Λόγωτης πανδημίαςτουιού COVID-19 και τηςδιακοπήςτηςδιεθνούς υπηρεσίας αλληλογραφίας,
έχουμε αναστείλει προσωρινάτην υπηρεσία μας "ΔωρεάνΤυπωμέναΒιβλία (Free Print Book)".
έχουμε αναστείλει προσωρινάτην υπηρεσία μας "ΔωρεάνΤυπωμέναΒιβλία (Free Print Book)".
Κάτω από αυτή την κατάσταση δεν μπορούμε να στείλουμε τα βιβλία αυτή τη στιγμή.
Προσεύχεστε ώστε αυτή η πανδημία να λήξει σύντομα και να αρχίσει ξανά η ταχυδρομική υπηρεσία.
Προσεύχεστε ώστε αυτή η πανδημία να λήξει σύντομα και να αρχίσει ξανά η ταχυδρομική υπηρεσία.
Subject 21 : The Gospel According to MARK
[Chapter 8-4] Let’s Confess The True Faith to God (Mark 8:27-38)
(Mark 8:27-38)
“Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do men say that I am?’ So they answered, ‘John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’ When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’”
Long time no see! The Lord’s Day has passed and it is now Wednesday. It seems like such a long time has passed since I last saw you all, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday feels like such a long time.
There is a work that we still don’t get through with although it seemed like it would get done soon, and it is the work of publishing the third book of our Christian literature series. Our editors inform us that they are preparing the press today. Someone must inspect the temporary binding after this. We would have to proofread the temporary binding from the beginning again in order to finish the publishing work perfectly, but it will take too long if we tried to make it too perfect and it could actually turn out worse in some aspects. And so we are thinking of finishing it even though it is completed to a certain degree.
There are many saints who have various kinds of gifts in our Church, and I can see that many of them really are not arrogant about their gifts but are humble. The brothers seem very courageous and the sisters seem very humble. Thus, they fulfill all the work that we ask them to do so well although they sometimes say they are not able to do it, and I am so thankful for this. Many workers and saints have worked hard to publish the third volume of our mission book series. I think this book is being published with the love of many workers. Some saints and ministry workers who have been involved directly in this work and others have served with material things. We all have volunteered to serve this literature ministry. It was also very hard for me to publish this third volume of our mission book series. Anyway, we have all worked very hard. But I do not want our efforts to stop here. Rather, I want the evangelization of the gospel of God to continue. I think we have to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit even more quickly because the world is so gloomy these days.
Message from a Reader of Our Books
Today, I have received an e-mail from overseas just before coming to preach in our Church. This is the e-mail sent to us by “Maria Chejib” who is a secretary of the President of Vista University in South Africa. All the letters and emails sent to the President go through the secretary, and she saw the e-mail we sent to this President concerning our free books on the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This secretary said that she has read two of our books and requested to read more of them. This woman called Maria has been married for 32 years and she said that she has been very diligent in mission activities as well. The translated content of her email is as follows:
“I had not known at all how important it was to know why Jesus received the baptism from John the Baptist. However, these books made me understand according to the Bible what being born again by the gospel of the water and the Spirit is all about. I have finally come to truly understand about the gospel of the water and the Spirit that I had not known before although I have attended church for a long time. I want to share these books to other people that have not heard of it yet. And so I have come to realize that I must speak to my many Christian friends about this gospel so that they can also be born again by the water and the Spirit like me. Now I know that I have absolutely received my salvation. I have the key to salvation. I have been born again by the baptism of Jesus and His death on the Cross. My Savior is alive.”
She sent me an e-mail with such contents. Dear beloved saints, have you heard what I have just read to you? I do not know much about the countries in Africa, but some regions of Africa are in such a miserable state. They say that some regions are extremely dangerous because of the AIDS pandemic and rampant crime. They say that 30% of the population of the nation of Zimbabwe is infected with AIDS and many people are dying of this disease each day. Since it is such a miserable country, I want the gospel of the water and the Spirit to go into that country as soon as possible and save many souls from their sins.”
Who Do You Say That Jesus Christ Is?
In today’s Scripture passage, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” The disciples answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” At this, Jesus asked disciples again, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter confessed his faith and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” Then Jesus said that it was God the Father who made Peter know this. This confession, “You are the Christ,” is short, but it is a confession that showed concisely and significantly that the Lord is our Savior.
