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Subject 20 : The LORD’S PRAYER
[20-3] Workers Who Build The Kingdom of God On This Earth (Matthew 6:10)
(Matthew 6:10)
“Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.”
How was your breakfast? Did you sleep well last night? Of course, you did. I slept pretty well myself. If you were cold or inconvenienced at this Training Center, let the senior staff members know this by any means. If there is anything else that you need, please let us know.
Today, we read from the prayer our Lord has taught us again. Matthew chapter 6, verse 10 says, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” I would like to focus on this passage today.
Our Lord said, “In this manner, therefore, pray” (Matthew 6:9). The first lesson was to pray, “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” That is, we have to pray in a manner that glorifies the name of our Father. The second was to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” Our Lord told us to pray like this for the Kingdom of God. God has appointed His own people in this land and told them that He will build His Kingdom on this earth. Also, that “God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” is a mandate to the righteous to build the Kingdom of God in this earth.
We Must Live for the Purpose of the Realization of God’s Kingdom on This Land
Who are we before God? We are the soldiers of Christ. We who have received the remission of sin are the soldiers of Christ. What do the soldiers of Christ fight for? They fight for the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ on this land. The reason God appointed us as soldiers of Christ in this land is for us to build the Kingdom of God on this earth. That was a significant imperative included in the prayer our God has taught us.
We are right now spreading the gospel throughout the world. Not any one else but we who have received the remission of sin through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are spreading the gospel Truth. What would these works of ours constitute? Are we just boasting our rich knowledge? Are we using God to boast ourselves? If not so, what are we doing right now? I tell you truly that our works of spreading the gospel are the works that build the Kingdom of God on this land. Right now, we are building the Kingdom of God throughout the world by spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In Brazil and the United States, in India and Nigeria, and in Australia and the Netherlands, we are spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit in all the nations in the six continents. That is, we are building the Kingdom of God on this earth. Hence, we are the builders of the Kingdom of God.
We work as the soldiers of Christ. We work for the purpose of building the Kingdom of God on this land. We are spreading the gospel and waging the spiritual war against the power of the darkness in order to build the Kingdom of God in this land.
King David Was Also a Warrior for Christ’s Kingdom
If we look at chapters 8 to 10 in 2 Samuel, it describes the spiritual war thoroughly. After David became the king of Israel, he fought and won against many nations, including the Moabites, the Philistines, and the Arabs. After the time of Abraham, and after the rule of Moses, the time of the Judges came. And after that, God anointed David as the king of Israel. David fought with many surrounding nations and conquered them. The Bible tells of many tales in which King David fought and overcame his enemies.
Why are there endless wars in the Old Testament? David constantly fought wars against and conquered the likes of the Moabites, the Amalekites, the Philistines, and the Amorites. The conquered nations were subjugated, and their people were enslaved. Once enslaved, they were made to serve God. This is why God was pleased with David.
David as a man of faith feared God and trusted everything in God seeking for His guidance. And as a king, he lived for God. “Only Jehovah and no other is the true God in the land of Israel.” That is, King David declared that Jehovah is the only God. God loved David very much, for he lived not for his own glory but for the glory of God alone. Hence, God gave him many blessings. And those blessings overflowed into the reign of his son, Solomon.
After David became the king of Israel, he fought endlessly and kept winning. That signifies that King David built the Kingdom of Christ on this land according to the will of God. God was pleased with David for being loyal to the cause of building the Kingdom of God by fighting endlessly with the enemy nations. That was true because those wars were not merely fought in the flesh but spiritually for the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Consequently, God gave His blessings to David, and he was able to conquer many nations. God started building His Kingdom long ago and was pleased with doing thus.
As a matter of fact, our Lord taught us to pray “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven” in the Lord’s Prayer so that we who have received the remission of sin may pray for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on this earth. “Live to build the Kingdom of God. Pray for this. For this, fight as soldiers and smash your enemies. Subjugate your enemies by the gospel. And then, lead them to believe in this gospel. Reveal to them that the gods they worship are false. And make them into the people of God. Make them surrender before God so that they may become the people of God. Spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which makes all of these become a reality. Hence, build the Kingdom of God. Build it throughout the world as well as in every corner in our own nation. Make every person surrender before Jehovah God. And make them serve God. And make them into God’s own people.” This is the will of God toward us.
We are serving the gospel right now. People who have received the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are serving the gospel. God tells us to unite together for the purpose of serving the gospel. He tells us to continuously unite with the Church and accomplish the works of God that need to be done. Hence, in obedience to God, we do the works of God ceaselessly. There is no time to rest. We may feel that we would work for a little bit and then rest for a little bit. However, the works of God never cease coming and there is no time to rest.
What Is It That Our Lord Requires of Us?
Although we have really received the remission of sin, we must correctly know what it is that God demands of us. As the phrase “Your kingdom come” implies, what God truly wants is to give the Kingdom of Heaven to us while simultaneously building the Kingdom of God on this earth. God tells us to receive the remission of sin and then to deliver the numerous souls throughout the entire world. Of course, we know very well about our mission to save the souls all over the world. If we know well about the mission entrusted to us after receiving the remission of sin by sharing the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, and if we truly know that is the purpose and will of God, I believe that our orientation of life will become clear and concise.
