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Subject 24 : Sermons for Those Who Have Become Our COWORKERS
[24-27] God Builds His Church Through His Servants (Genesis 2:1-3)
(Genesis 2:1-3)
“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
We humans are the witnesses to the work of creation that God accomplished during the first six days when He created the heavens and the earth. Today I would like to share the Word with you regarding what God actually did on the seventh day of creation. It is written in Genesis 2:1-2, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” God says here that He completed creating the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them. But on the seventh day of creation He rested, because all His work had ended.
We need to carefully examine if there was anything lacking in this God-made dominion. It’s our God who created the heavens and the earth, but was there anything imperfect or lacking in all of God’s creation? Indeed, when we look at what God actually did, we see that there was nothing imperfect at all. Spiritually speaking, the fact that God finished all His work of creation means that our God made us in perfection. God made each and every living creature under the heavens and on the earth. What did God place in the Garden of Eden in particular? It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In Genesis 2:9 we read, “And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” What we need to realize here is that in addition to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, our God also placed the tree of life. In other words, it should be understood that God planned everything in perfection to enable man to eat from the tree of life and live there forever.
God’s Possessions Are Made Ours by Believing in His Word
Today’s Scripture reading shows us that God ended all His work of creation on the seventh day. In all the work of creation that God had accomplished, there was neither anything imperfect nor anything lacking. During the first six days, God made the whole universe and all its hosts to perfection. Today, what does God tell us to do after He made everything to perfection like this? God told us in Genesis chapters 2 and 3 to eat from the tree of life and enjoy everlasting life forever. Who is allowed to take this God-made dominion? God says that it is us, we the redeemed; it’s our faith in His Word that makes it possible for us to enjoy all the dominion of His creation. In other words, those who are allowed to enjoy everything that God had completed are those who have faith in His Word. Only the people of faith who know and believe in the righteousness of God can achieve everything in God’s dominion and enjoy their accomplishments. In contrast, those who have no faith in the righteousness of God are unable to enjoy God’s dominion, and are driven out of it. This is what God is teaching us in Genesis chapter 2.
It is written in today’s Scripture reading, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:1-2). As it says here, God ended all His work of creation on the seventh day. All His work of creation was completely finished, so there was nothing lacking or incomplete. Do you realize the implication of this? It means just as God had ended all His work of creation on the seventh day, so He also finished all His work of salvation. Do you think creation is an on-going process? No, God ended all His work of creation on the seventh day to perfection. Likewise, our salvation has also been completely achieved. All that remains for us to do while living on this earth is to receive God’s blessings and to enjoy them. Those who receive and enjoy God’s blessings do so because they have faith in the righteousness of God. All of us must make God’s blessings ours by believing in the salvation that He has fulfilled through Jesus Christ, give all praise to God for His blessings, and abide in these blessings.
However, there are many people who still remain incapable of receiving and enjoying this perfect world of God’s creation. Such people can neither receive nor enjoy God’s perfect world because they do not believe in what He has accomplished for them. That is why they keep on trying to do something by themselves to make everything perfect, for they feel that there are still flaws in God’s creation. But God finished all His work to perfection, and therefore all that we have to do is just take His every blessing by placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. For what God has given us now, we only have to take it by faith.
The Lord Said That He Had Already Finished Everything
To reach our salvation, the only thing we need to do is to just take it by faith. Once you take God’s completed work of salvation by faith, you will receive the remission of sins and enjoy everlasting life. Just as the Bible says, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished,” God wholly completed all His work of salvation. In the dominion of faith, all that you have to do is just take by faith what God has already finished, and live your life according to His providence. It is none other than faith that makes it possible for us to enjoy everything made by God. God has already prepared and guaranteed all our happiness and blessings. The only thing remaining for us to do is to just believe in what God has completed. True faith is all about believing in what God has completed. I have done many things in my life of faith, and all these things were done by faith in what God has already finished. In other words, it’s by my faith that I take what God has already accomplished rather than doing something on my own.
And God has already decided to fulfill everything through His Church. He also has prepared and fulfilled everything regarding His Church for us, so that we may serve His Church, unite with it and abide in it, and live by our faith in the righteousness of God under the leadership of His Church. Put differently, God prepared everything for us to live by faith in His Church, and He is waiting patiently for us. We are now taking God’s blessings into our lives on account of our faith in the righteousness of God. Our God planned to build His Church by the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the age of the New Testament. With all these things in mind, God created the heavens and the earth and all their starry hosts in six days.
