2023.10.15 District Message
Scripture Reading: Philippians 4:6-7
Philippians 4:6–7
In Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 and 7, it does not simply say, “Do not worry,” but, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Even though there are things to worry about, He says, “Do not be anxious about anything.” “But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” It does not say to just pray; it says that even though you have worries, present them with thanksgiving. Then what kind of answer comes? “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
This is true happiness. “The peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds.” The part we must pay a bit of attention to here is that we tend to use “receiving answers” as our standard. Of course, because God’s main work is to give answers, it is not wrong that we feel that way. But if you think about the situation at that time and look at the Philippian church, this is not a light statement. This is a letter Paul sent to the Philippian church from prison. It was an incredible timetable. Being in prison was not the problem; for Paul, this was the greatest timetable of world evangelization. That is what is important. “Do not be anxious about anything.” And then, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.” The 25 answers begin to take place, don’t they?
▣ Introduction – The happiness of prayer that enjoys the gospel
Here, the most important part for you is prayer that enjoys the gospel. It is not just prayer in general. You must be happy with prayer that enjoys the gospel. What makes a person happy actually determines that person. People of other religions all pray. So not that kind of prayer, but prayer that enjoys the gospel. There are even strange people who pray in order to enjoy their own peculiar personality. That is not necessarily evil, but we must pray to enjoy the gospel. When this takes place, something truly amazing begins to happen. What do we mean? After Jesus resolved every problem on Mt Calvary, He gathered the disciples on Mt Olive and gave them an important word. He gave them an amazing mission by which they could carry out world evangelization.
[7 bartizans]
From there, I discovered the 7 bartizans. They are always inside my prayer. In them, the content of the Triune God is all contained. Because there, for 40 days, He explained about the things concerning the kingdom of God, the blessing of the throne is all there. Right? There, the past, present, and future are all included. It is tremendous. There, what true power is, is revealed. There is also not just anything, but the mystery that breaks the authority of darkness. Inside that, an amazing future is contained, isn’t it?
[7 journeys]
And within that, because it is a bartizan, the journeys come out. How important this part is. You must be so happy to enjoy these 7 bartizans and 7 journeys. If this does not exist, there is no need to even ask: your walk of faith will be difficult, pastoral ministry will be difficult, everything will be difficult.
[13, 16, 19]
There was someone who properly understood these words, and that person was Paul. You must never lose hold of this. In Acts 13, he set out as the first missionary. Right? In chapter 13, verses 1–4, we see the timetable when he perfectly received the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is important. Of course, we can hold tracts in our hands and evangelize on the street. That in itself is not the standard. We can evangelize as we walk along the road. That is not the standard. It is something we can do. But Paul’s team perfectly received the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is the first guidepost. In chapter 16, they went to Macedonia. They thought the doors were closed, but it was “to Macedonia.” In chapter 19, it was “to Rome.” Clear guideposts appeared.
So you must always remember these 7 bartizans, 7 journeys, and 3 guideposts. Because they are the words Jesus Himself gave. In the first service as well, we will look at today’s passage on the premise of these 7 bartizans, 7 journeys, and 3 guideposts. If you do not take the gospel as the premise or do not take Christ as the premise, then it is no different from other religions. These 7 bartizans, 7 journeys, and 3 guideposts must become the blessing of your personal prayer enjoyment. In a sense, this should become your family motto. In another sense, it should become the mission statement of your company. The people of the early church who conquered the world did so.
[40 days]
I have explained these 7 bartizans, 7 journeys, and 3 guideposts as I enjoy them in prayer, but in reality, these are the very things Jesus Himself spoke for 40 days. While the earlier Scriptures are also important, these are the messages Jesus gave last, after everything had been fulfilled. This is the prayer by which you must be happy; if you gain strength through this prayer, everything else follows.
▣ Main
Then, when you enjoy this kind of prayer, about five things will appear today. What will appear?
