Friday sermon by Youth Pastor Ju Eun Kim
We must continuously show the work and manifestation of revival and the power of God. In order for this to occur, there must be no blockages between God and us. The blood vessels can be clogged by fat and if the fat continuously clogs the blood vessels, in the end, it will be fatal. It is the same in the spiritual. If there are masses of fat, and fat representing our sin is placed between God and us, we will desperately need to dissolve the fat away. In order for us to breath and continuously be alive spiritually, the members of the church and the leadership must flow in the Word of God.
When it comes to revival, there are two types. One revival come through the church. The other one comes and presents within yourselves. A revival is amazing and a powerful blessing that is granted to us. But as soon as we neglect our faith walk and become stagnant, we will put ourselves in danger of completely losing our own revival.
We need to reverently fear God. We need to confess our sin. Only when we reverently fear God and confess our sin, the power of repentance will come upon us when we pray. It is through this way the great power of the Holy Spirit will come. Why do people sin? It is because they are persuaded by the devil’s temptation and deceived by the devil’s lies. The devil knows how to tempt people. The devils know that all they have to do is to deceive the eyes of people. People generally act based on what they see. When people are captivated by the devil’s chain, the people will begin to carry out the work of the devil little bit at a time. Such people will carry out acts as though they are the slaves of the devil. Such people will do as the devil desires them to do. You may think that you do not belong to this category, but the devil will always try to create circumstances and form some thought in your head to make you sin in any given moment or place.
In order to break the chain of the devil, you must possess the reverential fear of God. When you listen to the preaching and pray, do not hide and ignore the sin in you. The natural instinct and the characteristic of the sin nature are to continuously hide. I want you to exam the sin inside of you. You will realize that sin will try to continuously hide. When you are not sinning from a particular sin which may be in you, this one particular sin is quietly hiding. It is the sin nature to hide. But if you begin to sin in regards to a particular sin which you had been hiding, such sin will come out and stimulate you, even more, to sin greater. When this happens, it will try to devour you by making you sin even more. This is the behavior of sin.
When the Lord came to the earth, two kinds of people gathered around the Lord. One group believed and longed for the Lord. The other group were the Pharisees who did not believe the Lord. But even to the Pharisees, the Lord spoke to them. The Lord said, “Be careful of the yeast.” The Pharisees carried their religious lives and were too conscious about their appearance and view of other people towards them. No matter how many times the Lord continuously preached, the Pharisees had never truly confessed in their hearts. They had never testified about the Lord. All they cared about was how they outwardly displayed. How they were viewed by other people Pharisees had their own thought which the other people were not aware of. They judged with their own standard and ideas. Their appearance, thoughts, and idea became the yeast and the yeast continuously had spread. Your one way of thinking and idea can influence other people. We may say, “I am not a Pharisee”, but we do not know when we will become like a Pharisee. In order for you to properly and truly repent, you must pull out the deeply rooted roots of sin.
No matter how nicely you speak and no matter what you think, God knows the sin in us. Nevertheless, God evangelizes to our hearts continuously. When our sin is not outwardly manifested, people will not know our sin. You can continuously your sin them but you will be only wasting your time. God is carefully observing you during that time. When sin goes over the line of danger, God will spank you a particular way to set you back. God will continuously and carefully observe you with the eyes that blaze like fire during He waits for you. We must properly figure out our sin and realize each time we sin. So that we will be able to completely repent and pray without delaying and wasting time. This way, God will forgive us without us piling up our sin.
When you hide your sin within your hearts and do not properly address it, the devil’s deception is for you not have any seriousness in it. You will just leave it. The devil will continuously put thoughts into your head, “That sin is not a great deal. It is not that serious.”
At first, you may have repented and examined yourself, but as you continuously commit the same sin, in the end, you will think, “This is not that big of a deal” When you constantly get angry, in the end, you will not think of it as a serious sin any longer. Therefore, you will blow up without giving any consideration. The strategy of the devil is to make you accustomed to the sin. The devil creates loneliness, sadness, and prevents you from feeling joy or happiness.
Even at our church, I can see and feel the spirits of some people are dead. At first, when the grace of God was overflowing, you had carried out the things of God with joy. But as time passes by, you became, “Oh…I know I have to go to church today..I should go… but..” The strategy of the devil is for you to continuously risk with sin. When the devil sees the members of the Lord’s Church, we are precious shining wheat. Therefore, the devil will bring many chaffs around you. This strategy is to make you into a chaff. This work will be done gradually. The strategy of the devil is to make you think, “Is this sin or not?” The devil tries to confuse you so that you will not know whether you are a wheat or a chaff. The devil will make you sin and sin a second and third time. As you are deceived and continuously sin, in the end, you will think easily of sinning. This is why, when you sin, you need to repent right away. You need to repent each time you sin. This way, you will not get used to sin nor accustomed to sinning. You will need to try harder.
