2025.12.21 Sunday 1st Service
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:1-14
▣ Introduction
Thank you. There is one week left in this year.
1. Because we do not clearly know what the gospel (salvation) is and what the blessings of those who are saved are
We must ask several questions.
1) They are great powers, yet why are there so many disasters and people with mental illnesses? They are successful and are great powers, so why are there so many disasters? Strangely, the more powerful a nation is, why are there more people with mental illnesses? We must ask.
2) Why are many believers not receiving the answers that are in the Bible?
3) Churches cannot evangelize and there are many non-self-supporting churches. The more important question is that 90% of churches cannot evangelize. Why is that? Non-self-supporting churches are 60 to 70%. Why is that? Today, we need to listen to Paul’s confession. We must confirm what the person who did world evangelization said about the Word he received from God.
Simply put, people do not clearly know what the gospel is. That means they do not clearly know what salvation is. What is more important is that we must know what the blessings of those who are saved are. Then we know who we are. Then when I look at you, I come to know that tremendous value.
2. Paul’s confession
We need to listen to that confession. He confessed like this.
1) Salvation is a miracle, and the blessings of those who are saved are tremendous.
“I, Paul, an apostle by the will of God,” he said. “I write to the faithful brothers in Ephesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” And then he said, “Blessed be. He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Moreover, He chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world. According to the good pleasure of His will, He predestined you, and through Christ He made you sons. This was so that you might praise the glory of His grace. According to the riches of His grace, He redeemed you through His blood and obtained forgiveness of sins. For the administration of the fullness of the times, He united all things—things in heaven and things on earth. According to His will, He predestined you and made you His inheritance. And He sealed you with the Holy Spirit.” He stamped you as His own with the Holy Spirit. “This is the guarantee of our inheritance.” It is tremendous. It is a miracle. The fact that you received that blessing is a miracle. You just do not know it.
2) When you come to know this, the way you see yourself and believers changes. They are extremely precious people, and it is a miracle.
Then the way we see believers changes, and the way we see you changes, and we realize they are extremely precious people. Right? There are many multiethnic people sitting among us, and that is a miracle. Did you go overseas and evangelize them? Did you run errands so that they would be saved? Did you make them disciples? And did they come all the way here in order to receive grace? It is a miracle. Unless those eyes are opened, it has nothing to do with the blessings Paul received. Today, you must grope and think about this once again.
Someone once came from abroad to meet with me. He was not Korean, but he spoke Korean extremely well. No interpreter was needed. His pronunciation was exactly like a Korean person’s. So I asked, “How are you so good at Korean?” He said he studied Korean diligently. I asked how he learned it, and he said he learned it by watching Korean dramas. Then do you know what he said? When I asked, “Why did you come to Korea?” he said, “I like Korea so much.” What he said next was even more amusing. “I like Christ so much.” How is that? It is a miracle. When you see something like this, you say, “How can this be!”
One missionary went to a remote island nation for missions and became ill. When his health improved slightly, he returned to Korea. He later passed away after returning. Then his daughters came afterward. They began a missions movement in Busan. I began my life of faith at the church they established. It is a miracle.
Look at Pastor Salam here now. He came to Korea to work. But a deacon from our Immanuel Seoul Church shared the gospel with him. He received the gospel. His life was completely changed. He graduated from our RTS. Then he became a pastor and began preaching the gospel in his own country. In that country, preaching the gospel is forbidden. They arrest and imprison you. They falsely accuse you of murder. He even received a death sentence in court. It is a frightening country. They fabricated lies and issued a death sentence. After that, they applied pressure. “If you do not believe in Jesus, we will let you go.” They pressured him. We received contact and were told to pass it on to Pastor Ryu. He said, “I am fine. Please do not worry. My country needs Christ. I am fine even if I die.” That is what he said. By God’s grace, he survived. Then the church began to grow rapidly. Even with such persecution, many people began to be saved. His family even removed him from the family registry. How terrifying is that situation? He even changed his surname. He changed it to Ryu. This is real.
