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Subject 21 : The Gospel According to MARK
[Chapter 16-2] Preach the Gospel To Every Creature (Mark 16:14-18)
(Mark 16:14-18)
“Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.’”
What Is the Work We the Righteous Must Do?
In the Gospel of Mark 16:15, the Lord said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” I believe that the Word and the command of Jesus telling the disciples to preach the gospel to every creature in the world is the work we must do. As a result of us following this command of the Lord faithfully, the work of preaching the gospel has ripened to some degree and we have prepared many things for this mission. While reading today’s Scripture passage, I have come to think, “I must really go into all the world and preach the gospel as the Lord commanded. We must go everywhere in this world and distribute our Christian books that contain the true gospel and also hold Bible conferences and revival meetings and preach the gospel like this. I must therefore put much more effort into this work.”
Of course, it is not so easy to keep this command of the Lord. When I think about going into all the six continents of this world, the first thing that comes to my mind more than anything else is the feeling of becoming really busy and becoming exhausted. But I believe that it will not be such a difficult task if we start from the closer countries, that is, the Asian nations like China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Philippines, that are two or three hours away by plane, and if we gradually expand the territory from there.
This work of going into all the world and preaching the gospel of the Lord is the work that all of us who are gathered here must do, not just me. We are preaching the gospel by a very convenient method via internet now, but the time will arrive when we must physically go into every corner of this world if we want to preach this gospel throughout the entire world as the Lord commanded. It means that we must go into each and every country personally to distribute our Christian books and hold revival meetings among the people there. The actual work of the Lord will manifest there only if we actually go into that country. When we go into a certain country and preach the gospel there, it means that the work of God will manifest itself and His workers will arise; and they will be used as the servants of God just like us.
The thing you and I must do is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all the peoples of this world. Of course, going all over the world personally and preaching the gospel in these places is really difficult and time consuming. For example, our ministers are now working in China, and they report that it is not easy to preach the gospel now because the Chinese enjoy almost a month of New Year holidays by the lunar calendar. They just enjoy these traditional holiday seasons doing nothing but drinking and eating for a whole month of the first month of their lunar calendar. They commonly spend all the money they have saved during the past year during these holidays; it is therefore difficult for us to understand such a cultural difference.
Of course, this is not the only difficulty in preaching the gospel in China. Some time ago a Chinese minister who was preaching our gospel was taken to the authorities and suffered much and he is now staying in his brother’s home in Beijing. Currently our books of the gospel cannot be brought into China publicly. Therefore, we have been preaching the gospel by the method of visiting each church personally and distributing the books to the people coming out of these churches after the worship services. I know that some of you are probably surprised to hear that there also are churches in China. There are many ‘Three-Self Churches’ as well as ‘House Churches’ in China, and they are very similar to the churches in Korea. Not only the external appearances of Chinese church buildings, but also the forms of their worship services are very similar to ours also. When our missionaries distribute our books to these Christians coming out after a worship service at a church, some people contact us to request more books from us after reading these books. However, the pastors and church leaders in China are not obliged for our books. When they happen to see their members with our books, they confiscate them and try to catch the person distributing these books. China is very similar to our country even in the way they persecute our gospel. It is truly amazing to witness how the very same things that happen in our country happen there when it’s such a different country and different people.
I am sure that it will not be too long before the doors of North Korea open. After the North Korean leader Jung-il Kim visited China this time, he announced that North Korea will open up economically just like China did. The special economic regions of China namely, the places like Shanghai or Hong Kong are amazingly splendid like New York, which is the busiest city of the United States. They are even more splendid than Seoul. Therefore, North Korea also wants to designate such special economic regions to apply the highly profitable market economic system of the western nations and trade and do business with other countries. That might be the reason the prices of land near these designated regions near the North Korean border are shooting up and even the illegal speculation in real estate are running rampant in these areas these days. Anyway, the doors of North Korea will soon open up for us to preach our gospel, and also when its economic system adopts the open market system even partially. The way for you and me to actually enter that forbidden land and distribute these books of the gospel will open and not just electronic books through the internet. We must prepare for that time little by little. The North Korean regional dialect and differences in language between North and South Korea are presented in detail on an electronic newspaper website. Therefore, I think we should look into such materials and do some research and remake our books of the gospel again to fit the North Korean situation.
