ដោយសារការរាតត្បាតនៃជម្ងឺកូវីឌ១៩ និងការរំខានដល់សេវាកម្មប្រៃសណីយអន្តរជាតិ
យើងបានផ្អាកជាបណ្តោះអាសន្ននូវ "សេវាកម្មសៀវភៅបោះពុម្ពដោយឥតគិតថ្លៃ" របស់យើង។
នៅក្នុងស្ថានភាពបែបនេះ យើងមិនអាចផ្ញើសៀវភៅទៅកាន់លោកអ្នកបានឡើយ។
សូមអធិស្ឋានសម្រាប់ការរលាយបាត់យ៉ាងឆាប់រហ័សនូវជម្ងឺរាតត្បាតនេះ និងការដំណើរការឡើងវិញនូវសេវាកម្មប្រៃសណីយ។
សូមអធិស្ឋានសម្រាប់ការរលាយបាត់យ៉ាងឆាប់រហ័សនូវជម្ងឺរាតត្បាតនេះ និងការដំណើរការឡើងវិញនូវសេវាកម្មប្រៃសណីយ។
Subject 18 : GENESIS
[Chapter 15-5] Possess the Faith That Abraham Had (Genesis 15:1-21)
(Genesis 15:1-21)
“After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’ But Abram said, ‘Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, ‘I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.’ And he said, ‘Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?’ So He said to him, ‘Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.’ And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’”
In the Bible Abraham is the greatest father of faith who believed in God. We can say that he is the originator of faith and that he is the greatest father. For the Israelites, he is the ancestor of their nation, their greatest father of faith, and the ancestor of their nation. Of course there were people of faith even before Abraham. However, after the Noah’s Flood, God spoke and showed and revealed to us what faith really is and took in the Israelites as His people through Abraham. For the Israelites as well as all the nations living in this world who are not Israelites, all those who believe in God, Abraham is their father of faith. If we could believe in God just like Abraham had believed, we will surely be able to meet God, receive blessings from Him and be able to follow Him. To us the Gentiles, Abraham might not seem so great and might only seem great in a spiritual sense. But to the Israelites he is the father of faith who is immeasurably great. Though he may not be the founding father of everyone, he is nevertheless one of the greatest fathers of faith.
The founding fathers of faith are Adam and Eve. Although they had fallen into sin for not believing in the Word of God, they believed in the Word of the remission of sins which was given by God; they believed the Word of God that God had saved them by making them clothes out of hides of the sacrificial animals. Thus, they were able to receive salvation and hand down their faith to their children. This is why we can say that the founding fathers of faith are in fact Adam and Eve, but the greatest originator of faith in the second world after the destruction of the first world by the flood is Abraham. This man named Abraham is revered by Israelites as the founding father of their nation.
There Is a Reason Why We Christians Have to Respect Abraham
If we look closely at his faith, it is certainly worthy of respect. If we were to possess the same faith as that of Abraham, we and our descendants will receive many blessings as written in the Bible. What kind of faith did Abraham have then? He had the true faith of believing in God, and he had faith in which he believed in and followed the Word of God wholly.
Regarding Abraham’s faith, the first written record shows us that Abraham was born as a descendant of Noah. And Noah was a descendant of Seth, who was a descendant of Adam. Thus, through these lines of descent he inherited their faith, born as a descendant of Noah, the leader of the second world. Abraham’s father was Terah, and this Terah begot some children―Abraham, Nahor, and Haran―at the age of seventy. Amongst the three children, it was Abraham who believed in and followed the Word of God and believed in and followed after God. Hence, he became the father of faith.
A man of faith begot children in the flesh, but even among the children, there were those who followed the parent’s faith and then there were those who did not. Although he was born from Terah, only one person, this Abraham was the one who believed in God and followed after the Word of God. Through this Abraham who believed in and followed God and His Word, God decided to build a single nation of Israel, with the hope of taking in the people of that nation as His people, and also hoping to make that nation the nation of priesthood for the Kingdom of God. And so we respect Abraham. We respect him all so very much, and we love him.
Do you respect Abraham also? Taking a look at Abraham’s faith through the Scriptures, it is said that he followed after the Word of the Lord. God looked at Abraham and blessed him. To Abraham God became the One who says, “I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will curse anyone who curses you. I am your shield, your God and your Shepherd.”
God Loved Abraham
And so if we look at Abraham’s faith, believe like he did, and follow like he did, we will surely receive blessings and be well off. I would like to share this point through the Word with you at this hour.