Yesterday, a pastor came and gave a report. In that foreign country, they cannot even attend retreats like we do. This person attended our retreat, listened to my sermon once, and received the grace of complete salvation. Then he wanted to attend retreats in the United States or other countries, so he applied for leave. They would not grant him leave. Seeing how desperate he was, he said, “Then I will resign.” After hearing the pastor’s story, they granted him 40 days of leave. He attended retreats, and he said tremendous fruit and works were taking place all around him.
3. We must return to the heart of Paul who confessed “Blessed be!” out of deep gratitude
What Paul said today is that we must return to that heart. What did he say? He did not say, “I am thankful because of this and that.” If you are truly thankful, what do you do? If you are truly grateful, you first say, “Thank you,” and then speak. “Thank you so much.” What does someone who is truly starving say? They do not say, “Please prepare a full table of food.” Someone who is truly starving says, “Please give me just one spoonful of rice.” The rich man who was in hell said it, did he not? He did not say, “Give me a bowl of water.” He said, “Give me just one drop of water.”
What Paul said today is that immediately in verse 3 he said, “Blessed be.” And then he explained everything. Normally, he would explain and then say, “I praise You,” but instead he made the shocking confession, “Blessed be!” “Blessed be. He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and moreover, before the foundation of the world He chose us and saved us.” He poured out that confession today.
▣ Main point_ What does it mean to praise
Paul transformed the world. Now, what is it that he praises so much? We need to look at the entire Book of Ephesians.
1. Blessed be for giving us true destiny and completely liberating us (verse 3)
He said, “I praise Him for giving us true destiny and completely liberating us.” In verse 3 today it says, “He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”
1) He saw God who liberated us from curse, disaster, and darkness.
Simply put, he saw and praised “the God who liberated us from curse, disaster, and darkness.” If a slave is liberated, what happens? A captive has been liberated. A colonized people have been liberated. A person who was in prison has been liberated. He praised this tremendous reality.
2) To Paul, who praised this, God gave the work of saving the entire world.
To this Paul, God gave the work of saving the entire world. Today, you do not even need to think long or practice anything. You must think today.
3) While many souls around the world are dying, there is no concern. The church must begin prayer and save them.
Many souls around the world are dying, yet there is no concern. This is not a small problem. We should be looking at this and thinking we must save them, but there is no concern at all. If your child fell into a swamp and you as a parent had no concern and just watched, what would happen? If your child got lost in a dangerous forest and you said, “They will find their way back,” that is what is happening now. Darkness has covered the entire land, and now countries are emerging where 40% of elementary school students are taking medication. What about Korea? I heard it directly from an elementary school teacher in Korea. They have to take medication to study. A serious situation has occurred. There is no concern at all. Politicians have no concern. It is not that they do not want to do anything; they cannot. It is not do not, it is cannot. This is serious. Now the church must begin prayer and truly praise this God and save people. That is the prayer we must pray. There is nothing else to worry about. God entrusted everything to Paul. Not in order to gain something, but because of this.
2. Blessed be for giving us true power (verse 8)
What is he praising? In verse 8 it says, “He lavished it on us with all wisdom and understanding.” God gave us true power.
1) He gave us His name so that we could save the entire world (Ephesians chapter 3).
In Ephesians chapter 3, He gave us that name so that we could save the entire world. He gave us the name that can save the nations. We praise that God. Why is that?
2) Great powers, small nations, and religions cannot save the world.
Great powers do not have the power to save the world. They have caused wars, but they do not have the power to save the world or save people. Then can small nations save the world? They cannot. Religions cannot save the world. That God gave us this gospel is an astonishing thing.
3) Therefore, the age of mental illness, the age of addiction, and the age of suicide have come.
So three ages have come: the age of mental illness, the age of addiction, and even more shocking, the age of suicide. Children are committing suicide. If someone with severe spiritual problems committed suicide, we might understand. If someone committed suicide because life was too hard, we might somewhat understand. But children are committing suicide. They attempt suicide and come to the emergency room, and 87% are young adults.