Sister Sang-min Lee who is in charge of editing went down to Seoul today to print a new book which was translated in French. While we have distributed the books of the gospel to the peoples living throughout the entire world, we have found that the French version of our books is one of the most required books next to the English version. I think it’s because there are many countries that had been occupied by France since the age of imperialism. Initially we have printed 10,000 books of the gospel in French, and since we have about three to five thousand books remaining, we are planning to send more books to our ministers if they need more after they personally go into France. We have been preaching the gospel of the Lord personally by sending ministry workers throughout Europe or Asia by such methods and we will continue to do this in the future as well.
The Lord Told Us to Go into All the World and Preach the Gospel
You and I must really go into each and every country and preach the gospel of the Lord just like He told us in the Word. Of course there are various ways to preach this true gospel, but I think we must resort to personally delivering the gospel in order to preach this gospel completely in the end. Whether via the literature ministry, by spoken words, or by any other method, we must go into the land eventually and preach the Word personally. I believe that you and I and all the ministry workers of our churches in Korea are the very people that must go into all the world and preach the gospel according to the Lord’s command.
We who must preach the gospel of the Lord throughout the entire world have so many things to do. However, this work of preaching the gospel cannot be fulfilled hastily. Instead, this must be fulfilled one step at a time, gradually. Furthermore, I cannot but give thanks to God because He has manifested the work of the Lord to us little by little. I believe this gospel ministry will go into many countries throughout the entire world if we work hard to accomplish the works we have planned this year and keep on working faithfully until the end of next year. The translation of our first book into Arabic language will be finished by this weekend, and the translation of the Hebrew version also is almost complete. If we complete this Hebrew version and the true gospel goes into Israel, we can say that the genuine gospel has gone into every country throughout the entire world since there would be no place in the world that we cannot take the gospel to, that is, if we can take the gospel into these countries like North Korea or Israel that is known to be the most difficult places to preach the gospel. After the gospel is preached to all countries through the internet first, I believe that our ministers can go into these countries personally and print the books there and also unite with the born-again workers of those countries and continue to preach this gospel of the Lord. Let’s work like this. Let’s set our heart with faith, saying, “We will go into all the world and preach this gospel,” and let’s actually go all over the world preaching the gospel of the Lord.
Let’s look at verse 16 in today’s Scripture passage, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Here the Lord said that one must absolutely receive baptism if he believes in the Lord. The Lord said that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, while whoever does not believe will be condemned. This Word is the answer to the following question: “What is the sign of faith? What must we believe in?” The thing we must believe in and preach in this world is precisely the baptism of the water and the Spirit that the Lord received after coming to this world. Put differently, it means that we must believe that the Lord has saved us by taking all our sins upon Himself by receiving the baptism and carrying our sins and dying on the Cross in our place.
The Lord said that whoever receives the baptism as the sign of his faith in the Lord is saved without fail. This means the baptism of Jesus is the very sign of faith.
What then did the Lord say will happen to a person who does not believe in the Lord’s baptism? The Lord said he will be condemned because of having sin. It means that whoever does not believe in the baptism of the Lord has sin. The Lord said, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This means that whoever has sin must absolutely receive judgment. It also means that we cannot but have sin if we do not believe in the truth about Jesus’ baptism, that is, if we do not believe that Jesus Christ came to this world and took all our sins upon Himself eternally by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. The Lord said that whoever does not believe will be condemned, and it also means that whoever does not believe in the baptism of the Lord has sin still intact in his heart and that is why he receives the judgment of his sins.
However, it is not the case of someone who believes in the gospel of the Lord. The Lord said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” This means that whoever believes in the Lord by professing, “The baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross constitute my salvation. Jesus Christ blotted out all my sins by the water and the blood,” receives the baptism from the Lord as a sign of this faith. Those who have received baptism as the sign of faith who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have received salvation, not judgment. It’s because the Lord said clearly, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”
This gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gospel that we must preach. This is the very gospel that we must take all over the world on our feet and preach to every living person. You and I must do the work of preaching this Truth to the entire world, that Jesus came to this world, took all our sins upon Himself by receiving the baptism, and received the judgment for all those sins on our behalf and has thereby eternally saved us perfectly from death and destruction.