God brought Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldeans and appeared before him when his name was still Abram, and said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1). The God of Abraham is this kind of God. He is the God who is the shield and the exceedingly great reward. He is God who rules over everything. For those who receive love from this God of love, God will appear before them and blessed them like this. We can see that God was the God of Abraham.
When God appeared to Abraham and said the following: “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward,” Abraham asked, “Lord GOD, what will You give me?” People who are childless in particular hope for a child. They yearn to have children no matter in what ways and means. So because Abraham did not have any child, he asked, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And when Abraham said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” Then the Lord God said, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
Promise of God Was with Abraham
By taking Abraham outside, God had him look up towards heaven to see the stars. When Abraham saw the stars, this universe full of stars spreading over the firmament it looked unimaginably beautiful, and the stars were just unbelievably uncountable.
“See if you can count the stars.”
“I cannot count them.”
“Your descendants will be like that. I will make the number of your descendants as numerous as that.” Abraham believed what God had said. It is said that Abraham believed in Jehovah God, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. “Your faith is right. You do indeed believe in Me. You believe what I have told you. I will make it so. Because you believe in My sayings I will make it happen, I will indeed make it so.
When God said, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it” (Genesis 15:7), Abraham asked, “How shall I know that I will inherit this land of Canaan?” God brought Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan. And He promised to give him the land of Canaan. He said, “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven,” and promised, “Not only that, I will give you the land of Canaan also.” So remembering this, Abraham asked God by saying, “Well, if you say so, what would be its proof? Please show me the proof that You will surely do this.” Jehovah God said, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon” (Genesis 15:9), and Abraham did this as he was instructed, “Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two” (Genesis 15:10). God said, “This will be the covenant between Me and you in which I promise to give your descendants the land of Canaan.”
And so, Abraham brought all these sacrificial offerings before God. The night fell dark and feeling sleepy, Abraham fell asleep whilst still there. Just then Jehovah God spoke to Abraham, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here” (Genesis 15:13-16).
For the people of Israel, that is, for Abraham and his descendants, this Word was the reason why they had to go into slavery in the land of Egypt for 400 years. God had decided to multiply the number of Israelites in the land of Egypt and then lead them out into the land of Canaan. God had a torch pass between those pieces of sacrifice Abraham had offered and declared, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates - the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites” (Genesis 15:18-21).
For this Word to be realized, he begot Isaac, Jacob and Esau were born from Isaac, and Joseph, the son of Jacob became the governor in Egypt. There he stored up much food while the great famine covered the whole known world. Soon afterwards he took his entire family into Egypt, and there his descendants started to multiply, and this went on for a further 400 years. And after 400 years, God allowed the Israelites to escape under the leadership of Moses. And through Moses, God gave them His Law and the sacrificial system of the Tabernacle. And through them, He had the Israelites receive the remission of their sins, took them in as His people, and realized His providence of making them His priest nation.
In short, what God had promised Abraham was that He would give the land of Canaan to the Israelites. The land on which Israelites live right now is the land of Canaan. And just like the promise of God that He would make them as numerous as the stars of the sky, God brought the people of Israel, a great army of 600 thousand out of the land of Egypt. But if we were to include the children, the total number of people in this great army would reach two or three million souls. So many people came out from a single man, and this is something tremendous. God makes things exactly as He had promised.
What Kind of Work Did God Try to Do through Abraham?
Through Abraham’s faith, we must examine the following: Why did God praise Abraham? Why did He speak to Abraham? Why did He work and try to realize His will through Abraham? And, what is its ultimate objective?
God said it was right that Abraham should believe in the Word of God. And then as He witnessed this, He gave His love to Abraham and blessed him. This means that Abraham believed in what God had told him. Look up towards heaven. And try to count the stars. You cannot count them. Abraham believed without hesitation when God said to him, “I will make your descendants be as numerous as the stars.” It was because Abraham fundamentally trusted in God. Because he believed in God fundamentally, he was able to believe in every Word He said. Because Abraham had faith in the Word of God, God established a nation through Abraham, allowed as many people as the stars of the sky to be born through him, and performed the wonderful work of salvation by leading them to the land of Canaan later.
Just as Abraham was accounted for righteousness before God when he believed in His Word, and just as he received blessings and the land of Canaan as an inheritance by faith, we must also receive the remission of all our sins and the blessing of entering the Kingdom of Heaven by believing in the Word of God, not by our acts, and become recipients of such blessing of salvation and of faith. God spoke to Abraham like this from a fleshly perspective and actually gave him the land of Canaan, but for you and me today, as we possess this faith of believing in the Words spoken by God, He has given us that Kingdom of God and has made us such priests who can spiritually remit the sins of other people.