Most Israelites living in the days of Jesus thought of Him just as one of the prophets of the Old Testament, but Jesus was actually their Savior. Even now, many Jews think of Jesus as just one of the prophets of the Old Testament instead of the Son of God. Therefore, it is very difficult to preach to the Israelites that Jesus Christ is in fact the Son of God and the Savior of all humanity. They also do not acknowledge the New Testament Scriptures since they do not acknowledge Jesus is the Christ. They are still waiting for their Savior even thinking that only the Word of the Old Testament Scriptures is all that there is. They think like that although Jesus Christ has already come to this world and saved all sinners once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit was resurrected from the dead and now sits on the throne in Heaven. But despite all this, they are still waiting for the Savior.
They are waiting for the Messiah although the Messiah Jesus Christ had already come and fulfilled His righteous salvation as the Son of God incarnated. Therefore, in order to preach the gospel to the Israelites we have to let them know first that Jesus is the Messiah, the One they have been waiting for. They will come to have the genuine faith of salvation if they just come to know this just like us. But I am sure that the Israelites will soon accept in their hearts the gospel of the water and the Spirit and also come to believe in it. Even these days the Israelites pass the sins over onto a sacrificial offering by laying hands on it and offer up this sacrifice of atonement by cutting its throat and sprinkling its blood on the Day of Atonement every year. But if they just accepted the fact that Jesus is the Messiah who they have been waiting for, they will receive salvation from their sins by believing in the fact that Jesus became the Lamb of God through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and His death on the Cross.
Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” Those Israelites did not believe that Jesus is the Messiah or that He is the Son of God. Who is this John the Baptist? He is a servant of God. Then, who was Elijah? He was also a servant of God. They were all one of the prophets or the servants of God, not the Messiah like Jesus. Even so, people of that time considered Jesus the same as such people.
Nevertheless, Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Peter said that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ. Peter knew and believed through the Father that Jesus is the Son of God the Father and the Christ. Jesus thus is our God and also the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus Christ took all our sins upon His body once and for all by the baptism, died on the Cross, and was resurrected from the dead, and He is the true Savior who saved us completely. The faith of the gospel of the water and the Spirit is contained in this short confession of Peter.
The word “Christ” means “the anointed King” (Daniel 9:26, John 1:41). In the Old Testament, kings, priests and prophets could receive the anointing with oil. In Israel, they poured oil on the head of a person when they anointed him as a king, a prophet, or a High Priest. God the Father named His Son Jesus Christ and it is because God did the work of saving us from sins through His Son. Therefore, our Lord came to this world and became our King, our Prophet, and also fulfilled the responsibility of the heavenly High Priest who took all our sins upon His body by receiving the baptism. He came to this world as the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven and took all our sins upon Himself. The Lord saved us who now believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit once and for all by fulfilling these three duties of the King, the High Priest, and the Prophet. Therefore, Jesus is our High Priest, our Master, and the Savior who saved us from the sins of the world by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus was the Prophet of truth who shows us why we were born to this world and what is the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that saves us from all our sins. Our Lord came to this world as the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven and took all our sins upon Himself. He took the sins of this world upon His own body instead of passing the sins of the world over onto a sacrificial lamb or goat of the Old Testament. The Lord became the propitiation for us by taking the sins of the world upon Himself once and for all by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist.
When Jesus was dying on the Cross, Pilate wrote a title on the Cross, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Then the Israelites seeing this requested, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ even though He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” But Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written” (John 19:22). But Jesus is truly the King of all kings and the Master of the entire universe.
A person who knows the righteousness of Jesus in this era is someone who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit which Jesus gave us. To us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, Jesus Christ is the genuine High Priest, the Creator who made this universe, and the Judge who is to come. Jesus will return to this world, resurrect us the saints who have been born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and take us to His Kingdom of Heaven. We will come to live eternally with our Savior in the Kingdom of God. Jesus is our God and the High Priest who has such power. Jesus is the King who dwells with us and rules over us eternally and righteously. I do not know how Jesus Christ appears to a person who does not believe, but Jesus Christ is the King of kings, the Savior of humanity, and the eternal Judge.
The Word of the Scriptures is the Word about Jesus Christ. The Old Testament prophesizes that Jesus would come and save us from all our sins and the New Testament speaks of this promise of the Old Testament being fulfilled. The Word of God contains not only that but also all things like politics, economy, culture, science, future, present, past, purpose of life, human life, and so on. Thus, one comes to receive the remission of sins if one comes to know the Word correctly and realize the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
You and I who live in these end times must also have this genuine confession of faith as that of Peter’s. Dear fellow believers, do you have such genuine faith in your heart? We must live with such genuine confession of faith. While living this short life, we must know and believe that Jesus is the King of kings, the High Priest, and also the Prophet. On the other hand, if we do not believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and reject it we will be destroyed eternally. I do not want you to become like these foolish people who disrespect and ignore the righteousness of God.