The Lord Said That Whoever Believes in the True Gospel and Receives Baptism Will Be Saved
We become totally free from judgment and receive true salvation when we believe in the baptism of Jesus, His death on the Cross and His resurrection from death, in other words, when we believe completely that the Lord has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, judgment awaits those who do not believe in this gospel. As it is recorded in the Gospel of John, whoever does not believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit will receive condemnation. Whoever believes in this true gospel receives perfect salvation from all their sins, but a person who does not believe shall receive judgment of their sins without exception no matter how long they have believed in Jesus.
This is why you and I must preach this gospel. This is the reason we must go into every corner of the world personally and preach this gospel to every creature. For someone who believes in this true gospel and is baptized by faith, there is salvation, but for those who do not believe, there is only death. The gospel of the Lord is very precise, clear and unique. There are not two gospels of the Lord. I believe that this gospel of the water and the Spirit is the very genuine gospel that we must preach to every person in this world. Do you also believe so?
What type of work should we do by going around all over the world? We should preach the gospel. What gospel should we preach then? Will you preach, like all the other Christians, a gospel which says that your sins are blotted out even if you just believe in the blood of the Cross? Why then is this Word of the Lord telling us to believe and receive this baptism? Why did the apostles tell the believers to absolutely receive this baptism in the name of Jesus Christ? Jesus saved us all perfectly by taking all the sins of the world upon Himself when He was baptized, died because of those sins, and was resurrected from the dead. To believe in Jesus means to believe in both this baptism of Jesus and His blood of the Cross. Therefore, those who have believed in Jesus perfectly through His baptism and blood of the Cross like this, receive the baptism from the Lord. In other words, the baptism I have received is the absolute sign of my faith.
Our Lord said in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Dear fellow believers, what does the Lord really mean by these words “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”? It means all the work of salvation the Lord has fulfilled by coming to this earth in the flesh of man, taking all the sins of mankind upon Himself through His baptism, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead was not of the will of a single person namely, Jesus Christ. It means that this work of salvation was of the will of the Triune God, that is, the will of Jesus Christ, of God the Father and of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord told us to baptize everyone in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, because the Lord’s baptism was the perfect will of the Triune God. The Lord told His disciples to preach this gospel throughout the entire world and to give this baptism to every believer. Why is the gospel we are preaching very important? It is because the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the one and only gospel Truth that God has given to us. Therefore, you and I must go into every corner of the world and preach this precious gospel to all the peoples of the world. We must go around on foot and preach this gospel and help everyone to receive the perfect salvation by being baptized into the Truth.
We who are preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to everyone in this world must know firstly just how absolutely perfect and clear this gospel really is and also how much the Scriptures testify to this. The Lord said whoever believes this true gospel and is baptized shall receive salvation; but whoever does not believe shall receive condemnation. Do you now understand the implication of this Word? Do you believe in the baptism of the Lord completely? Anyone who does not believe in Jesus’ baptism will be destroyed in God’s name no matter who they are. On the other hand, someone who believes shall absolutely receive the blessing of salvation. The baptism of Jesus is absolutely indispensable in this true gospel like this. Jesus was able to die on the Cross because He received the baptism. Jesus was able to become our true Savior because He had borne all our sins through His baptism.
If the Lord did not take all the sins of mankind away by receiving the baptism after coming to this world, and if we did not believe in this baptism which Jesus received, then He actually did not work as our Savior. But what really happened? To the faithful, God clearly promised to come as our Savior, and He indeed came to this world as He promised; and He received the baptism prior to starting His work of His public ministry. Jesus bore all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist, the representative of all mankind, and then died on the Cross because of those sins. And after being resurrected from the dead and saving us perfectly, He ascended to Heaven and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God the Father. And the Lord who is in Heaven is always with us as promised. The Lord dwells as the Holy Spirit in the hearts of those who believe in both His baptism and the Cross, that is, those who believe in His gospel and have received the baptism. He abides always in our hearts as the Holy Spirit and testifies to our salvation through the Holy Spirit. This gospel that we are preaching is so important and precious like this.
But some ignorant people discount this gospel of the water and the Spirit although they insist that they also preach the gospel of the Lord. However, no matter what Bible we read, including the original text of the Bible, every Bible version says the same thing. There is no room for any personal interpretation and other understanding in the Scriptures. It clearly records, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” Therefore, we must baptize those who believe in the gospel of Jesus’ baptism and His blood. I believe this Word is so precise and clear like this because Jesus came to this world and took all our sins upon Himself through this very baptism. Do you also believe like this?