Just as Abraham was able to gain the land of Canaan, many of his descendants were able to receive many blessings by believing in the Words spoken by God; therefore you and I today must also obtain such faith, the faith by which we can enter the Kingdom of God, by believing in the Words of salvation. His Word of salvation states that God called forth Moses up into Mount Sinai and gave him the Law and the sacrificial system of the Tabernacle, and said He would remit all sins away through these ways of the offering sacrifices.
Just as Abraham had received many blessings by believing in the Word of God, all of us who live in this day and age must also believe in Jehovah God as the true God and attain the everlasting Kingdom of God by the faith of believing in God. God has remitted all those sins that we commit by not being able to abide by the Law. We have been saved and have become the people of God and the recipients of all the wonderful blessings, including the blessing of Jehovah becoming our shield of righteousness and our reward. We must believe in God that He has remitted all our sins away through His Word of salvation; we must believe that He has remitted all our sins through the Tabernacle system and Jesus Christ; we must believe that we can be blessed by believing in His Word of salvation unwaveringly. We must receive many blessings by having faith in His Word.
Here is the basic characteristic of Abraham’s faith: Abraham was accounted for righteousness and able to receive blessings by believing in the Words spoken by God, instead of trying to receive blessings by carrying out some work. We receive the remission of all our sins, become the children of God, and receive that God-given spiritual Heaven of Canaan by believing in the Word of salvation God has given us. This Word of salvation declares that Jesus Christ having remitted all our sins away by coming down to this earth, taking on those sins onto His body by receiving the baptism, vicariously receiving the judgment for our sins as He died on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. This righteous act of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the revelation of salvation hidden in the sacrificial system of the Old Testament: God promised to remit all the sins of Israelites by offering sacrifices; they could transfer their sins over onto a sheep or a goat through the laying on of hands and by shedding its blood. We can become the children of God, receive the remission of all our sins, and become the people of God by believing in this Word of salvation along with the descendants of Abraham. And then we get to receive all of God’s blessings by having faith in Him wholeheartedly. We receive the remission of all our sins, become the children of God, and receive the heavenly Kingdom of God as ours as a gift.
Let Us Receive Blessings by Having Faith Just Like Abraham Did
We must possess the faith like Abraham did. We should not just know about Abraham; we should also know how Abraham had received these blessings. He was able to receive blessings by believing in God; he was able to receive these blessings by believing in every Word spoken by God. Similarly, you and I today must also believe in God being alive, although He cannot be seen with our eyes, and in Him having made this universe. And by such faith, as we believe in Him having blotted out all our sins by coming down to this earth, taking on our sins through the baptism, dying on the Cross, and resurrecting from the dead, we have become the children of God and will be given Heaven as an inheritance and our wealth. By faith, we must receive such blessings. You and I must also possess the faith like that of Abraham. We get to receive blessings by faith.
If not by faith, everything is in vain. As it is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke” (Psalm 116:10), because we believe we speak. Because we believe we preach. Because we believe, we serve. Because we believe we follow. But if we do not believe, we cannot receive any blessing from God. God spoke of the Law, but furthermore, through the Law, He has allowed us to realize our sins. And in order to blot out all our sins, He had set the sacrificial system and remitted all the sins of those who offered sacrifices before God by faith according to the sacrificial system.
Therefore, we must believe in God having remitted all our sins through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We must believe in the Word of the Truth spoken by Him, when He said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). We must believe in Jesus having received the baptism and come up from the water. We must believe in the Word that goes, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) and “It is finished!” (John 19:30), both of which tell us that in doing so Jesus has remitted all our sins. And in doing so, we must become the children of God in His presence, and by faith we must receive all the blessings He had granted Abraham. And this is why faith is so important.
We shouldn’t believe unconditionally according to our thoughts, but rather, we should believe what God has said in itself as it is all about. That is what a true faith is. Why? It is because He is faithful and trustworthy. It is because He is truthful.
We Are Descendants of Abraham
Israelites as well as the Muslims think greatly of Abraham. They think that he is the father of faith. God loved and cherished Abraham so much like that. And you and I will become descendants of Abraham and also receive God’s affection that he had received if we were to possess the same faith that he had. You and I will also receive it, along with the same blessings as he had received.
When we look for the evidence that he was a true man of faith before God, we discover that he believed in every Word spoken by God. Then, if you and I today were to believe in the Word of God written in the Bible, we will possess the same faith as that of Abraham. It is not something difficult. It is not something that is obtained by our acts.
Believing the Word of God is faith. It is to believe in one’s heart. If we believe, the faith will come, but if we do not believe, the faith will not. In the Book of Romans, it is written, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). It is also written, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).