You Must Also Have in Your Heart the Confession of Faith That Says, “Jesus Is the Christ!”
When Peter made the confession of genuine faith to Jesus, He said to him, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). Jesus said that He will give the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter who confessed the genuine faith.
Dear fellow believers, what is the “keys of the Kingdome of Heaven”? It is the gospel and the faith in it that cleanses everyone’s sins. What kind of gospel makes one enter the Kingdom of Heaven? It is none other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gospel of the Lord who took all the sins of the world upon Himself by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, being crucified and shedding blood on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. The key of the Kingdom of Heaven is faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit which our Lord fulfilled. Hence, we need this faith which says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). This true faith is the faith that believes the Lord is the Son of God, our King and the Savior who came to this world as the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus Jesus took all our sins by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, was crucified to death on the Cross because of the sins He took upon Himself, and was resurrected from the dead in three days after dying on the Cross. Believing that the Lord has saved us from the sins of the world by the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the genuine faith. Jesus is God who took all our sins upon Himself, blotted them out once and for all, and gave us new life. The Lord knew the beginning and the end of all things and also controlled all things. When Peter confessed such faith, Jesus entrusted him with the work of preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the key to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Do you have the faith that you must believe and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit? The Lord became our Savior and the work He fulfilled is the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. Thus, our Savior is Jesus Christ. Do you have faith that the Lord is the Christ, the Son of the living God?
Our genuine Savior is Jesus Christ. We must have this faith that professes the gospel of the water and the Spirit in order to make such a confession of faith. We must have such faith of believing in this gospel of the water and the Spirit in our hearts. Dear fellow believers, it does not mean that you have the knowledge and the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit just because you believe in Jesus as your Savior. There are many church attendees who believe in God without knowing that Jesus Christ has saved all humankind by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Although some people have heard and known that Christ means “the anointed One,” many among them do not know that Christ actually saved us by taking our sins upon Himself and shedding His blood by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.” So when I ask them, “What is the meaning of the anointed One?” they just cannot but mumble their preposterous answers to my question. We can say therefore that only those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit now know the meaning of the confession, “The Lord is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Put differently, faith of believing that the Lord took the sins of this world by receiving the baptism from John, died on the Cross, and was resurrected from dead is the faith that is able to profess, “The Lord is the Christ!”
Have You Believed That the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit Is the Genuine Truth of Salvation?
Do you believe that the gospel of the water and the Spirit really is the gospel of salvation? If so then do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God who created the universe and the Savior who blotted out all your sins once and for all by the gospel of the water and the Spirit? The faith of people who have the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven is the faith of believing that the Lord took over all our sins once and for all and saved us the believers by the baptism He received from John the Baptist, His blood on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. We who are like this have received salvation from the sins of the world.
In order to do this Jesus made us realize and know what treacherous sinners we were through the Law of God. And He resolved the problem of our sins away completely that we could not resolve by ourselves and perfected our salvation. And the Lord taught us how He blotted out all those sins and we were able to become the children of God by receiving salvation from all our sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We have received the grace of salvation once and for all by believing in this genuine gospel which Jesus gave to us. We have been qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You have the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven if you have in your heart the faith that professes, “Lord, You are the Christ.”
In today’s Scripture passage, Jesus who heard Peter’s confession of faith told his disciples not to tell this fact to anyone and that He would soon suffer death at the hands of the chief priest, the elders and the scribes of this world. And He said clearly that he would be resurrected from the dead in three days.
However, Peter tried to stop Jesus from doing His work. Peter protested by saying, “You are the Christ. Why are you suddenly saying that you will die? Why would you be killed by those people?” Peter who had a strong chivalrous spirit was trying his best to stop Jesus from dying on the Cross. He might deserve to be commended for his loyalty to Jesus if we just look at him in a human perspective.
However, Jesus rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Why did Jesus refer to Peter as Satan? Do you think He said this because Peter really was Satan? Jesus said this because Peter thought of things of man and not the things of God. Satan was trying to dissuade Jesus Christ from fulfilling the work of shedding His blood for us by provoking these fleshly thoughts of Peter’s. We the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are also like this. We should not think the things of man but instead think of the things of God. If we think the things of man we will also become a slave to Satan. Peter was merely a person who was impatient, a person with a sanguine temperament, but Jesus called him Satan because he tried to stop the work He was doing. The Lord made a clear distinction between the work of man and the work of God and said that one must deny himself and carry his own cross in order to follow Him. I know that all of you understand this Word.