1. Thanksgiving
From that point on, thanksgiving begins to come. It has no choice but to come—because you know. You cannot truly give thanks when you do not know. That is why Paul said, “Present your requests with thanksgiving.” You have worries, but present them with thanksgiving—this is on another level. When Daniel knelt and prayed three times a day, he did not just pray; the Bible says he prayed giving thanks.
1) Scars
At this time, your scars are healed. Almost everyone carries scars, don’t they? When genuine thanksgiving comes out, those scars are healed.
2) Healing
Then many healings take place. Thanksgiving is when the greatest healing happens—when you give thanks from your heart. One characteristic of those who begin to have mental problems is that they do not have thanksgiving. They have no thanksgiving. And they constantly fall into disbelief about everything. It becomes like that. “Everyone else is wrong; only I am right.” That is when it becomes a serious problem. “Everyone else is wrong. Everything is wrong.” It becomes this way. When true healing takes place, all that aside, thanksgiving comes.
3) Darkness broken
At that time, not only does health come, but the forces of darkness are completely broken. Satan completely knelt down in front of Job.
2. The Word
And when you truly enjoy this prayer of the introduction, from that point on something begins to come alive. It was always alive, but it had nothing to do with you; now, the second point, the Word, begins to become connected to you. The Word comes alive.
1) The world
Before, all our imprinting was by the things of this world. So God’s Word and I did not match at all. Not one part matched. We did not even know what the Word meant. It did not become believable. In the past, before I understood the gospel and before I knew prayer, the book of Acts was the hardest book for me to read. What is all this talk about houses and roads? But once I understood evangelism movement and the Word, it became a complete answer. So I simply evangelized according to what appears in the book of Acts. Then, the evangelists who understood those words could not help but rise all over the world. I did not do it; God could not help but raise them.
2) Pulpit
This Word is something you must definitely receive from the pulpit. All believers have a pulpit, don’t they? For the believers, listening to the pastor’s sermon is not just listening to the pastor; it is listening to the Word of God. For the pastors who prepare sermons, they themselves must not merely think, “I prepared a sermon,” but they must listen for the Word of God.
3) Flow
Then, because this Word is living and active, the flow definitely becomes visible.
3. Concentration
When this happens, it does not simply end there. A concentration toward God arises. This is prayer. Because you know and enjoy the blessings of the introduction, thanksgiving comes; the Word comes alive and works; and then concentration toward God begins to arise. The power of this is tremendous. You must remember this.
1) Division, obsession, addiction
If you do not understand the word “concentration” correctly, its opposite is division. Your thoughts, heart, and mind are divided. Or a wrong kind of concentration becomes obsession. The word “concentration” is very important. If not, it becomes division, or obsession, or addiction. In fact, among our future generations, there will be many patients with these three problems—division, obsession, and addiction. Concentration is a very important word.
2) Summit
Because concentration toward God revives our soul and revives our brain, it inevitably leads us into the blessing of the spiritual summit. You must remember this. Our future generations must become spiritual summits before they become summits in the world. If they do not know spiritual summit and do not know what prayer is, then from the moment they pass the bar exam, they begin to wander. It becomes difficult. They must first become spiritual summits. From the moment they become doctors, they begin to suffer countless hardships. They must first become spiritual summits. From the moment they become public servants, it becomes difficult from that point on. Where do they concentrate? This prayer holds a tremendous mystery.
3) Platform, watchman bartizan, antenna
At this time, God’s important work of art begins to appear. Simply put, you become a platform. Right? You must become a spiritual platform so that people can come. The church must do evangelism diligently, but the greatest evangelism is this: if you become a platform, people will come. Right? Likewise, if your business, your shop, becomes a platform, even without much advertising, people come. In Japan, I saw a restaurant that had been operating for 500 years. It was astonishing. The owner was wearing a name tag: “16th Owner, So-and-So.” It was amazing. It was just a restaurant, but people had no choice but to come. I am most worried about this: I don’t know if it’s still like this, but in Songdo, when you drive by, they wave at you so vigorously that you almost bump into them with your car, trying to get you to come in. Do we really have to do that? Korea is almost all like that, because they are so diligent. If you become a platform, a watchman bartizan that can save many people is set up there. If you have the power of concentration toward God, you become a spiritual antenna.