Every Christian book in our literature ministry witnesses that Jesus came to this world and became our Savior by receiving the baptism, died on the Cross, and was resurrected from the dead. We witness about Jesus like this. We are preaching precisely this one and only gospel that the Lord has given us in this last era. And I believe the Lord will return after we have finished preaching this gospel completely all over the world.
We who desire to preach this gospel throughout the entire world are translating our gospel books into French these days. I am sure that God will protect our ministers and workers who are working in this field and help us publish this book well so that we can distribute these French versions to the people living in France properly.
I wish to speak about our French coworker who has proofread the French version of our first book for a moment. This Frenchman is a high school teacher and he has always desired to do God’s work until now, but had not known what to do. However, after reading the first edition of the French version, he thought that the book was translated by someone who did not know the French culture, the French language, and Christian terminology very well,” and sent us a message that he wanted to take part in proofreading the French version even without remuneration. And he said that he became more confident about witnessing the gospel while correcting the book. It’s because he attained a firm conviction that a person would absolutely receive the remission of their sins if he just preached exactly according to the contents in the book because the contents in our book are so accurate. Therefore, he said that he will share this gospel personally to approximately 70,000 inhabitants of the island where he teaches. When I see him speaking like this, I can feel that he is really doing this work with passion for the gospel. I can realize how great and strong the power of this gospel really is as I see many of our coworkers rising up everywhere in the world. I recognize the great power of this gospel again through this Frenchman.
We have already published the first and second volumes of the English version of our gospel book series, and we are now preparing the third volume. An American resident reporter named Ross is proofreading the translation of the third book, and I think he probably failed to finish the work in due time because it is now a holiday season. Korean friends do not leave this American alone. Whenever a holiday season comes around, they invite him to their homes and have some liquor together and play traditional games. Anyway, since he promised to finish the work by the end of this month, I think we can receive the corrected translation from him and publish the book on the Holy Spirit until the end of next month at the latest.
The main topic of the third volume of our gospel book series witnesses to people that all the things they have believed in so far are incorrect. The first volume as well as the second volume witnesses the fact that, “Only the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth,” while the third volume states, “All the things you believe now are lies. That you have received the Holy Spirit is a lie; the things you have experienced, for example, the feeling of the Lord coming to you when you were praying in the mountains and all the commotion you made about speaking tongues when you were just mumbling things that no one could understand, were all lies.”
Some people have written long messages of refutation to us, saying, “I absolutely do not think the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth.” Also there are many people who refute and say to us that they do not think one must absolutely believe in the baptism of Jesus to be born again. However, the more they refute this true gospel like this, the better it is for us. I tell these people, “You have only come into salvation half way. Now I will explain the genuine gospel to you a little more. Therefore, read it one more time. Only after reading should you tell me the wrong points if you still think it is wrong after reading it over again.”
The gospel of the water and the Spirit which the Lord gave to us is the accurate gospel, and it is the one and only Truth. I give such deep thanks to God since there are many more people who listen and believe in this gospel than those who are against it. I believe God has entrusted this work to us. Therefore, you and I are the people who should really go to the ends of the world preaching this gospel. After we finish preaching the gospel throughout the entire world by working diligently like this, we will live comfortably in our neighborhoods during the last days and then go to Heaven when God calls us. But if we do not finish this work, I believe God will strike us with an iron mace and disperse us and make us suffer in the harsh world during the days of tribulations.
Anyway, believe that this gospel is the Truth and also that you can receive salvation by believing in it. The Lord said that there is salvation for those who believe, and there is absolutely judgment for those who have sins remaining in them because they do not believe.
Let’s return to today’s Scripture passage and read the following Words of the Lord. Shall we read verses 17 and 18 together “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
What Kind of Signs Did the Lord Say Will Follow Those Who Believe?
Firstly, the Lord said, “In My name they will cast out demons.” That is, a believer can cast out demons in the name of the Lord. When a born again person commands a demon to leave, that demon really flee from that demon-possessed person. The truly born-again really have such authority. The people of faith can defeat Satan only by this faith. It means they can defeat these evil spirits and rescue the demon-possessed by faith, not by any physical power.
But how do common Christians interpret this Word that says, “In My name they will cast out demons”? Most Christians think that by casting out demons is just shouting out before the demon-possessed, “I command you, Satan, in the name of Jesus Christ, be gone!” This became the modus operandi of many Christians regarding the casting out demons.
