Sunday 1st Service Worship / Speaker: Pastor Ryu Gwang-su / Title/Scripture: Right Prayer Can Enjoy the Things of God (Matthew 6:32-34) / Date/Location: January 9, 2022, Immanuel Church
Matthew 6:32-34
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Summary
– If you do not know prayer – You are a child of God, so answers do come, but you cannot enjoy any of them and you end up missing nearly all of them. You end up talking a lot and having to think a lot. Then you fall into Genesis chapter 3. Wherever you go, you think prayer only works if you starve yourself.
– Salvation and prayer – From the very beginning, God promised to send Christ. Without Christ, calamity, curse, Satan, and the background of hell cannot be resolved. Christ came and during three years of public ministry resolved everything, taught prayer, and then departed. If you who have received salvation can pray, you can move the world. When you know prayer, you need neither humanism nor your own claims. Because the answers of God and the will of God become clearly visible.
– What must come first (verses 30-33) – Even the grass of the field God clothes, yet you pray with worry like an unbeliever — is that right? “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
▣ Introduction_ Wrong Prayer
1. Praying while completely sunk in calamity and calling it right
2. Praying while still completely sunk in Genesis chapters 3, 6, and 11, which know nothing but self
3. Praying to gain a position
4. Fleshly prayer
5. Praying for what Satan loves — material things (Matthew 4:3), the desire for honor (Matthew 4:5-6), illusions (Matthew 4:8-9)
▣ Main_ The Right Prayer That Receives Answers
1. Prayer that comes out of darkness
1) Matthew 5:21-26, 1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 4:26-27 Do not be angry. Satan follows you around 24 hours a day trying to tempt you. Because Satan knows it cannot defeat you, it keeps trying to shake you.
2) Matthew 5:33-37 Do not swear. It is self-assertion.
3) Matthew 5:38-42 Do not take revenge.
4) Matthew 6:1-4 Do not give to the needy in order to be seen by people.
5) Matthew 6:5 Praying to be seen by people brings no answer.
6) Matthew 6:6 Go into your inner room. Pray before God.
2. Prayer that enjoys the power of the throne — prayer that overcomes the forces of darkness
▷ From the moment you come out of darkness, you begin to enjoy the power of the throne.
1) Enjoying the blessing of the throne
(1) Matthew 6:9 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name
(2) Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
(3) Matthew 6:13 Pray that the kingdom, the power, and the glory belong to the Father.
2) Do not worry (Matthew 6:11) – daily bread
3) What we must do (Matthew 6:14) – We must forgive the wrongs of others in order for our own wrongs to be forgiven.
4) Do not lead us into temptation (Matthew 6:13).
5) Seek His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
(1) The nine blessings of the Triune God and the power of the throne – “His kingdom”
(2) This must come upon the church and the field – “His righteousness”
3. Prayer that makes darkness bow completely (verses 14-15) – Forgive the person who has done wrong.
1) In order to make darkness bow completely.
2) Because I also have wrongs.
▣ Conclusion_ The Model of Prayer
“God, work in me now with the power of the Triune God, the power of the throne, and the power to save this age. Let this blessing come upon me. Let this blessing come upon my work place right now.”
Try breathing in to receive it and breathing out to pass on the blessing (John 20:22, Acts 1:8).
Transcript
This is a question that many of our new family members and Remnants ask. “Prayer just doesn’t work for me.” Like this. There are many questions of “How should I pray?” There is nothing to worry about. If you look at Luke chapter 11 verse 1, even the disciples could not pray and said, “Teach us to pray.” That is what produced the Lord’s Prayer as the answer. It is not recorded in Matthew, but in Luke it says the disciples told him, “John the Baptist taught prayer to his disciples, so please teach us too.”
Most people are struggling with prayer. If I am going to be truly honest before God, after receiving salvation, I am enjoying the happiness and blessing of prayer. So if prayer is not working, everything fails. Since you are a child of God, answers do come, but you cannot enjoy any of them and end up missing nearly all of them.
First, your words change. If you do not know prayer, you have to talk a lot. Otherwise, life just does not go well. You keep having to do more and more. It is different. If prayer does not work, you have to think a lot. You cannot help it. That thinking is exactly Genesis chapter 3, and you fall right into it. Many things are different. People who know prayer can tell. “Ah, this person does not know how to pray.” You can tell. Things are different in many ways.
There are special times you need to go up a mountain. Right? But other than that, people who go up mountains go because prayer is not working for them. And there are times when we must specifically fast and pray. But thinking that you can only pray if you starve yourself — that is not knowing prayer. Isn’t that right? Things are different in many ways like this.
From the very beginning it was already prophesied in Scripture: “I will send Christ.” Because without that word, nothing can be resolved. Calamity, curse, Satan cannot be resolved. The background of hell cannot be resolved. It is not that monks or such people are wrong — you also need Christ. No matter how much you go up a mountain and cultivate the way, it is useless. Spiritual problems cannot be resolved. That is why God promised, “I will send Christ.” The Gospels are saying “That Christ has come.” From Acts through Revelation explains “What work did this Christ do?”