4. Healing
1) Myself
2) The church
3) The world
From this point on, the healing of your heart and of yourself takes place, and then healing in the church and in the world takes place. So everything is included. Within the true happiness of prayer that enjoys the gospel, tremendous content is contained.
5. Future
Even if you simply remain still, the future becomes visible within this prayer. This blessing will surely be upon you.
1) Communication
Before, the Word of God did not match with me at all, but now the Word of God begins to communicate with me. I begin to be led by the Word. Before, I lived entirely centered on myself. Before, I only knew myself and my things.
2) Myself, my things, my field
But one day, it changes to “me, whom God created.” It changes like this. Then it changes to “the things God has given me,” and “the field to which God has sent me.” It changes like this.
3) Position of the summit
So while you are just staying where you are, you will find yourself seated in the position of the summit. When Joseph stood in the position of the summit, even the king had to follow. This is the important future.
Do not think that I am just talking about something. Right? You must actually become people who receive these answers before God. Isn’t that true? You must check how you are praying right now. You must check whether prayer is truly a source of happiness and strength for you. If you simply ask, God is bound to give you answers. You must do this. Most of the time, even when we just listen to people talk, we can tell. We can sense, “Ah, this person prays a lot,” right? When we talk with someone, we can sense, “Ah, this person absolutely does not pray.” Of course, not everything is done by feeling, but people decide many things based on feeling. Aren’t you like that too? Even if a person is very great, if you sense, “Ah, this person absolutely does not pray,” you cannot really believe what that person says. If you sense, “Ah, this person truly prays,” then it is different. Those who truly do not know prayer continually receive a different kind of guidance. How heartbreaking that is. You must absolutely restore the blessing Christ has given you.
No obsession over position
If you truly restore and enjoy this, you do not even need to worry about your position.
No issue of pride
And if you truly enjoy this blessing, even if someone looks down on you, it has nothing to do with your pride. The very fact that you feel, “I must defend my pride,” shows that you are weak right now. Right? If you say to a homeless person, “You bum,” he gets very offended. Why? Because he knows he is a beggar. Right? He gets angry: “Yes, I’m a beggar—are you going to feed me, then?” and snaps back. But if you say, “You beggar,” to a chaebol (wealthy magnate), he will just laugh. Because he is not a beggar. Already, the fact that you are so sensitive about your pride shows that you have lost hold of something. You become bound here, in your pride. Someone like Joseph was the same either way. He was the same when he was the prime minister and the same when he went as a slave. What was the same? His enjoyment of God’s blessing was the same. This is very important.
As you worship today, this must truly be a day of receiving grace. Start again. If you say, “I am having such a hard time right now,” that is a simple sign. It means, “Start again accurately.” What will He give first? This strength of the introduction. This is not my word; it is what Christ Himself explained for 40 days. Would Christ, who resolved every problem on the cross, have spoken nonsense and then left? Even when people speak, if they speak earnestly, we listen carefully. Right? Even if a person is somewhat lacking, if they keep speaking earnestly, we end up listening. The King of kings, Christ, explained this intensively for 40 days. For us to ignore this so much is wrong. Right? Answers themselves are not the problem. With this blessing, you must carry your work, your personal life, and world evangelization.
▣ Conclusion – Revelation 8:3–5
In Revelation 8:3–5, all your prayers are said to rise up before God. They do not just rise up; the Bible says they are all contained in a bowl. John saw this in a vision and realized, “Ah, so that is how it is.” And he was shown how the angels of the Lord carry out all of God’s errands. Even today, if there is a greatest answer for you, it is that you are praying. Right? If you are to enjoy the greatest plan of this Lord’s Day, it is that you restore proper prayer before God. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ that today will be such a day of God.
Prayer. God, we thank You. Today, let us restore the covenant that Christ has given us. Let us begin with that covenant. Let us build a firm bartizan of God. Let us go on our journey by the power of God. Let the guideposts of God be fulfilled in our lives. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.