And when He finished creating these things, He rested on the seventh day. This implies that God has already finished all His work of salvation and is now resting in peace. As we now see from His Word, what He accomplished makes us realize that God has completed His Church with the gospel of the water and the Spirit and thereby perfectly restored our relationship with Him. By faith, we have taken and are enjoying what God has already completed. This means that we are actually taking God’s blessings and enjoying victory in our lives, all through our faith.
Do not worry about how to build a beautiful Church of God or how to share wonderful fellowship among the saints. God Himself has already fulfilled all these things through His righteousness. All that we need to do is just take them all by faith. God did not tell us to build His Church. Rather, God said that His Church is the place where the holy saints who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are gathered. In God’s Church, there is a leader who has been raised by God; there are servants and saints who all believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, all of them living a holy life. And God is carrying out His work through His Church’s order. Through His Church, God is also testifying His glory, love, and Truth. In other words, it is through His Church that God manifests His blessings. By finishing all His righteous work, God allowed us to live a righteous life. He has actually bestowed all His blessings upon us. And so, whoever has faith in God’s Word like this can work with and live in His blessings. In contrast, those who have no faith in the righteousness of God are striving in vain by their own efforts to receive these blessings. But God’s Church is not something that can be built by any means or human efforts.
Christ is our Groom and we are His brides. If God the Father recognizes us as His Son’s brides, then we are indeed Jesus’ brides. This can never be denied as long as God has approved us as Christ’s brides. God the Father planned even before the creation to make us His Son’s brides in Jesus Christ, and He has fulfilled this perfectly. He has sealed us as perfect brides, so that there is nothing more to fix or to add. God has made us perfect.
Do you know how God has built His Church? Do you know how God’s work of righteousness has unfolded so far? What is God’s true Church? Is God’s Church recognized by looking at its rituals of worship? If so, should a pastor preach in a red gown at The Hour of worship in God’s Church? Or should he perform rites in a blue gown? If neither, then should he preach in a purple gown? No, such rituals of worship are not that important. Russia became a Communist country while its Orthodox Church was arguing over such trivial issues. Unless you realize how the true Church is built, you will focus all your attention and energy on something else that’s entirely mistaken, and consequently fail to grasp what you really need to understand, that is, the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. However, once you discover the gospel of the water and the Spirit and believe in it, you can take God’s Church by faith.
God’s Will Is Surely Fulfilled If We Serve It by Faith
You will be truly blessed if you realize just how perfect all God’s plans are. Those who have taken God’s blessings by faith in His righteousness never live in vain. Before you say that you believe in Jesus Christ, you should first realize what God’s Church is, what His love is, and what true faith in the righteousness of God really is. What should we embrace into our heats and what should we cast aside? The correct answer is found in the righteousness of God written in the Bible. It is by your faith in God’s righteousness that you are able to take everything planned and fulfilled by God. All the righteousness of God and all His blessings are found in His Word.
What does the Bible say to us in both Testaments? It commands us to live by faith. But where should our faith be placed? Our faith must without fail be placed in the righteousness of God as we carry on with our lives. Yet countless people do not know the Truth of salvation that God has completely fulfilled, and that is precisely why they are living outside God’s blessings and blaming Him for their every misery. So many lives are being destroyed because they do not know the righteousness of God. In other words, people are rejecting God’s love and blessings because they are totally ignorant of the righteousness of God, and instead are worshipping idols. Unless you know and come to understand God’s righteousness, you will inevitably end up standing against it. Too many Christians nowadays have this notion that they are carrying out God’s work, but in reality, they do not have a clue of His righteousness.
However, all who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can walk in the way of God by their knowledge of and faith in His righteousness. God has given them every blessing and they can take it by faith and enjoy it in their lives. God therefore wants to fulfill His will through those who live by faith in His righteousness. It’s through such people who follow His will that God testifies everything about Himself. Like this, the Kingdom of God is built and fulfilled on this earth through those who believe in the righteousness of God. This is how God’s Kingdom is fulfilled on this earth. So I ask you all to live by your faith in the Word of God.
Now, all of us must grasp and believe in the righteousness of God that has already been completely fulfilled. Has God the Father not finished all His righteous works through His Son Jesus Christ? He has indeed finished them all. This means that God has completely fulfilled the salvation of the human race.
