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Subject 18 : GENESIS
[Chapter 1-16] The Lives of the People of Faith Who Believe in God’s Word With Their Hearts (Genesis 1:20-23)
(Genesis 1:20-23)
“Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.’ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”
In today’s Scripture passage, God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures.” Just as the water abounded with fish, even now, countless righteous people who believe in God’s Word continue to carry out His work faithfully. Even at this very moment, the Word of God is alive and works with the righteous who walk by faith. It is my sincere hope that the righteous would keep on preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to sinners, as long as the Word of God exists on this earth.
The Word of God is nurturing our souls to grow and prosper in faith. God’s Word continues to nurture the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This world is abounding with more and more believers in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. At the same time, however, Satan is also trying to trouble us. Yet we must stand firmly on our faith. Despite Satan’s obstruction, we cannot stop spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
However, Satan has been working in this world from long ago to the present. He has used all sorts of means to obstruct the Word of God from being spread. In the Garden of Eden, he tried to corrupt God’s Word through the cunning serpent. Even now, Satan continues to hinder the people of God, trying to prevent them from serving Jehovah. And he is trying to make everyone commit idolatry, leading all to idols.
Even in the age of the New Testament, the Devil still tried ceaselessly to corrupt the Word of God. However, no matter how Satan tried to corrupt God’s Word of Truth, God still preserved His Word and ensured that it would be passed down. From time to time, God provided good Bible versions such as the King James Version, thus enabling people to receive the remission of their sins through His Word.
So this Bible that we are now reading remains completely intact, exactly as God spoke through His prophets long ago. Everyone in this world now has the written Word of God that lacks nothing to enable him be saved and receive everlasting life. In other words, the Word of God that makes us receive the remission our sins is written in this Bible that we are holding in our hands.
On the other hand, however, Satan has also continued to work. You should realize how erroneous versions of the Bible have so profoundly distorted the will of God. Today’s flawed Bible versions are undermining the authority of the Word of God.
The main Scripture passage for today tells us that every sinner on this earth would be saved from sin, and that the saved souls would prosper as well. If this is how God spoke to us, then it will be fulfilled exactly as He spoke. However, Satan is still trying to clutter God’s Word even now, so that even Christians would be prevented from entering Heaven. We need to realize that in the Early Church period and today alike, Satan has put up tremendous obstructions.
However, regardless of how hard the Devil might try to thwart us, when the gospel of the water and the Spirit flourishes on this earth, Satan’s obstructions will no longer prevail. Just as God made fish live in the water, the saints who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will continue to grow in their faith, trusting in the Word of God.
Therefore, Our Faith Must Begin Anew by Placing Its Basis in the Word of God
The Word of God is saving all souls from the sins of this world and making them prosper. Trusting in God’s Word, we should now preach it to even more souls. Then, through us more and more souls shall be saved from the sins of the world and be transformed. We saw how the water abounded with fish because of God’s Word. Many people in God’s Church are now being raised as workers who preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit through their faith in the written Word of God. It is because God spoke to us with His Word that we have come to exist as righteous people today. I admonish you all to realize this and to believe in it.
The Word of God is the Word of Truth that enables sinners to be saved from their sins. If this is so, and if we have indeed been born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to be saved from all our sins, then what life of faith should we lead? Of course, we have to lead the life of faith that spreads the gospel throughout the whole world. It is in the dominion of Heaven that we should live, through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must be one family with God, and we must also live by this faith.
God told us to live like the birds flying in the sky. The righteous should realize that it is their carnal thoughts and emotions that obstruct their way of faith, preventing them from marching forth and fulfilling the will of God by placing their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That is why God is saying that the only thing He wants from us is to believe in His Word, and to fly across the realm of faith and live in it.
To those who have been born again from all their sins by believing in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, God is now demanding that they live by placing their faith in His Word. If we have really become God’s people by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then God now wants us to live by trusting in His Word. God is telling us not to rely on what is on this earth, but rather, to rely on His Word and to live by this faith that we have placed in the Word.
In other words, if we really are believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then God is saying to us, “Live by your faith in Me and My righteousness.” If we are God’s people who have been saved from the sins of the world, then we ought to fly on the wings of faith, trusting in the Word of God. We must live by faith, believing that if God is pleased, He would permit all things and fulfill them all. God is telling us continuously to live a life that is set toward Him.
Before us, there are two differently worlds. First, the realm that our eyes of the flesh see is this present world. However, there is a dominion of God invisible to our own eyes of the flesh, and we must remember that this realm is eternal and is far more substantial than the present world.
God said, “Let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” The biblical meaning of the firmament here is the space in Heaven. The Word of God speaks about His dominion. It means that it is not on the earthly dominion that the righteous live, but by their faith in the Lord, they are to fly across the dominion of Heaven. In other words, God said that it is when we live in the dominion of faith, where we trust in God’s Word, that all His will is freely fulfilled.