3. Blessed be God who gave us a true mission
We praise God who gave us a true mission. That is the third thing. What is it?
1) The mission to save the church (Ephesians chapter 4).
In Ephesians chapter 4, God gave us the mission to save the church.
2) The power to save the next generation (Ephesians chapter 5).
In Ephesians chapter 5, He gave us the power to save the next generation.
3) The power to overcome Satan (Ephesians chapter 6).
In Ephesians chapter 6, we give thanks and praise to God who gave us the power to overcome Satan. Today, we must restore this.
Next week, 2025 will end. One year passes, and a new year begins. We give thanks to God who gave us the most important thing, salvation. We give thanks and praise to God who delivered us from darkness and countless sins. When this happens, do you know what takes place? In Ephesians chapter 6, the work of completely breaking down Satan takes place.
▣ Conclusion_ What to restore
As we send off this year, what must we restore?
1. Restore thanksgiving
We must restore thanksgiving. When thanksgiving is restored, healing takes place. There are many medicines, but the best medicine is sincerely giving thanks. Japanese people use words of thanks often. Americans also say it often. They say “Thank you” a lot. Even when they do not like something, they say, “No, thank you.” When you look at Japanese people, even when someone has already left, they continue bowing and saying, “Thank you, thank you.” That is good. But that is not what I am talking about.
This thanksgiving that heals my soul, restores today’s worship, and gives me the power to heal everything today must arise. That is what it means to praise.
2. Restore praise
If you restore praise today, you overcome darkness. The choir is extremely important. Of course, they serve with a sense of mission, and that is something to be thankful for.
1) When David praised, the evil spirit departed.
When David praised, the evil spirit departed.
2) When Paul praised in the midst of hardship, miracles took place.
In the midst of hardship, Paul praised, and miracles took place. This praise, praising God, is not just praise—it is praise that completely overcomes darkness.
3) Tremendous status and authority are revealed.
Restoring thanksgiving brings healing, but restoring praise reveals tremendous status and authority. He said to praise that God. Today, you must restore the praise that Paul offered when he said, “Blessed be.”
One day, I realized that I could not praise. One day. Shouldn’t we be praising? Praise. But I could not do it. Instead, worldly songs felt better. One day, I realized that. In the past, I drove a lot. One day, I realized there were more worldly songs playing. It is not that worldly songs are bad, but there were more of them. One day, I discovered that. While driving, I restored set-time worship. When you drive a long distance, you have time. I restored set-time worship. At that time, as I restored set-time worship, prayed, meditated on the Word, and sang praise, something completely different happened. An astonishing restoration that nothing else could produce began to take place in me.
If this is the case for ordinary believers, how much more should we restore praise? Thanksgiving must be restored, praise must be restored, and Paul praised God because he was so thankful.
3. The confession that makes Satan kneel
God knows this. Satan knows it. It is simple. I know myself, but God knows. Satan knows. When it is only Christ, Satan knows it. When a true confession arises today, darkness is bound to collapse. Today in the second service we will see this, but we truly must confirm what salvation is. In the first service today, we must restore what thanksgiving is and what praise is. When you praise, you must truly praise with thanksgiving and emotion within the grace God gives. Standing still or praising reluctantly makes you sick. That Satan, who follows you to the end and drives you toward destruction, knows this very well. He knows which church and which people have the gospel and which do not. Satan fears only Christ. He fears nothing else. Saying “I know that person” is expressed differently in English. If you say, “I know about him,” it means you have heard a little. If you say, “I know of him,” it means you have met him a few times. But if you say, “I know him,” it means you know him well. It is different. Satan knows. Today, the confession that makes Satan kneel must arise.
Even today, as we send off this year, the prayer must begin: “Truly, restore praise and thanksgiving to God who gave me salvation, to God who saved me even when I did not know the content of salvation. Break all darkness.” May this blessing be conveyed to all believers and the next generation, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Prayer. We give thanks to God. We thank God who called us to bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We thank You for giving us the gospel prepared before the foundation of the world. May this gospel be delivered to all who have not heard it. We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.