Although talks about the salvation of the souls may sound repetitive, there is no harm in emphasizing such an important topic. That is because it is our duty as Christian soldiers to live in obedience to the imperative to build the Kingdom of God in this land. We have to inscribe it deep into our hearts and know it by heart and believe in it. When we the saints and the servants of God have unfaltering purpose of life to build the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God will expand through our propagation of the gospel. Although every person has a different role and quite a different task to perform, we need to have the faith of loyalty to the works of spreading the gospel at the given positions.
Sometimes we face hardship while preaching the gospel. Some people instead of listening attentively to it laugh at it, when we share the gospel of the water and the Spirit with them. Our hearts are hurt when some oppose the gospel of the water and the Spirit, not realizing its true value of the precious pearl and treating it like cow dung to be disposed. There are many foolish people who flush it down the toilet, not recognizing the pearl for its value. There are times when I am not willing to share the gospel, and it is the case that I encounter those who oppose and stand against the gospel. Honestly speaking, I once felt like resting from sharing the gospel awhile.
Just a little while ago, I took a great toil because of diarrhea. After suffering three days of diarrhea, I couldn’t bear to make another trip to the rest room let alone the physical toil due to it. I even felt the need to take a binding medicine. Then, I remembered watching on television that diarrhea is caused by the body’s reaction of releasing harmful germs out of one’s body. Taking a binding medicine prevents the body from releasing those harmful germs out of the body and, thus, actually worsens it. Hence, I endured the pain without taking a binding medicine. I grasped this groundless theory I heard from somewhere so fast that I endured the pain without taking some of the binding medicine. The diarrhea persisted. No matter what I ate, diarrhea persisted. You wouldn’t know how painful it was. It was so boring.
Do you feel boring when you are told to spread the gospel repeatedly? Our Lord tells us to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We hear this everyday. Since we hear this everyday till our ears wear out, don’t you feel tired in your hearts sometimes? Aren’t you even a little tired? “Man, I am sick and tired. Every time he opens his mouth, he says the same thing over and over again. Although it may be the right thing, I can’t help being sick and tired of it.” You might have felt this way. Just as we get tired of the same food, no matter how great it may be, if it is offered to us for every meal, we sometimes get tired of hearing, “Spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit,” even though that is the Truth and such living is right.
Despite this, what is the reason our Lord tells the same thing to us over and over again day after day? Our Lord has given the Church the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and we have received the remission of sin by believing in this gospel. What, then, is the reason our Lord tells us to spread the gospel? The passage “Your kingdom come” tells us that we should spread the gospel and build the Kingdom of God so that everyone in this world can receive the remission of sin. Because God wants His Kingdom to be built, soldiers of Christ must live such lives. Hence, the second subject of the Lord’s Prayer is “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”
Our God the Father had a plan in Jesus Christ even before He created this universe. The plan was to have as many people as possible receive the remission of sin in Jesus Christ in order to build the Kingdom of God. The plan was also to have many children of God there to live with Him. This has already been realized in the Kingdom of Heaven but not on this land yet. Hence, the mandate is to build the Kingdom of God in each nation on this land. We are told to pray for this mission.
You and I are the soldiers of Christ. Whether we are weak or strong, we are all soldiers of Christ just the same. Whether we are workers or just ordinary saints, whoever that has received the remission of sin is a soldier of God. Saints of our Church are better workers compared to the pastors of this world. Even if people lure our saints with lucrative jobs to abandon their Churches, they never give in to these temptations that prevent them from uniting with their Churches. Wherever we may be at any time, we meditate on the gospel and live for the gospel and are ever so busy due to the works of the gospel. Therefore, we are all soldiers of Christ.
Soldiers of Christ always charge into the battlefield no matter what. They fight for the Kingdom of God. They share the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Beginning with whether people still have sins or not, they teach who God is, who Jesus Christ is, why Jesus Christ came to this world, how He came and how He delivered us, and whether what we believe is correct or not. By such means, they make nonbelievers surrender and make people of Christ out of them. Furthermore, they lead those people into their respective Churches. That is how to build the Kingdom of Christ. They are indeed building the Kingdom of God on this land.
The gospel is not restricted to any one country. The entire world is the building ground for the Kingdom of Christ. Hence, we should not stay in our own countries but also send our soldiers overseas to build the Kingdom of God. We have to build the Kingdom of God throughout every corner of the entire world. God delights in building His Kingdom in each nation, each region, and each town. That is the purpose that Jesus Christ wanted to achieve by coming to this world. Jesus Christ trampled Satan the Devil and built the Kingdom of God by delivering His people who were dying of the sin they fell into because of Satan the Devil’s enticements. Jesus Christ, who is the King, will take care of His people in the Kingdom of God. He took us to be the soldiers of Christ so that we may receive all the blessings in this land.