We pray, recite the Apostles’ Creed, and listen to the Word of God during this worship service. We confess every issue of our faith through the Apostles’ Creed. And when we pray, we seek help from the Lord with our lips by firmly trusting in Him. When we hear the Word of God through sermons, we also profess what we believe in. As we do so, faith will gradually grow bigger. No matter how well we believe in our hearts, if we do not acknowledge with our lips, faith will not grow. Thus, we must acknowledge as frequently as possible because the faith will grow as we believe in our hearts and say that we believe in the Word of God, just as we have gained salvation by having faith in the genuine gospel and acknowledging it with our lips. Truly, we have gained salvation by faith. And that faith is something that God has planned, fulfilled, and spoken about. We should not believe in God on our own accord. Rather, we should believe in God having decided to give us such blessings. Like this, faith comes from hearing and believing in the Word of God.
We must possess the same faith as that of Abraham. This is why Israelites respect Abraham, and we do, too. When we read today’s Scripture passage, through what was God going to give the land of Canaan to Abraham? It is said, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon” (Genesis 15:9). For what are all these things used? They are used as offerings of sacrifice when one receives the remission of his or her sins before God.
God had promised that He would remit the sins of the nation of Israel and the sins of each individual if they were to transfer sins over to the sacrificial offering by the laying on of hands as set by God in the Tabernacle, drew its blood, and give it to the priest, and then if that priest were to cut it up into pieces, burn the meat, put the blood upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour the rest of it on the ground. In the case of the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement, the High Priest sprinkled that blood in front of the mercy seat seven times. God had given us His promise of salvation through the laying on of hands and the blood of the sacrificial offering. Under the precondition that He would remit the sins of the people of Israel through this sacrificial system, God had allowed them to be remitted of sins and had them enter the land of Canaan by their faith in this Word of promise. They were eligible to enter the land of Canaan as the people of God when they had received the remission of sin through the sacrifice. The spiritual meaning of the land of Canaan is Heaven.
Through the Sacrificial System, the Israelites Got to Receive the Remission of Sins by Faith
For 400 years, the Israelites suffered hardship in Egypt. Number 4 always signifies suffering in the Bible. What happened after the suffering? Through Moses, they were liberated and led into the wilderness, and they got to discover who God is. And then, they got to meet Him. Through Moses, they received the Law as well as the sacrificial system. Hence, through the sacrificial system, they got to receive the remission of all their sins, that is, the sins of having disobeyed the Law. What God wanted to do to us was this: He wanted us to become His children and His people by receiving in the remission of sins. We can be remitted of all our sins by believing in the baptism of Jesus Christ and the blood He had shed on the Cross and can enter the everlasting Kingdom of God as His blessed people. In other words, you and I were born on this earth in order to receive the remission of sins before God, become God’s people, and become citizens of His Kingdom. People were born on this earth so that they can become aware of sin through the Law of Moses and then, receive the remission of all sins and become people of God by having faith in the sacrificial system. This is the purpose with which people are born.
God promised that He will give the land of Canaan as a gift to Abraham and his descendants. The land of Canaan implies Heaven. That is why God has taught us what the Law of God is, what sin is through this Law, who God is, what the true God is like, and how to receive the remission of sins before God through the sacrificial system. We have received the remission of sins by believing in the revelation God has revealed to us. We have become people of God by believing in His Word. This is how to possess the faith like that of Abraham.
You and I follow and pursue God because we serve the Lord and believe in the Word by faith like that of Abraham. Therefore, everyone of this world must also hope to possess such faith like that of Abraham, receive salvation, and become people of God by actually believing in His Word. And even with what we lack, we must follow the Word of God by faith. All of you, as well as I, must possess the same faith as that of Abraham. All those living in this day and age must become the children of God and possess Heaven by receiving the remission of sins by believing in our Lord who had appeared in the Tabernacle through the revelation of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. Do you believe this with your heart?
Regardless of Anything Else, Faith Is Most Important
As you’ve been coming to our Church, have you ever heard a sermon preaching you quit smoking and quit drinking? No, you haven’t. If you believe in God, you will have to quit some habits because they are harmful, having neither goodness nor benefit. One doesn’t believe in Jesus to quit them. If you simply cannot quit smoking, go on doing them.