We Should Actually Deny Ourselves and Follow the Lord in Leading a Spiritual Life
There are many times when we struggle to deny ourselves because our flesh is so strong. This is because we cannot follow Jesus if we do not deny our flesh. We cannot follow the Lord if we do not deny our fleshly thoughts because our fleshly thoughts and the Lord’s thoughts are totally opposite to each other. Therefore, we must deny ourselves in order to follow the Lord.
And the Lord also states that whosoever is ashamed of believing in Jesus and the Word He has spoken in this adulterous and sinful generation, Jesus will be ashamed of that person when He comes to this world again in the glory of the Father with the holy angels. It is written, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Jesus said many things to us while He was in this world, and we come to carry our own cross, deny ourselves, and follow Jesus if we really believe in the works Jesus has done and the Words He has spoken. And we come to realize and believe in the gospel and attain many things through our faith. However, if you don’t have faith, or have faith and throw away the Words of Jesus intentionally to follow after your own fleshly desires, and ashamed of believing in Jesus before the peoples of this world, Jesus will likewise be ashamed of you also. If you do not have such faith of salvation that says, “The Lord is the Christ, the Son of the living God” or ashamed of all the Words Jesus had spoken, He will also be ashamed of you when He returns to this world with the glory of the Father and judge the world sitting on the Throne of Judgment.
Believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and following the Lord is related to our life. The Lord said in the gospel of Mark chapter 8:35, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” You can receive eternal life, salvation, and the blessing if you believe in Him. You will receive everything from the Lord if you believe in the Word God had promised. But what happens if you do not believe in His Word, but instead reject it and are ashamed of it and go far away from it? It means that you will lose your life. You will be cursed eternally. It is the same in this life and the next life as well. Jesus is also ashamed of such a person and does not want that kind of person to enter the Kingdom of Jesus. Then, isn’t that eternal death? Yes, such a person will be destroyed forever.
The Lord said, “Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). We know this Word well. However, it becomes difficult for us to follow the Lord if we actually face a difficult situation. At such a time, we need to deny ourselves even more and follow the Lord shouldering our own crosses. We cannot follow the Lord without being in a difficult situation and without denying ourselves. And it is impossible to receive salvation without even following like this.
In many places in the Scriptures, the Lord spoke much about faith that will match the affairs and hardships of the end times. One of the incidents that will happen in the end time is that there will be a lot of people who will betray the faith. It means that many believers will leave the Church and from the work of uniting with the Church and serving the gospel, and come to follow after their fleshly thoughts that says, “I am so tired. This is too difficult. Do we absolutely have to live like this when the world is so difficult? It is true that this gospel is genuine. But do I absolutely have to follow the gospel like this?” The Lord said such things would happen much more especially in the end times. And such things are really happening in the born-again Church even now.
If there is a person among us who has betrayed the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and rather following after another gospel, God will not forgive such a person. The Church of God can admonish such a person a few times, but we cannot do anything more if that person does not turn around and return back into the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Who could stop such a person if he says that this gospel is not everything and that he just wants to earn money and live prosperously for his flesh’s sake? However, all the basic necessities of food and shelter are resolved by serving the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is the righteousness of God.
The Lord also said in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 18 verse 15 to 17, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” This passage says that we should treat such a person as a gentile if he does not listen even after we admonish him once or twice and also if he does not even listen to the admonition of the Church. How can we stop such a person from going out from the Church into the world because he does not want to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit? When we ask, “Do you dislike this? You do not think the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth, right?” and if the person answers, “I do not think that only the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the genuine gospel of salvation,” then the Church will not try to stop him anymore. We would admonish him a few more times, but even God cannot stop him if he says, “The gospel of the water and the Spirit is not the Truth of salvation.” When we hold onto such a person forcibly, it only brings about a situation where the sheep entrusted to such people are killed instead. The Lord said, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). If a person denies Jesus, denies the gospel, and also throws away the Word of God, then even Jesus will also treat this person like this. I am sharing this Word because it is written in the Word, not because there is someone like this among us now.
It is actually very difficult for me also. I do not know when the end of this Earth will be. However, one thing I can say is that we do not have much time left over to preach this gospel of the water and the Spirit. We will be able to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit comfortably only for a few years more in the future. It would be difficult to preach this gospel once this peaceful period passes. It is because this world will become even more treacherous. The Lord said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). This means then that the time has come for calamity to fall upon this world and that time of the Lord’s coming has drawn near, if we had already preached the gospel throughout the entire world. I do not know specifically what year, what month, what day and what time the Lord will come to this world. How would I know that? Am I God? The Lord said that no one knows this besides God the Father. But we can know that this day is drawing nearer when we look at it in light of the Word of the Lord.
