ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ကပ်ရောဂါနှင့်အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာစာပို့လုပ်ငန်းဝန်ဆောင်မှုများပျက်ပြားခြင်းကြောင့်ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ 'အခမဲ့ပုံနှိပ်စာအုပ်ဝန်ဆောင်မှု' ကိုယာယီရပ်ဆိုင်းလိုက်သည်။
ဤအခြေအနေ၏အခြေအနေအရကျွန်ုပ်တို့သည်ယခုအချိန်တွင်သင့်အားစာအုပ်များမပို့နိုင်သေးပေ။
ဤကပ်ရောဂါသည်မကြာမီကုန်ဆုံးပြီးစာတိုက်လုပ်ငန်းပြန်လည်စတင်ရန်ဆုတောင်းပါ။
Subject 15 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the GALATIANS
[Chapter 4-4] We Are Heirs of God (Galatians 4:1-11)
“Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.”
The Apostle Paul said that although all the saints and ministers are God’s heirs who will inherit His Kingdom, while living on this earth, they are no different from a slave and are under stewards temporarily, and that they suffer under the elements of the world for a short while. He said, “Although you are living as slaves in this world for a short while, you must not forget that you are God’s sons who will inherit all the wealth of God the Father.” This message was spoken not only to God’s servants and all His people at that time, but it is also spoken to us now.
To make us God’s children, God the Father made us born under the Law. And then He sent Jesus Christ under the Law and has saved all of us by purchasing us with the price of the body of Jesus Christ. Thus, God has adopted us who believe in this Truth as His own sons and daughters. And the Holy Spirit, who has come into the hearts of us the born-again, enables us to call God as our Abba, Father.
Indeed, just like the Apostle Paul and our forefathers of faith, we also yearn to live with the Lord soon, whether we go to Him or He comes to us. We have the great hope of inheriting and enjoying the Lord’s inheritance. We believe unwaveringly that we are the ones who will inherit and enjoy all the splendor and glory that God the Father has. Some people argue that all the Word manifested in Revelation is “an unreliable collection of mystical sayings.” There are those who inappropriately invoke scientific arguments to prevent others from believing in God’s Word. They treat those who believe in His Word as if they were fanatics, but these people are wrong.
The Bible says that Abraham followed the Lord according to the Word of God, and all the people of faith who believed in every Word of God also lived like this by faith and rested before us. They are now waiting for the Lord’s return, and God promised us that when His time comes, our Lord will lift us up from this earth and live with us in the Millennial Kingdom. The Lord told us that He will have the righteous enjoy all splendor and glory. We believe in His promise. We surely are heirs of the Lord. I believe that when we enter the Millennial Kingdom or stand before the Lord, He will wipe away our tears, protects us, bless us, and give us everything we want. And when we go to His Kingdom after living on this earth for a short while, the glory that we will receive and enjoy will be abundant and everlasting beyond any description.
God’s inheritance refers to His Kingdom. As the Lord’s Prayer says, “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10), the Kingdom of God has already come into our hearts; when we live the rest of our lives for the spreading of the gospel, we will actually enter God’s Kingdom, and when the Lord returns, all these promises will be fulfilled.
When, then, will our Lord return? When will this promise of the Lord’s return be fulfilled? We don’t know exactly when it will be. However, what is clear is that He will surely come again in the near future. We believe in this. We are absolutely convinced that it will surely come to pass for all the people of God to live in the Lord’s Kingdom. As a river flows into the sea, with the natural passing of time, we are nearing the day when we will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Soon, the time will come for you and me to inherit God’s Kingdom as our possession. Every hour passes by even if the clock is stopped, and time continues to fly no matter what. Whether we live for a day or two, the clock continues to tick no matter what we do. Even at this hour when we are worshipping, time is passing by; when we have dinner, when we serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit or pray, when we play soccer, when we have negative or positive thoughts, the clock still keeps ticking. With the passing time, the promised day will come, and we will surely inherit God’s Kingdom.
We will inherit the Kingdom of God without fail. We believe that we will inherit all the splendor and glory of God to live with our Triune God—the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This is what the Apostle Paul is speaking of here. Paul frequently mentioned “faith, hope, and love” as the three virtues that the saints should harbor in their hearts. In our present lives also, there must be faith, hope, and love, and of these, the hope that the Kingdom of God will be fulfilled to us in due time makes us persevere in patience through all our difficulties and run the race of faith until the finish line.