You and I are the soldiers of Christ. Soldiers are to wage wars everyday. That is not to kill souls but to revive them. By sharing the Word of Truth with the people who are fallen down in sin and confusion, we deliver the souls from their sins and confusions. If we know that we are the soldiers of Christ and that God desires to build His Kingdom in each nation and each region on this land, the works of spreading the gospel will become so fun to us.
We have to first kill those people spiritually by telling them their sins. To those who have admitted that they deserve to die for their sins and who actually died before the Law of God, we have to bring them the new life by sharing the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Those who believe that they have died to sin by the baptism of Jesus have received new life and the remission of their sins. They are saturated with this heavenly blessing by encountering the gospel of the water and the Spirit and believing in it deep in their hearts. That is what it means to be born again.
The born again belong to the Kingdom of God. They are the soldiers of Christ, God’s own people, and His own children. Until the day they become soldiers of Christ, we sometimes kill them as well as revive them. And after we have nurtured them with the Word of God, we will have the joy of giving birth to a new life. This joy is special since not just anyone has the power to give life as well as take it away.
We Are Workers Building Christ’s Kingdom
Not only that, but our joy is even greater since we are building the Kingdom of God through it. Each nation and even the entire world are the fields on which we will build the Kingdom of God. Only the spiritual soldiers who are born again through the gospel of the water and the Spirit can have the power to build the Kingdom of God there. Because none other than God is delighted by us who have settled there and sponsors us, we have so great of a joy. That is how we build the Kingdom of God. This is the special task appointed to us by God to you and me. This is God’s calling given to us.
You and I are the soldiers of Christ. I am not saying that we should be excited ourselves, while boasting that we are the people of God and the soldiers of Christ. What I am saying is that we should have the faith to live as soldiers of Christ. When we are aware of our responsibilities, we can walk straight on a course without being led astray. God is building His Kingdom here on earth. That is what God desires. I have no doubt, that you and I are the soldiers of Christ. And when I think of our Lord who wishes to build the Kingdom of God all over the world, I feel a strong sense of duty as a soldier for spreading the gospel.
What is the job of a soldier? His job is to fight the enemy. With a sword or a spear in his hands, he goes into the battle to kill the enemy. All those who resist are destroyed, and those who surrender hanging white flags are captured and turned into a citizen of this country. How about you? Do you now understand what your task is?
Since we are the soldiers of Christ, we turn all our prisoners of war into children of God by having them receive the remission of sin. Ropes of sins that were tied inside them should be broken. Their hearts, once bounded by Satan the Devil, should be liberated so that they are made born again. We should do that for them. We are such soldiers bringing them the life of God’s blessings, where they can enjoy true freedom.
You and I have to live our lives as the soldiers of Christ. That’s all we do besides eating our meals. We lead numerous souls away from the bondage of Satan the Devil throughout the world and share with them the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Once they begin to believe the gospel, we can turn them back to God and accomplish the duty that the Lord has entrusted us, the soldiers of Christ. All we have to do is to take orders from our Lord and carry out them. What pleases our Lord is our duty.
We Must Seize All Nations with the Gospel
Our Lord delights in building His Kingdom on this land. If we know what our Lord wants precisely, spreading the gospel becomes fun to us. Our country, which we can cover with our thumbs on a world map, is not the end of where the Kingdom of God is built. How many countries are there in the world? They say there are and about 220 countries in the world. And we want to plant at least 5000 churches throughout the world.
Actually, there are many regions in our country, where the Kingdom of God has not been built yet. Not only those places in Korea but also each region of this world, we must build the Kingdom of God. What do we need to do in order to accomplish this task? We have to fight the war as soon as we arrive there and build God’s Churches by having them receive the remission of sin after listening to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Church and its leaders will stand, if we are successful in having them receive the remission of sin. And that will constitute the establishment of the Kingdom of God. By the way, we will occupy that region.
As David trampled the Philistines down to death after he became king, we fight the war against those who oppose God. First, we find a person in that region, who is willing to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and receive the remission of sin, and turn him into an ally by sharing with him the gospel Truth. Then, we have him select warriors out of that land. Putting him in the lead, we grow our might by recruiting more soldiers. Once we draw up a strategy, it is time for a full-fledged war. Thus, we will win the war of faith and build the Kingdom of God in that region. If we have such faith, we will never be sick and tired of sharing the gospel, and we will gladly continue to share the gospel because that is the will of God.
God builds His Kingdom in each region and each nation through us. Do you believe that God works at this through us? I act in faith by believing that sharing the gospel throughout the world is indeed the very work of building the Kingdom of God throughout the world. I don’t preach the gospel for its own sake but I preach it to build the Kingdom of God. Right now, we are building the Kingdom of God in the United States as well as in Pakistan and other Islamic countries. God makes pastors in those lands into warriors by granting them the remission of sin to establish the Kingdom of God in those lands. God is building His Kingdom in India as well as all over Africa. Do you believe that God is using us for that purpose?