God said that if we live in this dominion of faith believing in Him, then He will save even more souls than what we hope and desire. It is by believing in the Word of God that we should live. God has enabled us, who believe in His Word, to live forever.
God did not tell us to live trusting in our own human strength of the flesh. Rather, He told the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to live by their faith in the Word of God, and then enter the Kingdom of the Lord. In the Word of the righteousness of God, we can live freely by placing our faith in this Word.
However, more things of the earth have already come into our hearts than the Word of God, and so it’s not easy to live spiritually with the right faith. Because we have too many earthly desires, we find it quite difficult to live by trusting in the Word of God entirely. When we wonder, “Should I live this way or that way?” we see that rather than pondering on this question within the bounds of the righteousness of God, we often design our lives with our own carnal desires in mind.
God is telling us not to design our lives with the things of the earth. Far from this, He told us to live by our faith in Him, like the birds flying above the earth across the firmament of the heavens. That’s because the righteous should live by their faith in the Word of God, rather than by the things of this earth. To a certain extent, we the righteous also have earthly needs, but a life lived without the Lord is meaningless. In other words, although the dominion of Heaven is not seen in the eyes of the flesh, it is far more significant and valuable than any worldly possessions.
That is why God is saying to us that the earthly domain that our eyes of the flesh see is not all that there is. We need to grasp here the reason why God has shown us, the righteous, His spiritual dominion unseen by the eyes of the flesh. By this, God is telling us to live in the spiritual domain He has prepared for us, by placing our faith in God.
God is saying to us not to live only by what is seen in the eyes of our flesh, but to live by our faith in His written Word. I believe that if we have anything to ask, want, or desire from God, He will surely fulfill all our needs. We should let all our hearts’ desires and thoughts be made known to God, who surpasses all understanding, and trust that He will answer us.
We, who have become righteous, must live by our faith in the Word of God. God is telling us to cast aside our narrow-minded thoughts and carnal lives, trying to convince ourselves, “It’s okay to spend just a little of what I have to serve the Lord, and then spend the rest all for myself.” God tells us to live for His righteousness with the new faith that enables us to abide in His righteousness.
Our Lord Enables Us to Live in the Lord
The Lord said to us, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1). In other words, God hears our prayers, provides for our needs in His time, and helps us to do His good work. God fulfills His will through you, by answering what you have planned in your minds, and what you ask God within the bounds of His Word. It is when we live according to the Word of God that He fulfills all our needs.
I believe that in this year also, God will continue to save countless souls from sin through His Church. My fellow believers, we should first plant churches and spread the gospel in our country, and lead countless souls in other countries to salvation as well by also planting God’s churches throughout the whole wide world. Establishing God’s Church all over the world and spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit are made possible only by placing our faith in the righteousness of God.
When we believed in God’s righteousness, seeing our faith, God raised us as His servants, blessed our labor, and worked with us. It is God who called His workers, grew them, and nurtured them. And God established them as His servants, and He saved countless souls through these servants of God. God wants to use us, the members of His Church, as the workers of His Kingdom.
If we try to live only with the things of the earth, we will reach a limit in the end. Therefore, we can lead a spiritual life only by believing in God. God is telling us to fly across the sky. The faith that pleases God is one that is placed in God and His Word. So I admonish you all to indeed fly by your faith. I admonish you to fly across the sky and see for yourselves with your own experience how God works in this world.
Those who still have not received the remission of their sins cannot know the realm of faith placed in the righteousness of God. How could sinners ever live by faith? They are not living in the dominion of faith, where they believe in God’s righteousness, but they are living in the dominion of the lust of their flesh. The righteous must trust in God’s righteousness, they must know and believe what really pleases God, and they must live accordingly.
To have the belief that God would fulfill all His will is to have true faith. But, what about you? Do you really believe that God will lead you with His benevolence? If we live in this realm of faith, we will surely live our lives full of energy and receive such great heavenly blessings.
It is my sincerest hope that you, too, would all now live in the faith that is placed in the righteousness of God. You need to realize just how rejoiced God would be when you believe in His righteousness. Referring to the righteous, the Bible writes,
“The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
God will rejoice if we live by our faith in His righteousness. Therefore, rather than saying that we would drink and eat the things of the earth, and live and die in vain like this, we have to set our hearts on God. God said, “The just shall live by faith.” I admonish you all to preach the righteousness of God until the day you are called home by God.
Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the United States, and for this achievement, he became one of the most admired figures in American history. The righteous are the ones who live for God’s righteousness that enables sinners to be freed for all their sins. This is indeed the most admirable life in this world. If the people of God on this earth really live by faith for God and for their fellow human beings—that is, if they dedicate their lives to turn many people back to Jesus Christ—then they will shine like the sun forever and be glorified, both on this earth and in the new heaven and earth to come. God said, “Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3); “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:43)
I admonish you all to live such a life. None other than this is the true life of faith. Even on this earth, it is the names of those who have done what is right that shine. Likewise, it is those who live according to the faith of Truth in the Kingdom of the Lord, in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and in the Truth, who will shine forever in Heaven. To the born-again who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God has told them to live by faith without fail.
On the fifth day of creation, God said to us to live by faith. When the sixth day comes, God would now make man, and He would rest on the seventh day. I beseech you all to realize that in His plan for us here, God is commanding us all to live by faith. You must know that faith in God is all contained in His plan of the creation of the heavens and the earth. And you should also grasp that it is this faith that God wants from you. I ask each and every one of you to know that God’s plan is for you to live by faith.
Let us turn to Genesis 1:21 here: “So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”
God is the Maker. He is the Creator. What did God make then? That God made big fish and living creatures, and that He also created every bird according to its kind, mean that He made the people of faith in His providence. God is the One who creates faith in us. He gives us faith, He brings forth faith in us, and He desires for us to follow Him by faith.
If you abide in God’s Church, God will give you even more faith in His righteousness. At first, He will expose the futility of your own human effort. The born-again can come into the dominion of faith and learn to live by faith only if their effort to follow the Lord with their earthly possessions is completely exhausted. And their measure of faith will then increase more and more, as they will come to entirely trust in the Lord. In other words, someone who has once used his faith can continue to use even greater faith, and so his faith gradually grows as he comes to have greater faith.
For those who have once lived in the Lord by faith, their faith may be as small as a mustard seed at first, but down the road, this faith will grow and their hearts will also be spiritualized. So you shouldn’t worry over not having enough faith in God. God will raise this faith in you and me, and He will nurture our faith to grow.
Even now, God continues to make us. You need to remember that just as God made the stars, He is molding us into the people of faith. He is shaping you and me into the people of faith. To those who are now relying only on their flesh, God is breaking down their carnal elements. God is making it impossible for us live without believing in Him. This is the very will of God.
When we encounter certain difficulties, if we try to solve them with some sort of human means, we will only end up facing even more difficulties. In times like this, if we believe in God, rely on Him and follow Him, then God will resolve all our issues and, in doing so, teach us about true faith. God wants our faith to grow. It is none other than God Himself who does everything in His Church. That is why our God nurtures us, as a parent nurtures a child.
We have now come into the dominion of faith, where we believe in the righteousness of God. If you believe in God’s righteousness and live by faith, then you will now be molded just as those others who are spiritually blessed; however, if you otherwise live your lives without believing in God, then you will only suffer on this earth. It’s never too late; even now, you should live by placing your faith in the righteousness of God.
Our faith may be as small as a mustard seed, but when this faith in God’s righteousness grows more and more, it will enable us to fly across the whole heavenly realm, see all the beautiful dominion of Heaven, enjoy all the heavenly things forever, and live in joy and happiness. It is in the dominion of faith that we are made to participate in God’s ministry freely, enjoy His blessings freely, and see all His glory. That is one of God’s blessed providences bestowed upon us.
On the fifth day, God wanted us to live by faith. God is telling us to have faith in Him, and He is telling us that it is when we have this faith that our faith grows. If you believe in God’s gospel of the water and the Spirit, you will surely receive the remission of your sins. But if you do not believe, then the remission of your sins will be forever out of your reach.
Do you pray to God to solve your problems and worries, spiritual or otherwise? I believe that if you believe in God, He will surely resolve all these problems wonderfully. On the other hand, however, if you do not believe in God and rely on Him, and instead rely on man-made thoughts, means, or methods, then God’s hands of grace will move away from you. He will say, “Try all you want, since you think you can do it by yourself.” Trusting in God, we must place all our expectations on Him, and see for ourselves how God changes our circumstances and how He works in our lives.
We Should Rely on God
God said that those who rely on their own human strength instead of God are all evil. The “Nephilim” (Genesis 6:4) in the Bible are precisely such people. These refer to men of enormous strength, or giants. God brings down those who are like the Nephilim, like Goliath. But God raises those who rely on Him like David as His servants and works through them.
No matter what glory anyone might have, God has the power to make it disappear like the morning dew. He can bring down all the things of the earth over night. However, to those who rely on God, He allows them to stand firm in the dominion of Heaven forever, and He shows them how to shine His light for eternity.