However, rather than believing in Jesus’ completed works of salvation and following Him, many Christians nowadays believe that Jesus has yet not completed their salvation. As a result, all their sins still remain intact in their hearts. If you are such a Christian, then even at this very moment you must cast your notions away and believe in the righteousness of God with all your heart. Your heart must come to rest with the realization and belief that God has perfectly saved you from all the sins of the world. In other words, you must plant peace in your heart by believing in the very Word of salvation that God has already fulfilled.
God finished all His work of creation on the seventh day. Therefore, whatever God asks us to do and whatever He says to us, all that we have to do is just accept His love and practice it by faith. Even though God has completed everything, we must actually take it by faith. It is by believing in God’s love and His righteousness that our words and actions are used for God’s work. God has saved the entire human race from its sin, and we must preach this by faith. However, even though God has already accomplished everything for us, if we refuse to carry out His Work thinking that we don’t have enough faith, we can’t pray well, or we are ill-tempered, while looking at our shortcomings instead of taking what God has finished, then God will not be able to carry out His work through us. He cannot manifest all His accomplished love and righteousness through us.
God came into this world and completed His work perfectly to save us from all our sins. And God wants to manifest His righteousness through us, we who believe in what He has accomplished. Therefore, when God asks us to carry out His work, we should realize and believe that even though He made us as fragile beings full of shortcomings, He has already finished all the work of salvation to deliver us from sin and made it possible for us, despite our shortcomings, to spread His work all over the world. Do you understand this? Do you believe so? This is what true faith is all about.
The Lord Is Asking You to Follow Him
Matthew was a tax collector, but Jesus told him to follow Him, and then told him He would make him a fisher of men. Matthew then abandoned everything he was doing and followed the Lord. The Lord told him that He would make him a fisher of men, and Matthew followed the Lord as soon as he heard this heavenly Word.
The disciples of Jesus did not hesitate to follow the Lord. While Jesus was ministering on this earth, someone once said to Him that he would follow the Lord after burying his dead father. But the Lord told him to let the dead bury their own dead and follow Him right away, saying, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). This means that when it comes to following the Lord, there should be no fleshly calculation to make. Like this, God bears witness to His work through those who, when commanded to follow, say to Him, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you. You have completely fulfilled my salvation. You have made me a righteous person. And You will take care of everything.” In other words, the glory of God and His precious work are manifested through those who submit themselves to what God has done for them and follow Him by faith. Do you also believe so? Do you believe that God’s work is manifested through each and every individual gathered here? This is what faith is all about. Faith in the righteousness of God requires no secular education. There is no need for any worldly gifts. All that we have to do is just say “Yes” to what God is saying to us. Is everything possible for us then? Yes, nothing will be impossible! If God says that He will use all of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as His instruments and manifest His glory through us, then this will come about for sure. After all, isn’t anything possible if it is God’s will? Of course it is! To believe like this is what faith is all about.
You are the second crop of students training here at our Mission School, and if you truly believe in God’s Word and trust and follow your Church leader, God will surely make you His servants and use you as His instruments. Let’s say the Church is about to send you somewhere as a minister. Do you believe that God has raised you as His worker, and do you also believe that God’s glory will be revealed and fulfilled through you? If so, then you should just say “Yes” to the Lord and follow Him by faith. That is how you live out your faith. And none other than this is the disposition of the people of faith.
When Moses was called by God, he refused to fulfill his calling at first, saying that he was too slow of speech. Who else gave a similar excuse? Jeremiah also said that he was too young and not eloquent enough to fulfill his calling. But God said to them, “Do not fear. Go, and speak as I command you,” and when Moses and Jeremiah obeyed this Word, God’s work was fulfilled exactly as promised. His will was thus fulfilled.