Dear fellow believers, we who have been born again of water and the Spirit are not ordinary laymen. We are the soldiers of Christ. If we know that we are of such an important status, we must then realize the great endeavor in which we are partaking. Also, if we know our status as soldiers of Christ, we would enjoy waging the wars. Those who do not enjoy waging wars are no longer real soldiers. Soldiers train themselves for war and long for the day a war breaks out. Ordinary citizens are frightened of wars because there is nothing they can do at such times. However, since preparing for war is all soldiers ever do, it is right for the soldiers to heighten their morale as they wait for the day a war breaks out. Once a war actually breaks out, how glad would they be for the opportunity to demonstrate their patriotism? They have sworn their loyalty to maintain the dignity of their country in war. Soldiers only live for the days of war.
Hence, soldiers have what is called “morale.” They treat each situation as a real war situation and maintain their wartime readiness posture. “We are the Skeleton Units! We are waiting for that day of vengeance. Come. We aim, crawl, and train for the day we will trample you beneath our feet.” Soldiers should possess the high morale to go into action anytime they are being called. Everyday they prepare for the day of the battle.
Although they constantly prepare, a war never breaks out. After the Korean War, there was not a single war in Modern Korea. So, what happened? Our soldiers worry about whether their girlfriends have betrayed them or not and end up going to jail for deserting their units. Some worry too much about their families and get depressed for being in the military that they commit suicides. Soldiers who should train hard with high morale for the day a war breaks out are weakened by their loose minds.
Soldiers in our country these days do not show even the slightest standard of the true soldiers. Our soldiers these days don’t even shovel the snow after a blizzard. What kind of a soldier doesn’t even perform the minimal task entrusted to them? Truly, soldiers need to be trained hard so that they don’t have time to wander off in their minds. What is the task of a soldier? What soldiers have to do is to be trained, but how can they be trained if they are given no work?
Actually, officers today are worried so much about their soldiers deserting their units that they don’t train the soldiers too severely. Because soldiers deserting their units affect commanding generals higher up in the ladder, soldiers receive more off time than they do training. In reality, soldiers need to be train hard so that they don’t have time to think about their homes, their girlfriends, or deserting their units. Those who went through hardship in the military come out as better persons and gain maturity to honor their parents. Men grow their maturity in the military. However, weak training prevents them from maturing and realizing how harsh the real world is.
The same is applied in the spiritual units. Truly, you and I go through a lot of hardship while serving the gospel. Sometimes, the tasks are so burdensome that we wish we could go off to vacation in an exotic destination or at least get a few days off. Sometimes, the hot weather takes a toil on us. Sometimes, our works are too heavy to endure. “Would it matter if we just served a little bit at a time? After all, we are serving everyday. Man, how can someone push us to work so hard without any rest? Let’s take some rest from work.” There are times we feel that way.
Why would we not feel the need for rest? We work hard day after day not because we do not know how to enjoy some leisure but because there is so much work to be done. When a book is translated into English, which is not the end of it. We have to further translate that book into every language of the world. There are about 220 countries in the world, and we have to translate our works into at least some 40 to 50 languages. There are so many works to be translated, edited, published in electronic format, printed in paper, and mailed to every destination. We also need to print out stickers and fliers. There just is an abundance of work. There are also a lot of prayer requests along this line. These works require quite a lot of money. So, how much work do we have? There is still too much work to be done. We do these works without hesitation because they are all necessary for the establishment of the Kingdom of God.
Each nation has a different language. In order to share the gospel of the water and the Spirit with them, we have to be able to convey the message in their native tongues. Thus, we have to translate all our literature in each language. And since we cannot go to all nations and personally share the gospel with them, we publish Christian literatures and send them our books. By such works as ours, the Kingdom of God is being built in those places. Although we may have doubts about the outcome, God will make things happen since these are His works. All we need to do is to say yes in obedience whenever He commands us what to do. Although we are a small minority of Christ’s soldiers, we can spread the gospel throughout the entire world in union with each other.
It is not an easy task to share the gospel. We wouldn’t have to work so hard if we just shared the gospel to individual persons so that they can receive the remission of sin. However, our objective is not just to spread the gospel. It lies in expanding the Kingdom of God.
It is not possible to expand His Kingdom just by trying recklessly. Then, how is this work possible? To achieve a different objective, we have to seek a different method. In order to accomplish the expansion of the Kingdom of God on this land, which God so desires, we put all our efforts to expand the Kingdom of God with the power of God backing us, although we ourselves are nothing.
Our Thoughts Have Been Changed
I used to think that sharing the gospel was the end of my work but my thoughts changed. Although we have worked hard on the spreading of the gospel, the problem has changed since our aim and purpose has shifted to the expansion of the Kingdom of God and not just the spread of the gospel. To build the Kingdom of God, people in every corner of this world must receive the remission of sin by being shared the gospel. The Kingdom of God will be built in every corner of this world when God’s Churches are built through these people. We have no time to do any other work other than building the Churches of God. We have to fight forcefully the spiritual war with high morale to expand the Kingdom of God. Our hearts, thoughts, and purpose must shift to be in accord with what God wants to accomplish. And we must train our bodies and hearts to fight for that purpose.