But the Word of the Lord is not so superficial. That a person of faith has the authority to cast out demons means that when the born-again person preaches the gospel to other people, the demons inside them depart from their heart the moment they accept this true gospel. Actually, many people of this world have become demon-possessed. There are all kinds of demon-possessed people through various processes. For example, some people who became demon possessed out of the blue while working in a company without any problem and others who became demon possessed through this or that process. Those of more serious cases end up in psychiatric hospitals; and there are so many others who do quite okay socially but are actually demon possessed.
Then what happens when a born-again person preaches this gospel to such people? The moment the demon-possessed receives the remission of their sins, the demons inside their hearts depart swiftly at the same time. It means that the Holy Spirit now dwells in the place where the demons had previously occupied. The Word of the Lord says, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons” means exactly this. We who have been born again have the power to cast out demons in the name of Jesus Christ. God has given such authority to us when we preach this gospel.
You and I have such power. You and I have the authority to cast out demons inside the hearts of people when we preach the gospel to them. This is the reason why the non-born again react so vehemently at this critical moment when we preach the gospel to them. When we talk about other things, for example, about the sacrifice of the lamb in the Book of Leviticus, they are silent like a meek lamb. But what happens when we bring up the decisive point of the gospel, saying, “All the righteousness was fulfilled like this when Jesus was baptized in the form of laying on of hands.” This happens because the demons inside them react vehemently against the gospel for the final time just before they are truly born again by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Satan inside them makes them fight against us by making them feel drowsy or upset. If that person is not able to overcome the control of Satan and instead joins up with him and continues to go against the gospel and its preachers, then that person cannot but live all his life possessed by demons. But if that person realize his miserable situation and endures well and obeys the gospel Word until the end, he will become free from the Devil as soon as he accepts this Word with the heart. By doing this, such a person has defeated the demons inside his heart by accepting the Lord’s gospel of the water and the Spirit through the written Scriptures.
Those who believe in Jesus correctly have the power to cast out demons like this. That one has received the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit means that the demons inside one’s heart have been cast out. Strictly speaking, you and I who now believe in this gospel were also demon-possessed at one time. Everyone was demon-possessed. There is no one who has never been demon possessed. A person who does not have the Holy Spirit has evil spirits living in that place. Therefore we used to hate the Light and refused to listen to the Light, but the demons inside us departed when we heard this gospel of the Truth and believed in it. We must now believe that we who must preach this very gospel of the Lord have such power inside of us.
Let’s see what the Word of the Lord says next. The Lord told us about the second sign of the true believers namely, “They will speak with new tongues.” Here, “to speak with new tongues” means to speak a new language. For example, let’s say there was a Korean Christian and he spoke a common Korean language before being born again. Then, after being born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and if we can carefully examine his language now, we can see that he is speaking the language of the Kingdom of Heaven although he speaks the same Korean language apparently. It means that he is speaking of the will and the righteousness of the Kingdom of God although he speaks the same language as before. This is the true biblical meaning of “speaking with new tongues” the Lord spoke about.
The things people speak about with new tongues after being born again is the language of the Kingdom of God; this is of a significantly higher dimension language. Therefore, the truly born again can communicate well with each other, but the non-born again cannot understand what these born-again believers are saying. They are perplexed as to what the born-again are talking about. This is exactly what it means by “speaking with new tongues.” Speaking with new tongues is not twisting your tongues and mumbling “shalalala, rulalala” which does not make any sense at all. Rather, the true speaking with new tongues is speaking punctually of the truth of Heaven that ordinary people has never heard before. A true believer speaks with such new tongues as he preaches the gospel of the Lord. It means that they speak of the things of Heaven instead of the things of this world although the language they speak is of a common language. Such signs follow those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That is why the Lord said, “They will speak with new tongues.”
And what is the next sign after speaking with this new tongue that appears to the born-again saints? The Lord said, “They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Dear fellow believers, you must not interpret this Word in a fleshly way which states, “They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” Think about it deeply. How can a person not be harmed even if he takes up serpents with his hands and drinks anything deadly? The Word of the Lord must not be taken in such a literal way. It means that a person who has been truly born again by the gospel of the water and the Spirit can treat any demon-possessed person and the servants of the Devil with disdain. It means that a born-again person can do whatever he wants to do with those who are deceived by Satan. In this passage that says, “They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them,” the words “anything deadly” does not mean any toxic chemical that we know of. It means such things like the temptation of the Devil becoming poisonous even to the born again who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Actually, you and I drink such poison a lot while living in this world. Even during this holiday season, there are some people who have taken in such poisons and their eyes that were so pure and beautiful have become strangely dull and their faces have become hardened because these poisons has not made them totally intoxicated yet.