My fellow believers, there were times when I, too, was full of youthful energy, but time has already gone by so much that I am now nearing my old age. I couldn’t hold back time no matter how hard I tried. When I was young, time didn’t go by fast enough, but there came a certain point in my life when the clock began to tick too fast. Young men in Korea have to join the army at the age of 20. Each of them receives a notice to have a physical exam to be drafted into the military service, and time flies by from then on. Before then, time had gone by too slowly for me, but from then on, time went by so fast that my thirties, forties, and fifties came to me like a flying arrow. I used to wonder, “When will I turn 60?” but I’ve already passed 50 and I’m now looking at 60. Though my heart is still young, time has passed by and my body shows that I’m past 50. Now, when some more time goes by, will I not also cross the river of death?
Who is at the other side of this river when we cross it? The Lord is waiting for us there. Where is this place where the Lord will send angels to welcome us? It is where our Lord is, the most wonderful place called Heaven. It is the best of the best places, since our Lord is there and the most wonderful environment awaits us. When enough time goes by, the Lord’s Kingdom will be ours. It is for this hope that we live.
Time flies by so fast that this year is already over. Now, when a few more years pass by, the Kingdom of God will be ours. It’s so fortunate for us to live in these end times. I am so happy to be called as one of the last runners of the gospel race. Heaven is yours and mine. That’s why we are so joyful. We are actually glad enough to have received the remission of our sins, and we have also received the gift of Heaven, to enjoy splendor and glory. Our joy is beyond description, for with the passing time, every splendor and glory, everlasting life, and all blessings will be yours and mine. All God’s promises will surely be realized as time passes by.
However, while on this earth, we are obliged to continue the Lord’s work, laboring diligently to publish and share our gospel books and our books of nourishment. Recently the first volume of the series on the Gospel of Matthew was published, and the second volume will soon follow as it is being translated right now. Another book on the First Epistle of John is at the printing press as well. Have you read the first volume of the Matthew series? It is no exaggeration to say that we are now flooded with books. Before, I used to be so happy when just one book was published, but nowadays, up to 7-8 books are published in a week. So just looking at the book cover fills my heart with joy.
This year, we will work more and harder than what we have worked so far. When a baby is born, he has to be nursed by the mother, or otherwise the baby would starve to death. Our sisters probably know this better, but when a woman gives birth, her breasts produce a special type of milk called colostrum for the first few days. It’s indispensable to breastfeed the newborn with this colostrum, as it contains all the nutrients and antibodies necessary to strengthen the baby’s immune system. Babies that are fed with colostrum grow up to be healthy children.
If one has heard the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, the Word of God, and consequently received the remission of his sins, it’s still indispensable for him to continue to feed on the timely and indispensable Word of God. After having colostrum, the spiritually young also should have milk, and once they are weaned, they should switch to baby food, gradually moving from bland to solid food. If we do not supply the necessary Word of God to them, they would have no spiritual food.
In God’s Church, spreading the gospel is our purpose. Of course, to feed on the gospel is to feed on colostrum and milk. Moreover, as we are fed with a nutritiously balanced diet, we can all grow healthy. Like this, we need to feed a balanced diet of the Word of God to the newly born-again saints all over the world. After preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is akin to colostrum for the newly born-again, we need to continue to feed them with spiritual bread, translating and publishing our books on Matthew, 1 John, and Galatians, as well as the Old Testament. Only then can they grow.
When I read testimonies sent to us by e-mail, I can see whether this person would continue to read our books or not. We know that of the current visitors to our website, there are more repeat visitors than first time visitors. Those who have visited our website once continue to come into our site to request our new books in hard copies or download their e-book copies. That’s why I’m convinced that we should continue to publish and share more books. My heart yearns for this, but my problem is the lack of energy. We have to labor more, but we don’t have the strength. Even so, we will continue to carry on with our literature ministry.
When the series on the Gospel of Matthew, the First and Second Epistles of John, and Genesis are published one by one, many souls will see their faith grow, as they will feed on the necessary Word at the appropriate time and be nurtured through these books. When you first received the remission of your sins, didn’t you also have an urgent need for the Word? After you received the remission of your sins, you had to continue to listen to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Just how much did you have to listen to the indispensable Word of God on many issues to peel away your mistaken thoughts? As you continued to hear the Word of God, the dross in your hearts was removed, you came to understand the Word of Truth, and you have now wholeheartedly united with the Lord as well.
It is written, “If a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” (Galatians 4:7). My fellow believers, are your parents of the flesh wealthy to leave you with a fortune as your inheritance? It’s said that when the parents are wealthy, their children wait eagerly for them to pass away, thinking, “If only times passes by, everything my parents have will all be mine.” So there probably are many people who secretly wish for their passing, when their parents get old and sick.
You have passed down something very precious to your children. After all, did you not pass down your faith to them? If so, then you have presented something priceless to your children. There is nothing more precious than this.
We all have become God’s spiritual children. We had been under the Law, but to give us the right as the sons of God, Jesus Christ has remitted away all our sins by coming to this earth, being baptized, dying on the Cross, and rising from the dead again, and He has poured the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Now that we have the Spirit of God in our hearts, we call God “Abba, Father.”