Since I am also a human being, I sometimes feel the need to rest. Sometimes, I think to myself that I would like to gather all of our coworkers and rest for awhile. Whenever I think, “Oh boy, I would like to take some rest,” I should change my heart after looking at my coworkers silently doing their works so hard. I realize how childish my wish to rest is after looking at others working so hard at the works of God sweating like pigs on such a hot summer day. That is, I see my coworkers working hard at sending out emails, wrestling with computers, wrapping books to be sent out to the righteous throughout the world, and earning money to support the efforts to serve God.
Actually, each one of us takes charge of so much work. That massive amount of work takes a toll on our bodies, and we would like to take some rest. I am not saying that we should work without resting at all, but that we should both work and rest for our Lord. For us, working as well as resting is doing the works of God.
As we are working, all sorts of things happen. What is important is where the purpose of our hearts lies. We must remember what our Lord told us to pray for and live our lives accordingly. We need to know what the will of our Lord is and unite our efforts accordingly. That is, what did our Lord tell us to do after He gave us the remission of sin? God told us to build His Kingdom on this land. All we have to do is to build the Kingdom of God.
Although God’s will includes the spread of the gospel, a more fundamental purpose is to build the Kingdom of God so that Christ can rule as King, receive praise, and receive His glory. That is what God desires. Furthermore, Christ desires that all of us in this land receive the remission of sin so that He can give His grace to those who have received the remission of sin. He desires to clothe us with the grace of salvation, blessings, glory, peace, riches, and the gracious splendor. We know this as a fact and believe in it. Dear fellow believers, do you believe this? Yes, we do. We have lived that way so far while serving the gospel, and we believe in all of this.
While serving our Lord, I thought that I should at some point preach about the prayer our Lord has taught us. Although I felt the need, I couldn’t find the right time. So, it has come to this day that I am finally able to share the Word with the blessings from God.
I realized that God is telling us to build His Kingdom on this land. God told us to build His Kingdom on this land and helped us to elect the workers of God and gather saints to fight the spiritual war in order to build the Kingdom of God. I also realized that our Lord called all of us to be warriors and soldiers of Christ. God has placed us on this land as His warriors and soldiers. When we pray for His purpose, God answers our prayers and helps us. Indeed, God works through us.
God permitted for the Internet to be developed rapidly. I think that it was so that we can spread the gospel throughout the world by this means. Even in our country, the Internet was not as developed just a few years ago. Yet, our country has developed into the front leader in the IT industry. Internet communications are the global trend. You would be surprised to know how many people in our country are Internet users. From the elderly to our kindergarteners, all of them are familiar with computers and enjoy using the Internet. This is quite some development. The entire world is going for this trend. And this is not limited to the developed countries either. The Internet is spreading rapidly even through the developing countries.
A lot of people used to go to the post office to send mail, and taking and delivering mail was the majority business of post offices. However, the volume of letters has decreased so much that post offices are focusing on just delivering goods. In the post offices, letter mails are decreasing while deliveries of goods have increased. This has to do with development of telecommunications and other means of logistics, but mostly because of the emails sent via the Internet.
I strongly believe that such development of the Internet was due to God’s wish to quickly build the Kingdom of God on this land. Since we are spreading the gospel through the Internet, we are able to spread the gospel to the remote places of the world without even visiting them. Those seeking the true gospel come and visit our website. There they are introduced to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Once they come to believe in the gospel, they participate in the building of the Kingdom of God.
Our Lord has taught us the Lord’s Prayer for this purpose. That is the prayer phrase that says, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” As this phrase says, the Kingdom of God will surely be established on this land. The gospel will reach every corner of this world. And the Kingdom of God will be established in each nation. That is, workers and believers like you will arise in each nation waging spiritual warfare. If we were merely serving the gospel, we might loose our faith and degenerate into spiritual decay. As a matter of fact, hardship is easier to endure than boredom. God knew that just spreading the gospel would bore us, so He appointed to us the great task of building the Kingdom of God. Working to build the Kingdom of God is not boring. It is another dimension of ministry other than the propagation of the gospel.
“Are you a sinner or a righteous person? Sinners cannot be the people of God, as only the righteous are the people of God. Unlike sinners, the righteous have the distinct purpose of their lives. They belong to a different place and are different in every way possible. No matter how hard they try, sinners are just sinners belonging to this world. Do you know how to become the righteous?” If we believe in our hearts that we are workers who are establishing the Kingdom of God as well as soldiers of Heaven, our languages change entirely as well as the ways of our lives. The level of spreading the gospel has changed.
“Although we may look alike on the outside, you and I have a crucial difference. Do you know what that is? The difference is in our hearts. Instead of sin, I have the Holy Spirit in my heart. How about you? Don’t you have sin in your heart? That is what I mean by being on a different level. Moreover, you and I will face a different ending. No matter how hard you may try, you will end up going to Hell. On the contrary, I will go to Heaven. Your last days will be miserable, full of curses. Mine will be splendid, full of peace and calmness. In another word, I am a holy chosen person of God, who has received the remission of sin by believing in the Christ-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. You, on the other hand, are cursed to work endlessly for Satan the Devil. If you want to get out of the control of the devil and become a child of God, you better listen carefully to what I am going to tell you now. What I am going to tell you now is not my own words but the Word of God. It is the Word of Truth, which will bring you the remission of sin if you only believe in it.”