However, the Lord told us clearly that a person who believes shall not be harmed no matter what poison he has drunk. One should of course die if you drink any deadly poison into your spirit, but this poison becomes harmless once the born again saint hears the Word of God through the servants of God and shares spiritual fellowships with them. This poison which is in this person’s body is completely removed. Those who have been born again have the authority to revive their souls by hearing the Word of the Truth again even though he has drunk deadly poison.
But what happens to the non-born again who do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Once they drink of the poison of the Devil, there is no way for them to just be cured naturally. It’s only a matter of time when someone will live or die, if he should drink deadly poison. The poison of the Devil brings death to the souls of those who have not been born again yet just like those who drink any amount of deadly poison will die physically.
Lastly the Lord said, “They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” It means that God’s power will manifest itself and the sick will actually be healed if a sick person is prayed for by the laying on of hands by a true believer with strong faith. This is the same when we are sick spiritually as well as when we are sick physically. Of course, the Scriptures put more emphasis on spiritual sickness. But this Word can also apply to our physical sicknesses.
At times, physical sickness comes to us who follow the Lord. Also, there are times when God does not heal us from certain physical sicknesses. For example, in case of the Apostle Paul, he had a physical sickness that God had not cured him of and therefore, the doctor named Luke, who recorded the gospel of Luke, followed him all his life with a medical case and treated him. You and I who follow God like the Apostle Paul also experience such critical moments physically. We can fall sick when we suddenly change from the faith that we were used to, to follow a different faith.
When someone should sleep at night changes his bio-rhythms and decides to sleep during the daytime, he would not be able to sleep at night and as a result of this he would lose the balance of his immune system. Likewise, if anyone who has never worked physically overworks all of a sudden, he will suffer from fatigue. But being laid up from fatigue is not always a bad thing. The period of recuperating from fatigue is the period when one’s immune system works actively and generates the strength to aptly deal with the outside environment. And this is the reason why some doctors say that taking medicine for flu is not very good although people try to take medicine and become well as soon as possible when they are really suffering from fatigue. Rather a human body becomes stronger and healthier after enduring fatigue because it develops a stronger immune system by taking a good rest. I don’t know if I could say such things in front of a pharmacist, but anyway it is a well known fact.
This is same with everything. One becomes sick when one becomes loose psychologically or when a certain part of the body is not in good shape. Just like there is a critical moment in our physical health, you and I also face critical moments while leading our spiritual life. But when we are stricken with spiritual sickness or physical sickness, we can renew our strength and rise up again when we pray to God for His help, saying, “God, I am sick like this now. Please help me.” Did the Lord not say clearly, “They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover”? This is true for you as well as true for me. Even though it is spiritually difficult and our physical bodies suffer because of sicknesses, everything can be resolved if we just pray to God. Also when we are just unable to pray, we can be renewed in our spirits spiritually and also gain strength for our physical bodies and rise again due to God’s help when our fellow saints in the Church pray to the Lord for us in unity. This is the real meaning of the Word, “They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
The Lord said that the believers have such power―the power to cast out demons, the power to speak with new tongues, and also the power to recover even after drinking deadly poison and becoming sick. Faith is wonderful like this. Furthermore, I believe that we who have received such blessings must do the work of going all over the world and preach the gospel of the Lord. This is the work we who have received much authority from the Lord must do. This is the work that the people who believe must carry out.
Although we are actually doing many works currently, the ultimate purpose above all is the preaching of this gospel. The ultimate purpose of the work you and I are doing is to maximize the efficiency of the gospel preaching by going around all over the world. Whether we share this gospel by literature ministry, by spoken words, or by the internet, we must mobilize all possible methods to preach this gospel.
This is the work we must do. And this is the work I must do. I believe the work of preaching this genuine gospel is the work I must do. Along with this, I also believe this is the work that all the saints and workers of God throughout all the Churches in Korea must do. God has commanded you and me to go all over the world and preach this gospel. Dear fellow believers, do you believe in this command of the Lord? Do you accept it in your heart completely? Do you believe that this is the work the Church must do, and also the work that you and I must do? That is correct. The work of preaching the precious gospel of the Lord is the very work each one of you must do. Let’s prepare diligently and really go all over the world and preach the gospel like this.