Why am I speaking about smoking? I am trying to speak about our deeds. As for most Christians, they should never smoke if they are attending a church. Should they smoke, their faith will seem to be a false one. It is even more so with women. It is the same with alcohol. Of course, it is said that we mustn’t eat things that aren’t beneficial. But, there is nothing that tells us not to smoke. As for alcohol, there is no concrete statement telling us not to drink even a drop. It is written, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). The Apostle Paul even admonished Timothy to use a little wine for his stomach’s sake and his frequent infirmities (1 Timothy 5:23). However, people do not become someone who believes in Jesus well or not just by keeping the things that were created from Christian doctrines or tradition.
Our faith is perfected by our faith in those Words spoken by God, the Word which tells us that Jesus Christ has cleansed all your sins and mine with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread manifested on the screen door of the Tabernacle. God has taken us in as His people and given us Heaven when we have this faith. It is not done by our deeds. No one can become a child of God because of one’s meritorious deeds. There is no one who can become like that. This is what our Church teaches, but many other churches insist on deeds. God clearly tells us about the Law, the sacrificial system, and how the Lord has saved us.
However, we must believe in all those Words wholeheartedly. We must understand what sin is through the Law and then acknowledge ourselves as those headed for hell. But still, we must become God’s children by also believing in Jesus, the King of all kings, having saved us by coming to this earth, taking on the sins of the world by receiving the baptism, and dying on the Cross by crucifixion. By faith, we must possess Heaven as our own Kingdom. I am saying that faith is everything. All the Words of God are objects of faith, and not a title of the Word is in vain. For they are the Words of the truth, we must believe in them without fail. They are all absolute truths. If we believe in them with our hearts, we will be able to profess them with our lips, and if we profess them with our lips, we will be accounted for righteousness by God.
Therefore, faith is something tremendously important. It is highly crucial that we believe in the Word spoken by God, the written Word of God, rather than those words spoken by human beings. This is why those who have become servants of God ahead of you are preaching the Word of God through the Church. Thus, as they tell you that Word in a simple way, if you listen to it with your ears and acknowledge that you believe in it with you heart, the blessing of the Word will become yours. Hence, God had called Abraham, spoke to him, promised him, and showed him the secret of the sacrifice so that he may receive blessings of God by faith.
You become the children of God because you believe that God has blotted out all your sins. Because you believe in God’s Word, faith will grow; because you believe, you make your parents’ hearts and the Father’s heart happy. You are doing it gradually, little by little. Dear fellow believers, have you become so?
And so, you must listen to the Word as often as possible. If you just listen to the Word of God, your faith will grow automatically. I think that the Apostles’ Creed isn’t even a prayer. It is a statement of faith. There are many things that are missed in this statement of faith. To say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth” is to truly acknowledge with our lips God who has created the universe and every thing in it. We are acknowledging that we believe this. As we say, “And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate; Died on the Cross, was resurrected from the dead, and there by saved us,” we acknowledge, confess, and believe in all the words written in the Apostles’ Creed with our lips. As we do this, if you do not recite it along with us, it will be a great loss on your part. If you do it wholeheartedly with us, the faith will grow. For it is said faith comes by hearing, we must hear the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
I Believe the Word of God
I preach because I believe in the Word of God. Because I believe in the Bible, I confess. Because I believe, I love you. Because I believe, I hope to work together with you. And because I believe, I go on spreading the gospel to every person throughout the world.
Our Ministry is having a small difficulty. Last month, too many expenses were made, so we are facing financial difficulty this month. Though the difficulty poses some inconveniences, we are still serving the Lord as well as ever without any change. We are taking care of everything by first making arrangement for things that require money. The small car that my wife used to drive will be sent to Chungju Church, and the other car that Brother Choi contributed will be sent to Busan Church. The cars are going where there are no cars. Ministers there were requesting a car purchase, but even though we had confidently said we will make a purchase right away, upon reviewing the mission report, there were some issues that daunted us. So, we decided to do that for the time being. However, just because that has happened, it doesn’t mean that we have to be daunted.
We are preaching the gospel all over the world by faith. By faith, we deliver the gospel to everyone, and by faith, we publish books. We do all these ministries because we believe in God. Faith is really important. That is why people call Abraham as the father of faith. For he wholeheartedly believed in every Word spoken by God, he became one of the people of God, became the father of faith, and received blessings by faith. Thus, we must also attain such faith by believing in God wholeheartedly. And for this reason, I am preaching this Word to you.
I believe in God and His Word. I believe that Abraham is not the only one who received blessings by believing in the Word of God. Rather, I believe we all will also get to receive the same blessings that Abraham had received only if we believe in the Words spoken by God. We can carry out God’s work greater than the work Abraham had carried out. Because we believe in God’s Word, we go on following the Lord and so on. There are many things we lack, but I give thanks to God.
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