Planting God’s Church
Why are we running our Mission School? It’s all to spread God’s gospel. God’s Church is absolutely indispensable to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to every nation in this world. To achieve this, God’s servants must be raised everywhere in the world. We must raise God’s laborers. What is needed is not a large church building. It will be enough if God’s servants are raised everywhere to preach His true Word. A couple of churches should be planted in each region, and several more in a large region. God’s Church is needed everywhere, in Seoul, Inchon, and every satellite city around them. Many new towns have sprung up recently, but what’s needed there? They all need God’s Church that preaches the Truth. It’s not an extravagant church that’s needed. Nor is space an issue. Even a small room with a wooden cross and a pulpit is enough to start a church, so long as it preaches the gospel of the water and the Spirit to all its visitors and everyone around it. Such a church is absolutely essential. We opened up our Mission School only recently, but I have every confidence that God has already fulfilled all His work through His Church—that is, He has already blotted out all our sins and made us His saints. I believe that God has made us happy. God’s servants are preaching the gospel by faith and leading lost souls by faith to His Church. In doing so, they are making these lost souls happy and giving hope to those who are in despair. All these things are done together through all who have united their hearts with God’s Church. That is why we are running our Mission School by placing our faith in the Word of God, all to raise up God’s servants.
Those Who Offer Themselves to God
Whatever God commands you through His servants; it will all be fulfilled according to His will. If God commands you to go to a certain region and plant His Church, then this will come about for sure. It’s God Himself who fulfills everything. I have already addressed this issue before and explained to you how God’s Church is built. When a new church is planted, it is strapped for finance. Of course, this will be eventually be resolved when the membership grows, but before this happens, God’s servants themselves must serve the Lord by offering their own possessions to Him first. No true servant of God has any private possessions; instead, every true servant of God is a mere steward of His possessions. Anyone who follows the Lord must attain everything by believing in the Lord’s Word. When God’s Church is planted like this, many souls will be saved through it, and their offerings will in turn be used to plant even more churches.
What is God’s will? It is for all of us to live by faith and serve this gospel. You and I have been saved by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but unless we first live for this gospel, there will not be anyone following us. Unless you give up yourself, you cannot follow the righteousness of the Lord. Even if a church leader believes that God has accomplished everything, if he does not offer himself to God like this, then who would ever follow his order? It’s those who believe in God’s Word that follow the Lord. God said that He rested on the seventh day of creation because He had finished all His work. Those who believe in the righteous Word of God follow the Lord’s righteousness. It’s when church leaders follow the Lord and set an example for everyone else that those whose faith is still weak also come to follow the Lord. Does this not make good sense? Your faith must be clearly established in your heart. Your heart must be ready to follow the Lord with an unwavering faith. God has already completed His work of salvation to deliver every sinner on this earth.
However, even though God has completed this work, countless people are still being destroyed for their sins because they simply do not know this Truth. That is why this work of salvation which God has completed for us must be testified to everyone. Who will then really offer himself for this work? Who will give up even his life to bear witness to the gospel and preach it? Who will really live for the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit? Who will declare to every nation and every tribe what God has completely fulfilled? It is none other than us, we who know and believe in this Truth. God is saying to us, “Rise and shine!” Just as our Lord said to the Prophet Isaiah to go and shine the light, so is He asking us to rise and shine the light of this genuine gospel.
God speaks to those who know His will. He does not speak to just anyone who does not know His will, but He only speaks to those who believe in His will, telling them that they are the very ones called to carry out His work. Put differently, God is saying to each and every one of us to go and shine the light of His perfect salvation. God does not entrust His work to those who do not believe in His righteousness. When the disciples of Jesus told Him that there was much to harvest and asked Him to send more laborers, the Lord then told them to go themselves. Like this, whoever knows the will of God is bound to carry out God’s work and will follow Him. Can you say Amen to this Word? Let’s all say Amen!
We are not carrying out God’s work for anyone else. We are doing His work to fulfill His will. This work is not being done by our own will or endeavors. Rather, it is God who has raised us, and it is God who holds us steadfast and works through us. All that we have to do is just take God’s Word by placing our faith in it and live by this faith. All of us must come to realize what it means to take the Word of God by faith.
Do you now understand what God’s will is? God’s will is for all of us to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It’s also God’s will for us to see the Son of God and believe in Him. And so like this, we are all working tirelessly to bear witness of His gospel.
I am preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit and laboring very hard in God’s Church. And as I carry on with my work as your leader, it becomes clear to me who is completely united with God’s Church and who is not. There is a gospel song in Korea that goes, “Do not show love with your eyes, do not speak of love with your lips.” Like this, there are some workers who praise the Lord just with their lips and become involved with other things. But this is not what God wants from any of us. Rather, He wants all of us to offer our hearts to Him and put this into actual practice by devoting our lives to the sole purpose of spreading the gospel of the Lord.
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