I am counting the days waiting for December to come around. I feel like facing the New Year as soon as possible. Strangely, this year has been difficult. It is so difficult to wait for December. I do not know why this year has been so difficult like this. Do you feel the same way? Only one person sitting in the rear says this is so. It seems like there are not many people who think it is difficult because there are still many things left to do. Anyway, we must work diligently in the days to come. We must work diligently even if it is difficult and also work even more diligently if it is not so.
We must deny ourselves, carry our crosses, and follow the Lord although we are weak. When we live such a life repeatedly, we come to follow the Lord to the righteous path in due time. There is no one who can deny himself perfectly at once. We encounter such moments when we should deny ourselves while living and experiencing various things in this world, and we gradually become more accustomed to deny ourselves while we are going through such hardships. Denying oneself is difficult, but we come to be able to deny ourselves because we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts. You cannot live the life of denying yourselves and following the Cross if you do not have the Holy Spirit in your hearts.
Those who believe in the gospel of the remission of sins and the Word of God receive the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Therefore, denying ourselves can be possible the moment we come to know our wrong thoughts by the power of the Holy Spirit and acknowledge that we are wrong. We can follow the Lord if we deny like this. And we can fulfill this difficult work and come to follow the Lord properly since the Holy Spirit is inside us and the Lord is with us even if we are in a difficult situation while following Him. We come to follow the Lord thanks to the Lord. However, God is also ashamed of us if we stand against the Lord with our stubbornness and our thoughts, become ashamed of Him, and also throw away the Word of the Lord. Hence, I want you to live out your faith by professing, “Lord, You are the Christ.”
Dear fellow believers, let’s pray for the translation of our book so that this task of publishing will be finished before the end of December. I want you also to pray much for this. If the third book of our Christian literature series is published before January, we will be able to reap ten times, hundred times the number of souls that were reaped this year. Just as it is written, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:24), we should also sacrifice ourselves for the preaching of the gospel.
The gospel is now spreading even more rapidly throughout the entire world. The evangelization of the gospel is really speeding up hundred times as it was before. Therefore, we must live with faith and hope that the Great Commission will be fulfilled speedily. Dear fellow believers, who comes when the gospel is preached to the end of the world? The Lord comes. Do you believe that the Lord will come? Would it be great if the Lord came? Our joy would be beyond description. All the wishes of your heart will be fulfilled if our Lord comes. This day is not too far away.
I will not mention the name, but a certain brother of ours said that he wants to eat all that he wants when the Lord comes. I asked him what he wants to do in the Millennial Kingdom when the Lord comes and reigns with us, he said that he wants to eat all that he wants to eat without caring for his body. Also, a certain brother who had left the Church said that he wanted to have a romantic relationship to his heart’s content. But, will we be able to have a romantic relationship in the Millennial Kingdom? What romantic relationship would we have when our status will all be as same as the angels and we will all be of the same gender at that time? Such relationship is possible when our heart feels such desires like now, but I do not think it will be possible to have a romantic relationship at that time because our hearts will be in a consecrated state.
However, one thing clear is that all our wishes will surely be fulfilled then. Regardless of what kind of wish you have, all your wishes will be fulfilled. The things that are far greater than our wishes, the things that are billions of times better than our wishes, will all be fulfilled to us. It sounds like a story from a dream or a fairy tale, but they are all true. Do you believe this? Yes, I also believe it. This is the very “hope.” This hope will definitely be fulfilled. This hope will be fulfilled when the Lord comes. Hence, we must preach the gospel with the heart wishing for the Lord to come quickly.
Those who love the things of this world more than the things of God will naturally be against the return of Christ for their plans and vision are wrapped up in this corrupt world and what it can offer them. They have made a choice and should remain living like that, even while at the same time, the gospel God talks about of the water and the Spirit has being preached to the ends of the earth, and the saints have been caught up in the air to meet the Lord. At that time, human bodies will be destroyed because it will be exposed to natural calamities or radioactivity from the wars. Go ahead and live in this world if you like this world that much. I will follow Jesus and go to that Kingdom of Heaven.
In the Book of Hebrews chapter 10 verse 37 the Lord said, “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.” Therefore, we must live with hope. Dear fellow believers, it is hard and difficult to live for the gospel at times, isn’t it? I think this is the case for everyone. Even so, the gospel will be spread to the entire world in a short while. Then the Lord will come. Let’s endure in the midst of hope and wait until that time. Let’s gather our strength once again and live powerfully. And let’s confess our true faith and do the work of spreading the gospel. We have done many works until now, but there is still much work that we must do.
This sermon is also available in ebook format. Click on the book cover below.
Copyright © 2021 by The New Life Mission