“All of your sins were transferred onto Jesus Christ, when He received His baptism from John the Baptist. Because Jesus who took all your sins died on the Cross, all your sins were blotted out. When you believe that Jesus was resurrected on the third day, you will also resurrect in a holy body and go to the Kingdom of God. This is the very gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, and you will go to the Kingdom of God if you believe in this Word. And you will have the opportunity to devote your life to the spread of the Kingdom of God, which our Lord has appointed to you. When everything you do is for God, the Kingdom of God will be eminently realized on this land. Those who have received the remission of sin must follow God.”
Dear fellow believers, if sharing the gospel was the end of our task, wouldn’t it be easy to get bored by so much unilateral work? It will be worthwhile if we have them receive the remission of sin and lead them into our churches to become workers of God. Since not all people are true humans that God intends to remake, if we can guide them to live as true humans, it will be worthwhile for us.
A child barely getting off his mother’s breast-feeding soon enters elementary school. It is the wish of a mother to see her child go through middle school and high school and grow into a mature adult and marry a beautiful mate. Just as the mother who sees her child go through his life is proud, it is worthwhile for us to raise numerous souls as the people of God and ultimately into precious soldiers. Just as parents never get tired of raising their children for some twenty years, raising people to become workers of God and the people of God is never a tiresome thing. Because that is the very work of expanding the Kingdom of God, God is pleased with it. We are pleased by the fruit it produces. Just as because our children look beautiful to us, we try to raise them to live as true humans.
I am very fond of a Sunday School student named Euichul. So, I play around with Euichul, calling him “you cute little one!” When I play with him, I press him with my legs. Do you know what he says then? He says, “I am tired.” I have heard “It hurts” or “It is tough,” but never have I heard a child say, “I am tired.” As soon as I heard him saying that, my legs weakened. His saying was quite unexpected. Maybe it has to do with genetics, but I don’t know the specific reasons.
Anyways, he is growing up so fast, it was just yesterday he was crying like a baby, and today he has gotten old enough to say, “I am tired.” And soon, he will go to an elementary school. “Mom, I’m going to school.” And he will go to school with a backpack as big as himself on his back.
There was a child named Chaeyoung, who used to run away whenever she saw me. These days, she sits on my lap and greets me with “Hello, pastor. How have you been?” I marveled at how much she had changed, but some different thoughts aroused in my mind simultaneously. I thought how well her parents have taught her and also wondered whether she wants money from me. Well, it turns out that she has learned to behave that way from her kindergarten teacher. She just acted as she was taught, saying “hello” whenever she saw an adult. Kids who never listen to their mothers sometimes listen to their teachers. Watching this, I felt the kids growing up rapidly. Altogether it is so pleasant to watch children growing up.
Why do parents raise their children? Is it to watch them get married to a beautiful spouse and have children of their own? Parents raise their children to see them grow and get married to form a family of their own. That is the heart of a parent and the purpose for which parents raise their children.
God has a similar purpose for which He has placed us in this land as His soldiers. God wants to see us, His own children, spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit and give new birth to many souls and raise those spiritual children to become soldiers of God as well as His workers.
Our father’s generation did not practice birth control. They had so many children for they had given birth to as many children as they conceived. Korean mothers of those days used to bear a dozen kids in turn. The first three or four children were brought up by their mothers. After the third child, the fourth one is raised by the first, the fifth by the second and so on. Since brothers and sisters raised each other in the old days, there was a tight affection between siblings.
This is the same method that can be applied in raising God’s workers. God has placed us in this land as His soldiers and wishes to build His Kingdom. God delights in ‘producing’ many workers of Christ. Hence, God wishes us to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to all nations throughout the world and have them receive the remission of sin and lead them into our Churches. That is how to build the Kingdom of God.
The church of God where the righteous believers assemble constitutes the Kingdom of God. Hence, we have to build a Church here and another there. We have to build Churches and spread the gospel to the people thereabout. Hence, we will destroy Satan the Devil, just as the Israelites fought against the Philistines and the Amalekites. Making them surrender by waging a war is how we can turn them around towards God. By leading those who have turned around to God’s side, we have them live as the people of God, protected, blessed, and entitled to go to Heaven.
God has placed you and me as His soldiers in this land to build His Kingdom. Do you believe that we the workers and the saints are the builders of the Kingdom of God? We who have been born again of water and the Spirit are indeed builders of the Kingdom of God. If we the soldiers of Christ do not serve the gospel in His camps and go into the world, we will be killed. we will be killed. Because people do not know that not staying in the Church after they have received the remission of sin is in fact being killed, they go into the world despite the fact that they have received the remission of sin. They may say, “I don’t have to fight the war. I give up. I won’t fight any longer,” and throw away their swords and spears. However, that is not the end of their war but rather the end of themselves.
