You received salvation because you have faith. God gave you that grace, and that’s all you need. What’s important is that the accurate gospel goes into you. You have the faith to call God “Abba, Father,” then all you have to do is call out.

There’s no need for you to compare with others because there’s another blessing God has given to you. All people on earth will be blessed through you, there’s no need to compare yourself with others because you have the blessing that He is with you. And all the blessings of your education and your health are contained within this.  What an immense blessing this is!

3. One who has hope

  1) Enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain – Throne of heaven (Heb. 6:19)

We are told to have hope in Heb. 6:19, hope of the covenant.  Jesus Christ died on the cross and tore the veil that separated us from God.  If you look at the Tabernacle, there were two separated places, there was the Holy place and the Holy of Holies, and not anyone could go into the Holy of Holies because God was residing there, but Jesus Christ tore that curtain and went in.

    (1) Christ entered on our behalf (Heb. 6:20)

Now, the blockage that separated me and God, I can go through in faith in Jesus Christ.

    (2) Blessing of the throne of God – Enjoy through worship, prayer

Where is the throne of heaven?  It is wherever God is, and as He is seated at the throne of heaven, He is also within me.

    (3) With me, united (1 Cor. 3:16, Rom. 6:5)

The Holy Spirit that is within me is connected to the Triune God, He is within me, that is the Throne of Heaven. Then where else are you looking?  Everything else must come from that life, from the Word flowing from that throne.  The Holy Spirit reveals the Word and gives us the Word in its time. How thankful should we be? You can enjoy this through prayer or worship or anytime, because the Word is living within you.

“How could I possibly pray to God?” The doors are open now, you can pray 24 hours to God in the name of Jesus Christ.  We must have this faith in order for you to not shake.  It doesn’t matter how much you try anything else; there’s no answer there.  “Oh, I like it here, I like it there.” The Kingdom of God is within you and everything else comes from there.  But it doesn’t seem like it’s going to work because you’re looking at yourself, just as Abraham thought he was too old to have a baby.  It’s logical, factual, and sounds so great, but that’s only because you don’t know God’s Word. 

God has given us the blessing of being with us for all eternity, how great is that? Everywhere I go, God is with me, and that’s the throne of heaven.  Everywhere I go, God is working so the kingdom of Satan is broken down and the curses and disasters crumble.  We have been given the blessing to enjoy that Kingdom of God but we don’t change this because of our faith.  

We keep concentrating on the other blessings that come as a result of this main blessing.  Even as we live our walk of faith, there is a principle.  If you look at the Olympic athletes, not anyone can be at that level, but they must know the principle of their sport.  Even if there’s a very good businessperson, there is a principle to which they work, and if you can’t find that principle, then it doesn’t matter how diligently you work, it won’t work.  

People will work out their entire lives to enter into the Olympics, but there are some people who are really good. Those are the people who found the principle of how to be good, created by God.  That principle starts from the most basic and fundamental principle. It must start from the foundation of Christ, from the principle of life. 

“Now that I’ve lived my walk of faith for a little bit, I got the basics down, now I’m gonna move on to next thing,” what do you mean by the next thing? Everything must begin from the foundation of faith in the covenant and bear fruits naturally.  That’s why Christ has finished all problems and is continuously giving us answers, then how thankful should we be?  

If you don’t know this, then you think your walk of faith requires something else, you can fly around for 100 days but you will bear no fruit. If you get married, then it’s natural to have a baby with your spouse, but there’s no reason to struggle and look around.  If the man and woman both have the seed to conceive a baby, then it happens naturally.  It is normal that through my life, many others will gain life, and when that is joined with faith, that’s when works arise.  

If two people get married and think, “No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think we can have a baby, so let’s get tutoring for 3 years, then special training for 10 years,” that in itself is disbelief. If you have life, then naturally a child will be born because you believe.  I’m just talking about how things should be, but everybody is separated from this promise of God.  We are separated, so we try to do things with our diligence and effort, but there’s no answer regarding the promise God gave you.  There may be answers unbelievers create through their diligence, but there is no true answer. 

  2) Spiritual king, priest, prophet (1 Pt. 2:9)

    (1) One who gives the answers to kings

In 1 Peter 2:9, we have been called as a royal priesthood, ones who will declare this light.  We are spiritual kings who will save the physical kings.  You have been called as the spiritual king to give the answers to the people who are at the very top, the summit of whatever specialty you are in, but if you don’t know who you are, you’ll lose hold of all those blessings.

    (2) One who blocks disasters

God has called me as the spiritual priest who will block the spiritual curses and disasters.  

    (3) One who delivers from idols (demons)

I have been called as a prophet who will declare the words of the gospel of Christ to those who are worshiping idols, religions, or other spiritual deities, and change them into children of God.  That’s such a tremendous right that we have been given, but we have been given the right and authority to carry this out.  As I remain within this covenant, the works of the life of Christ will arise where the answers will come upon my business, my studies, and my human relationships, and it will result in the life within me. 

God told us to rule and subdue, but we had everything stolen by the devil, so you must rediscover and bring back God’s things.  Because of humankind’s sin, the entire earth was cursed, and no matter how much we work, we cannot receive the answers and the blessings the earth should be given.  It says in Romans that the earth is parched and thirsty because it is not used by the children of God, but it is used by unbelievers in their diligence. 

But if you’re the one who believes in and enjoys this covenant of life, then nature will enjoy it and the world itself will be blessed.  God has given you the promise to change the region where you’re living and working from a land of curses into a land that gives life.  A few months after we moved into this building, the nightclub next door closed down, and we asked, “Why did they close down?” It was because they weren’t able to pay their rent. 

Don’t you think that’s a natural thing to happen if a church is around? That building should be used by God, but they’re being used to please the devil.  That school should be a place where students learn the physical knowledge of the world to glorify God, but instead, it’s cursed because of non-believers and idolatry. After President Kennedy became the president, he got rid of all prayers in public schools, and the schools fell into curses and disasters, but we are the ones to change those curses into blessings. We’ve been given the status where wherever we place our hands, these curses will turn into blessings.

If you look at yourself, it’s impossible to believe, but God promised it to us. The promise God gave to Abraham will be your inheritance if you believe in Jesus Christ, and the people who go out into the field with this faith in this promise will be unshaken.  May you enjoy this today. Don’t worry about tomorrow, it’s not even here yet. Someone who’s always bad at studying will want to push things off until tomorrow. There’s no tomorrow, there’s only right now, so enjoy God’s authority.  We have been called as the ones who will subdue on God’s behalf.  

  3) Today – Hope

    (1) Today’s word

    (2) Today’s prayer

    (3) Today’s evangelism

Conclusion

1. One who remains – Answer to life

2. Pilgrim – Enjoy through prayer

3. Conqueror – Eternally leave behind through evangelism

Prayer

May you have a blessed week where you enjoy this blessing abundantly and you change all these curses into the blessing of life. Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received, the covenant.