A while ago, I was walking around the downtown area of my city thinking, “I must go everywhere with my coworkers and preach the gospel. We will hold revival meetings wherever people want to listen to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is the work that I must do.” I will really do such things. I believe that you who are before me will also want to do such things. It’s because preaching the gospel to every creature throughout the entire world is the Word that God has commanded us to carry out.
Truly amazing things happen to the people who believe. Is there anyone among you who happened to drink too much poison from your family members during this holiday season? I am asking whether there is anyone who drank too much spiritual poison. Have you heard someone questioning your faith with their own presumptions as follows? “Your belief is strange. It seems different from my faith. Have you fallen into heresy? Do you go to a heretic church where you sit down on the floor with a cushion and worship like that? Does the pastor at your church yell out ‘Halleluiah’ in a crazy manner and ask you to repeat after him?”
However, although we drink such poison, we who have been born again recover soon when we hear the Word of God and believe in it. So, don’t worry about that. Let’s just believe that the work we who have received such authority from God must do is the very work of going all over the world on foot and preaching the gospel. Let’s do the work of God like this.
A while ago, Sok-cho Church, one of our branch Churches, made a pledge to collect 700,000 US dollars in six months to support our world mission. Therefore, I asked the minister of that Church, “That is great. How did you come to make such a great plan?” And he replied, “We will do this by faith.” He said they plan to collect about 50,000 to 100,000 US dollars per month through a waterproofing business. Let’s think about this. How can anyone make such a huge pledge without faith? Could anyone even dream of doing such a thing without faith? Even 70 thousand dollars is a huge amount of money, but 700,000 US dollars?
However, there is no such word as ‘impossibility’ in our dictionary of faith. Whether it is a big or small matter, they are all the same when we challenge it by faith. This is because it is all possible by the power of the Almighty God. I do have a concern that our ministers of that Church who have made such a big financial pledge would become discouraged and disappointed towards midway of carrying out their plan, but there is no need to worry beforehand that the plan would fail. I believe that God will fill our needs and give us the right opportunities to fulfill his work if we do whatever we do by faith.
However, do not buy lotto tickets every day thinking that you will make one million dollars by lottery. God absolutely does not work in a place where there is no effort. It is the same with our work of preaching the gospel. The gospel of God is never preached without sacrifice. There must be always sacrifices to suffer for our work of going all over the world and preaching the gospel. There must be effort and sweat and there must also be sacrifices for the gospel.
We need more money to do this work of preaching the gospel now and I believe that the Lord will supply our needs. I do not worry at all. When we pray and work by faith, we will be blessed with abundant wealth enough to serve the gospel all over the world; but if we just sit and expect everything from God, then such an abundant blessing does not happen to us. God will give to us whatever we hope to receive if we really have done everything by faith, but He will definitely not give us the money if we have done such things hypocritically just to show off. The Lord said that one can know the tree by its fruit.
Dear fellow believers, I reiterate the fact that the purpose of pooling money together like this and doing various things is to actually go into the entire world and preach the gospel. I sincerely hope and pray that God would bless us greatly during this year so that the gospel will be preached in many places. I want you to also pray like this. We printed about 50,000 books last year, but I think we will be able to print at least 500,000 to 1 million copies of our mission books this year. Actually, even 1 million books are like a biscuit in front of an elephant since there are 6.5 billion people in the world. However, I think even 1 million books can manifest truly amazing power like a powerful nuclear bomb if they all can be distributed within this year. Like the way the nuclear bomb manifests such a tremendous power by the process of nuclear fission, I believe many people will come to encounter this gospel like this. I believe God will do such things. We will work like this during this year. We will send out about I million books to the world and also hold revival meetings and preach this gospel like this. We will go forth diligently following the Word of the Lord who commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all peoples.
Let’s pray to God for the things we lack and also sacrifice ourselves and preach this precious gospel. Though we do not have much power and ability, let’s pray and do God’s work by faith with a sincere heart, and not by some wild dream. Do not be discouraged even if people persecute you for this work. Let us all take part in the preaching of this precious gospel and carry out this precious work of the Lord by such faith and conviction.
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