The Lord said to us that giving up on certain sins are not the end of true repentance. You need to continuously move forward as you are continuously renewed and changed. In this way, you will completely cut off certain sin. Without God’s permission, no matter how much the devil tries to attack us, the devil will not be able to touch even one string on our hair. During our church prayer time, I saw the place with my spiritual eyes. The one particular evil spirit which had attacked me before the service began stood straight across and looked straight at me. During our prayer time when I said, “The spirits of sadness, oppression, and depression are attacking us!” This particular spirit which had attacked me charged straight at me. This spirit opened its mouth wide with it’s eerie long tongue and hissed at me. This spirit charged straight at me with a frightened appearance. It appeared as though it wanted to devour me. Even though my spiritual eyes had been opened for a long time and I had witnessed countless evil spirits and the devil, when these evil spirits appeared and attacked suddenly, I momentarily become frightened. When this kind of sudden attack occurs, I avoid looking at them but rather shout with a loud voice, “Holy Fire!! Go to hell!!”
There is some kind of the evil spirits hiding within you. If you do not properly handle and cast them out, these evil spirits will devour you. You must proclaim, “Lord! Help me to cast these evil spirits back to hell! You cursed evil spirits go to hell!! Holy Fire! You cannot overcome me! You cannot follow me around! Because God had given you certain permission, you were able to touch me in a certain way but without His permission, you will not be able to approach me!” As you live your faith lives, do not be frightened in advance by thinking, “If I do this and go there, what if the evil spirits attack me?” But you must always and persistently pray so that your souls will not be handed over to the evil ones.
I feel even when we pray commonly and generally, the Lord listens to our prayer. He is pleased. But Pastor Kim, Yong Doo always preaches to us that in order to obtain the proper quality prayer, you need to have quantity prayer. Therefore, do your best to pray. Prayer is like a vitamin. Prayer is like preservative. The role of prayer is for you to live spiritually in this fleshly world. Pastor Kim, Yong Doo used to tell me to pray all the time. He said, “If you can’t think of anything, and even though you do not have any prayer request, you still need to be on your knees praying. When you pray unceasingly, the Lord will prepare all things for your future life.” Pastor Kim, Yong Doo assured it. He said, “The Lord will work for you. We just do not know when He will come and work for us but let us continuously pray. This way we will spiritually and continuously live.” People have many thoughts and greed but they have no prayer lives. Lives without prayer is a meaningless life. You must pray so that the evil ones will not be able to lead you according to their will.
You must eat spiritually. But where do you get the spiritual food? It is from your master. In order to eat spiritual food, you must not be ashamed of your Lord. Who do you belong too? You belong to God. We are His servants. The Lord is our master. Do not just consider your God as your Lord only at the church. Wherever you go, do not be ashamed of your Lord. You need to make clear who you are and where you belong. If a servant is ashamed of their Lord then such a servant will not be able to be loved by his/her Lord. You need to be sure if your Master is your Lord. You need to make sure who you belong too.
We belong to two different realms. One realm is the world and the other realm is the kingdom of God. Even though you are living in this world, you belong to the kingdom of God. Although decision are yours and your parents and grandparents will not be able to send you to heaven even if they pray. You will have to go to heaven with your own faith. As I spiritually observe, everyone has taken up their cross and are walking forward. As we walk, we are following someone in front of us. They could be your parents or some leader. But in the end, you are really following the Lord. Do not be afraid. You have to keep and guard your faith. If you say that you are believers, do not quench the Holy Spirit. (1 thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit) Do not add your own thoughts and ideas to the gospel. In order for you to spiritually live, you need to cling onto the gospel and receive the provision of the gospel with purity and obedience. When we do not receive the gospel with purity and obedience, the life of your faith will be lost. At the end, your faith will become sick. Then the light will gradually diminish. We must fear God. God continuously observes the people who earnestly plead and pray with passion. The reason why you are not earnestly pleading and praying with passion is because you are not completely depending on the Holy Spirit. It will become possible only when you completely put all things down and only depend on the Holy Spirit.
Please repeat after me. “God give me the strength of the Holy Spirit!” If you do not move forward according to the will of God with obedience and preaching the gospel, in the end, you will not be able to carry out the work to save the dead souls. You are spiritually breathing now. Like Apostle Paul, do not be afraid. As a person of God, you need to volunteer and say, “God! I will go! Please send me!” Apostle Paul manifested the great power and work of the Holy Spirit. Please pray and become like Apostle Paul who was bold and confident.
Sermon by Youth Pastor Kim, Ju Eun
Youth pastor of the Lord’s Church, Korea
Author of Baptize by Blazing Fire book series
Translated by Pastor Steve & Yoojin Kim
Pastors of Fire of God Church in San Francisco (Fremont)
Fire of God Church is a branch church of the Lord’s Church, Korea and is under the spiritual covering of head Pastor Kim, Yong Doo