Soldiers always must be armed with weapons, must always fight whenever enemies appear, and must be able to launch preemptive attacks. They have to be perpetually ready to go into war. And they must always fight united with other soldiers. If they fight on their own instead of united, they will gain nothing but wounds. The same principle can be applied in the spiritual warfare. Only with a common purpose, conviction, and heart to win the war, we have to multiply our strength by covering each other’s weaknesses. As the slogan “United we stand, divided we fall” signifies, we must unite if we are to win spiritual warfare.
God calls us to live for the expansion of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has been built in our country, and it is being built in the entire world. Yet, there are still so many regions that have not heard this gospel. Thus, we have to share the gospel of the water and the Spirit to those regions and build the Kingdom of God. Also, in every region where the Kingdom of God is already built, we must encourage them to wage spiritual wars in their surrounding areas. God is telling us to live for the expansion of the Kingdom of God, never ceasing to pray and never ceasing to wage the spiritual war, plundering from the enemies. Our purpose is to delight God by defeating our enemies and building the Kingdom of God on this earth. As long as God permits, let’s try our best with the power of God granted to us. We have to live for the will of God until the day our Lord returns. Lord returns. Only then will we be able to lay down our weapons and cease the war.
Until that day, we who have received the remission of sin must fight the spiritual war. We have to remember that the enemies will have the upper hand if we refuse to fight the spiritual war and refuse to build the Kingdom of God. Thus, we must unite with the Church, take care of the wounded, and keep praying for the achievement of our task. Dear fellow believers, do you believe so?
You and I have served the gospel well so far. However, if we just think, “Spreading the gospel? I don’t know much about it. Sending books? I guess the gospel is being spread somehow,” we cannot accomplish God’s work. “Wow, God’s Kingdom is being built like this. God’s Kingdom is being raised in that area.” This is the reaction of a man of faith. We must remember this.
We are personally experiencing that the Kingdom of God is now being established everywhere. As we continued our spiritual warfare to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit, over 800 coworkers throughout the world rose up. Now, we are witnessing the establishment of the Kingdom of God in each nation with our own eyes. Not only are we imagining in our minds that the Kingdom of God is being built, but the Kingdom of God is actually being built in each nation.
We who have been born again of water and the Spirit must live out our faith knowing the works God is accomplishing through us. We are not that capable because our flesh is weak and insufficient. If we just act on our own will and shout by saying “let’s do it” as found in social campaigns, we won’t be very effective. If we say, “Let’s unite thus,” we end up falling apart. We will scatter, saying, “What nonsense are you talking about. I am really busy.” Although we haven`t promoted a “let’s do it” project in spreading the gospel, because our Lord has delivered us and because the Lord-given grace is so abundant and amazing, we are spreading the gospel out of our voluntary hearts that desire to share this precious gospel wholeheartedly.
We must know this. Especially, staff workers must know this. If we gather up the saints and say to them “let’s do it,” it will amount to nothing. Although they may do it every now and then, they won’t accomplish very much. However, if we say, “Our Lord took all our sins upon Himself through His baptism, bearing those sins of the world He was crucified on the Cross, and delivered us by being resurrected from death. We have no sin because our Lord has perfectly remitted all our sins. All of our sins were transferred to Him. The sins of Kim Il Sung have been transferred. None of our ancestors have sins.
Neither does Hitler nor any mass murderer have any sin. Jesus has blotted out all the sins of the world including yours and mine. The only difference is that we have received the remission of sin by believing in the Truth. But those mass murderers have not received the remission of sin, because they didn’t believe in the gospel. The same can be said about those who have not been born yet. Thus, we have to serve the gospel for those who do not know this gospel yet.” Then, the righteous will serve the gospel in any condition out of the abundant grace of God. We must know well the characteristics of sheep.
Dear fellow believers, God desires to build His Kingdom on this land throughout the entire world. Servants of God inside His Church are preaching only what God has said. All they talk about is the Word of God, even though they use harsh language sometimes. When I use such an unrefined way of talking, I do it intentionally in order not to bore you down. I don`t know how you think of me, but I am a man who can use a refined way of talking very well. At rare occasions, I curse to release the built up stress. At other times, I curse because the other person deserves it. But never do I curse without any apparent reason.
God has selected you and me to be the soldiers of Christ. He has made us into His soldiers. In order so that we can build the Kingdom of God, God gave us the remission of sin and brought us to His Church, nurtured us, had us share fellowship with one another and eat from the Word, and enabled us to share the gospel. That is because we are the soldiers of Christ.
Truly, we the soldiers of Christ have hardship both inwardly and outwardly. Although we try to totally serve the gospel, there are many things that hinder us. When we try to serve the gospel wholeheartedly, a problem pops up here and there. When we try to participate in the ministry of our Church, another problem pops up elsewhere. If we are to devote ourselves completely to the spread of the gospel, there can’t be anything pulling us back. However, this and that problem always abound. Thus, I know well that we suffer in our hearts without being able to do much about it.