Are you relying on the things of the flesh? Or are you relying on the God of Truth? I admonish you all to rely on God. I admonish you to rely on God whenever you encounter any problems. I want all of us to ask the Lord for help, trust in Him, wait for Him, and know His will. We must follow the Lord, place all our expectations on His work, and seek after the Lord. I believe that God will make such people prosper and bless their way. And I want none of you to rely on the things of the earth. The things of the earth destroy us. They lead us astray, and, moreover, they shall perish away instantly. So I admonish you all to rely on God who is forever.
Countless people have lived on this earth, but of all these people, it is in the hearts of those who rely on the righteousness of God that the everlasting light has sprung forth. However, for those who do not rely on the righteousness of God, they will never be found in His Kingdom. No matter how virtuous they might have been, God has rendered the good deeds of those who do not rely on His righteousness all futile.
Many great powers rose and fell in Western history, from the Roman Empire to the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Spain, the British Empire, and the United States of America. For a while, Britain had been a great power with so many colonies that it was called “the empire where the sun never set.” The rise and fall of great powers in Western history coincided with the rise and fall of their Christian faith. Put differently, while a country was relying on and fearing God, it became more and more prosperous, but once it relied on the power of its state, on its might, and on the military strength of its warships, its glory could no longer last forever.
In contrast, for the nations that truly rely on God, and for the people who rely on God, the grace of God does not disappear. The righteous become brighter and brighter in the light of God by faith, as it is written,
“The path of the just is like the shining sun,
That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18).
It is God’s will for the righteous to reveal His light of Truth. Therefore, after being born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, when we stand on the crossroads to decide whether we would continue to live by our faith in the Lord or by relying on what is in the world, we must clearly choose the way of faith that believes in the righteousness of God.
Even the people of faith who believe in God’s righteousness may go astray while living in this world. Once, David tried to count the number of Israelites, however, God did not want him to take a census. God abhors reliance on the flesh the most. As God abhors when one relies on his own strength—that is, when his heart relies on the things of the earth—it is written in the Bible that God punished David, and countless people in Israel died as a result. So, when the people of faith try to rely on the things of the earth, God blocks them and prevents them from embarking on this mistaken path.
My fellow believers, we must have our Lord in our hearts, follow Him, and live our lives doing what pleases God by faith. Once we know God’s Truth, we must rely on the Lord and trust in Him today, as we must rely and trust in Him tomorrow—indeed, we must continue to trust in the Lord alone for the rest of our lives. Let us therefore never falter but always rely on the Lord until the day we reach the everlasting dominion.
If only you have faith in the righteousness of God, God will surely bless you. Because we believe in God’s righteousness, we can have every spiritual blessing of God. God will fulfill everything in due time. In time, He will exalt you high.
So have faith. Believe in God. Believe in the Lord’s righteousness. Trust in the guidance of God’s Church. Believe in the works of the righteousness of God that God Himself manifests in His Church. If faith in the Lord is found in your hearts, in the hearts of all our brothers and sisters, God will then raise you to an even more honorable place. And I believe that God will use you as His instruments to fulfill His plan.
Therefore, we need to use our faith often, relying on the Lord. Rather than relying on the Lord just a little in times of hardship, only to rely on the world again when the hardship is gone, you should rely on the Lord no matter what, and your hearts should always be set on God alone. We cannot let our hearts be lost to the world. Above all, we must keep our hearts. We must indeed defend our faith. As we carry on with our lives, we must obey the will of the Lord, have faith in Him, and keep our hearts.
God wants to see if there is anyone on this earth who is looking for Him. When God sees someone who believes in Him and has the Lord dwelling in him, God will work through this person. And God will bless such people who rely on Him, just as the Bible says, “God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’”
Whom does God bless on this earth? It is those who believe in God’s righteousness, who walk according to the statutes of God, His Word. In other words, it is the people of faith whom God blesses. God blesses those who really believe in Him. He does not bless those who are zealous only in outside appearance.
God intervenes in our lives as those who believe in His righteousness, He cares about us, He listens to us, and He works in our lives. Do you believe in this? Do you believe in this love, with which God has blessed you and me? Do you believe that you and I cannot live but by our faith in God? Do you believe that if we believe in God, He will be rejoiced to bless us? Yes, please do believe in all these things.
God blesses those who have been born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and who, from then on, live by trusting in the righteousness of God. When we trust in God’s righteousness and follow it, God will fill us with unspeakably precious blessings. If we obey the will of God, He will bless us a thousand-fold and a million-fold. That’s because God has wanted to bless all of us from the very beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth.
Therefore, we should become one heart with the Lord set to expand the Kingdom of God on this earth, and serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit by faith. None other than this is the shortcut to receiving God’s great blessings. Though our beginning may be humble and many people may be unimpressed by us, if our hearts have faith in God, then that is more than sufficient. Through us, God will then majestically fulfill all that He wants to do. Amen!
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