Is there anyone among you who hesitates to call God as his own Father? No, there is none. Is there sin in your hearts? No. There is absolutely no condemnation to anyone who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Do you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? If one believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with the heart, he can identify himself as a righteous person without hesitation. In time, God will share with us every splendor, glory, strength, power, and authority that He has. We will share God’s everything with the Lord. As a family, we will live with Him forever.
At present, such a place is none other than God’s Church. The concept of spiritual family refers to God’s Church. God’s Church is the gathering of the saved who have been born again of water and the Spirit and therefore become righteous people. They will surely inherit the Kingdom of God. It is those born again of water and the Spirit who are God’s people, one family, and members of God’s Church. We must therefore always abide in God’s Church, believing that we will receive and enjoy the power, splendor, and glory that God has. Although we are sometimes persecuted and despised by the people of the world, and we labor hard to serve the gospel while on this earth, we can still live by faith without losing our hearts to the things of this earth, for we are heirs to the Kingdom of God.
My heart has the unshakable faith that anytime I am done with my duties, I will go and stand before the presence of the Lord. I fully appreciate what was in the Apostle Paul’s mind when he labored tirelessly for the gospel, saying, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Before the Apostle Paul was born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, he was no different from a servant of the world. That’s why he confessed that he was “under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.” And there also was a time when we had been under the elementary knowledge of this world. The elementary knowledge here refers to secular knowledge. Actually, secular scholarship is not even at the elementary level. When we look at all the intellectual activities of the world, we can see that they indeed do not amount to much. Having a great deal of secular knowledge is nothing to boast about. God made us live under such elementary knowledge for a short while so that we could meet the Lord in the Word of Truth.
We are heirs of God. It means that together with God in His Kingdom, we will forever enjoy the splendor, glory, authority, power, and beauty that He has. Quite frankly, I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t be boring to live like this. Everything gets tiresome after a while. Playing one’s favorite sports such as table tennis or soccer may be fun at first, but it gets boring if one were to continue to play for a whole day. Two, three hours at the game may be fun, but wouldn’t it get dull if we had to run around the entire day? In your carnal thoughts, by any chance, do you also think that it would be unbearably boring to live forever, when living for just 70 or 80 years on this earth is already tiresome enough for you?
The Bible says that we will enjoy splendor and glory in the Kingdom of God; and along the river of life there, fruits will be born in due seasons. There is no worry but only joy in Heaven. So I am happy beyond words. Since God said that there will be no end to our joy, blessings, and life, and that there will be no darkness whatsoever in His Kingdom, how wonderful is our inheritance? We will enter the garden overflowing with joy just as the Lord promised one of the robbers crucified at His sides, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Indeed, we believe that when we live by faith waiting for the Kingdom of God, in His time, the Lord will return and give us our inheritance, and every Word of prophecies manifested in Revelation will be fulfilled to us.
Although many stirred up people setting some specific dates and claiming falsely that the Lord would return on those days, and made various claims that the world would change on 2000, all their claims were duds. So now, people have begun to turn their hearts to deny the second coming of the Lord. In particular, the Catholic Church denies the second coming of the Lord. Very cunningly, they pretend to show and teach the truth, but in the end, they lead people to disbelief and prevent them from believing in the Word as it is. This is what’s so shrewd. How cunning is it for the false teachers to claim to believe in the Word of God, and yet prevent their followers from believing in the Word of God?
The Bible is the Truth. My fellow believers, your sins have disappeared because you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. So, this gospel is the Truth. Will God’s Word of prophecy then also be fulfilled exactly and accordingly, or won’t it? It will be fulfilled without fail. In time, we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. We will inherit all the splendor, glory, and life that God the Father has.
Will we inherit them only to store? No! The Bible says that we will enjoy them. It’s such a joy, since we are guaranteed to forever enjoy these precious blessings. The God-given inheritance is indeed wonderful. That’s why we do not envy when the people of the world boast and show off their worldly possessions. We have no envy because we believe that the things of the world are nothing, and also because we have the hope of our future inheritance.
My heart has only one hope. It is that we have an inheritance to receive in the future. Believing that God’s promise will be fulfilled in time, I only wait for that day. There is nothing else that I want except this hope. Trusting in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and believing that it is you and I who are heirs to the Kingdom of God, I will continue to preach this gospel diligently until the day I stand before the Lord. I have no other hope. Do you have any hope in this world? Perhaps you may have some other hope other than God’s inheritance, but I have no other hope. For this, I am very happy. I live in hope, believing that when the hours go by and the time comes, I will inherit God’s Kingdom.
I give all my thanks to God. Just as the Apostle Paul recognized himself, saying, “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:10), you and I are rich.
We are heirs to God’s everything. Hallelujah!
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