Those Recruited As Soldiers Will Delight Him Who Recruited Them
The Lord says, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4). Actually, we are unable to follow God, if we try to fulfill all of our needs of the flesh. After examining whether I can solve a particular problem, if I can’t, I must entrust this problem to God saying, “God, please take care of it.” We should do all we can do. But we must also do our tasks as the soldiers of Christ trusting that God will provide for our needs.
Also, once we find enemy soldiers, we must capture them alive by winning the war. God will then form them according to His will, so we can entrust them to God. God gives strength and provides everything to them both in body and spirit. Family problems that I am unable to solve will be taken care of by God. If you and I were faithful Christians, wouldn`t we experience such things? We know well that those who lived as workers of Christ have many personal testimonies like that.
So, don’t we have any worry at all? Any problem you have? Unfortunately, we do. I myself have many worries and problems. If I try to solve all of those problems before I serve the gospel, I will never be able to serve the gospel. First, I have problems with my son. If I tried to raise him to my satisfaction before I stand in front of you honorably, I would probably be unable to stand before you no earlier than when I am seventy years old. I have no clue as to when my son will mature and stop worrying me, but since I have entrusted him to God, I believe that God will take care of him.
True soldiers follow the will of the commander who enlisted them as soldiers. Although difficult and arduous, because our Recruiter will never abandon us, we will come to experience His grace that overflows us entirely. You and I are the eternal soldiers of Christ. Soldiers always prepared for war and perpetually fight in a war. Soldiers of God, who are born again of the water and the Spirit, fight the spiritual war. Soldiers always exist to fight the war. Especially, we believe that soldiers of God exist to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).
The second prayer subject that our God has given us is “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” I give thanks for telling us to build the Kingdom of God. “God delivered each and every one of us to unite in the effort to build the Kingdom of God.” In our faith, we give thanks to God for giving us this Word and inscribing it in our hearts. God tells us to pray for the establishment of the Kingdom of God once we receive the remission of sin. I urge all of you to remember that our Lord told us to build the Kingdom of God and to live according to the will of God in that regard.
If we set a high goal, we are able to endure the small hardships. On the other hand, if we don’t set such a high goal, we may give up even at a small obstacle. Man must have great ambition. People with great ambition gain the ability to self-sustain and to endure hardships, as faith is placed inside their hearts.
We give thanks before our God. How grateful we are that God called us to be as soldiers of Christ! We should sustain our current life style of spreading the gospel to the entire world and pray for it until the Kingdom of God is established. We pray for all the workers and people of God throughout the world. And we pray for those around us. We pray and challenge each other to achieve the goal.
Our prayers are often answered after some time has passed by from the moment the prayers were first said. The answer often comes many times bigger than we expected it to be. That is, prayers are not answered immediately after we have made them. When children beg their parents for some chicken wings, the parent says to pray to God and that He will answer. Then, children close their eyes and pray at that instant for some chicken wings. “God, please send me some chicken wings. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.” And they complain when some chicken wings are not immediately in front of them.
Likewise, we the righteous who have received the remission of sin sometimes act like those children, although we are mature adults. We think that if we pray out of our own needs, that the prayers should be answered immediately. Hence, we have to pray ahead of time. Prayers are like a savings account for the future. We have to pray a lot ahead of time and wait for God to fulfill those prayers. That is a prayer by faith.
And if it pleases God, we have to examine ourselves: We have to examine whether we are truly living as the soldiers of Christ and whether we are acting in a way to please God or not. God has already prepared for 100% of our needs. As He said, “Ask, and it will be given to you,” you have to believe that He will most surely give you what you ask of Him. Of course, to those He is pleased with, He will answer their prayers sooner or later. To those He is displeased with, He will give them at His second coming. That is, He won’t give them time to enjoy those answers on earth.
We cannot ever give enough thanks to our God. Who are we that God would entrust the construction of the Kingdom of God to us! We just give thanks. I sometimes even wonder whether God did overestimate us. If we look at each one of us individually, none of us are any more special than ordinary people. It is amazing how God entrusted such a great task to us, when we don’t have loyalty and are capricious. Maybe God is using such untalented people as us to reveal His glory. God uses us because we are His own people, because the Holy Spirit is in our hearts, and because we are His own children. When we pray, God answers and we receive His help. God has appointed us this great task because we walk with God no matter what others may say, and because we already belong in the Kingdom of God. God has appointed the task to you and me.
We give thanks before our God. God looks at us with favorable eyes, with pity, and He has mercy on us. Although the Apostle Paul persecuted the Lord Jesus in the past, once he met the Lord on his way to Damascus, he turned his heart toward the Lord. At this, God looked at Paul with favorable eyes and selected him to be His worker. The Apostle Paul was selected as an instrument to spread the gospel of God’s righteousness. Jesus Christ has looked at us with favorable eyes as He did with the Apostle Paul and selected us to be His workers in the works of constructing the Kingdom of God.
We thank Jesus Christ for the grace of God. We should live lives that glorify our God. Let’s live the remainder of our lives for the purpose of building the Kingdom of God. We should fill our remaining days with that purpose, planning everything, carrying out every work uniting with the Church, and praying for everything as we live our lives as soldiers of Christ by faith.
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