Now, Christ had to come in a human body in order to save humans, right? So He came in a human body and during three years of public ministry resolved everything and departed. Among those things, He taught prayer and then went. So it is enormously important. You do not need to worry about anything. If you who have received the gospel, who have received salvation, can pray, you can move the world. Why? Because He said you will be witnesses to the ends of the earth.
So then, right prayer can enjoy God’s things and move the world, but there is something that must come first. If you look carefully at the prayer Jesus taught today, at the end there is this word. In verse 30: “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire.” “Even the grass along the road — God raises it — so do you have anything to worry about?” He asked it that way. And then He says —”Isn’t all of that what the Gentiles and the unsaved do?” Jesus said that. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then all these things will be added to you.” The prayer Jesus taught and the reason for it are enormously important.
Honestly, you know it yourselves. Because it is your own life. In the past I genuinely did not know what prayer was. Honestly. I did not know what I was supposed to do. And prayer, well, I was doing it, but I did not know what I was supposed to do. They told me to shout “Lord!” three times, but I did not know what that meant. It felt meaningless. I went to an all-night prayer meeting and they told me to shout “Lord!” three times but I did not do it. I just sat quietly, because I did not know the reason. Now that I know prayer I understand the reason, but back then I did not.
For a while in the early days, when I was an associate pastor, I had to go to church for all-night prayer. So I would go, and spending the whole night in prayer was genuinely exhausting. And then I had to be active the next day — how hard is that? Mainly there were ajummas who would come and pray fervently through the night, so by watching them I joined along with them. If prayer has no answer, that is what happens. It is true.
Once I got answers in prayer, there is no reason to use humanism anymore. Why use humanism? It is a loss. In some ways I do not need my own claims either. I am the one who is wrong, so why assert my own claims? Because God’s answers are visible — why would I disregard them and insist on my own claims? That is impossible. Right? The will of God for our Darakbang and Immanuel Church is clearly visible, so for me to disregard it and insist on my own — that is practically insanity. Isn’t that so? So knowing or not knowing prayer makes an enormous difference.
So then, you need to resolve this today. That is why, even though many pastors preach, do not try to listen to my sermon or a pastor’s sermon — just look squarely at the Word of God and come up with an answer.
Jesus spoke about two big things today. Broadly. What is wrong prayer and what is right prayer — that is what He explained. Jesus did.
Simply put, “What is there even to pray? Is it not that the Father in heaven — His name be hallowed?” That is what Jesus said. “Since the will has already been set in heaven, is it not enough to pray that it be fulfilled on earth? Since our background is the kingdom of heaven, is it not enough to pray for God’s kingdom to come?” That is what He is saying.
If there is something specific to do — what is it? We do not eat ten days’ worth of food in a single day. Right? No matter how big your stomach is, you cannot eat a month’s worth. So “daily bread is enough.” That is what He is saying. “If there is something you must do, forgive others so that you may be forgiven.” And then He says, “Why are you so worried? Does not God feed even the grass of the field?” That is what Jesus says in today’s text. “Is it right for you to pray with all kinds of worries like a Gentile unbeliever? Seek His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” This is such a grace-filled answer to me. “Yes, that is right.” From the moment I grasped prayer, things began to work out for me somewhat. Before that, not knowing what prayer was — that was my greatest lifelong struggle. So I would go and watch our mother and friends praying, and they would sit behind a chair with a cushion and pray, moving their bodies so much in prayer that by morning they had drifted all the way to the front. But those people are not even attending church now. “What is this?” Really, what is prayer? Also, I have seen many people who say they have received spiritual gifts. Almost all of them are just maintaining their current state, not even able to maintain themselves. Of course you cannot judge from one person.
Really, this — what is prayer? You must come up with the answer now. Why? Because you are the people of God. From the beginning to the end of His public ministry, the thing Jesus emphasized most was this. At the very last He said, “Pray so that the Holy Spirit comes in fullness.” “Wait.” That is what He said. “Pray.” That is what He said. “Then you will receive power, and from that time on you will be witnesses to the ends of the earth.” There is no time.
▣ Introduction_ Wrong Prayer
Today, briefly, before right prayer, we need to know a few examples of wrong prayer. That is what Jesus is pointing out right now.
1. Praying while completely sunk in calamity and calling it right
Israel keeps praying, completely sunk in calamity and calling it right. Setting aside all the complexity, let me say just one thing. Israel has become a vassal of Rome — it has fallen. And in that situation the Pharisees are occupying key positions. And they keep calling that prayer.
2. Praying while still completely sunk in Genesis chapters 3, 6, and 11, which know nothing but self
This is the second wrong prayer. This is being completely sunk in Genesis chapters 3, 6, and 11 — which know nothing but self — and praying from that place.
Forty years ago when I did not know prayer, church was so strange and hard. You know, people who truly receive answers in prayer and move the world do not act that way. The church was fighting so much. Especially the elders fought like that. Who wants to fight? Because they do not know the gospel well and have no strength of prayer, that is what happens. Who wants to get angry? When you are angry, what can you do? Right? So they fight.
Because of this, since I did not know how to pray, even while leading early morning prayer I did not know how to pray. I would go and kept telling God: “God, please send me somewhere real.” So even if it is wrong prayer, you must pray to receive answers. Because I prayed, God gave me a realization. It was not that that was the problem — “What are you doing right now?” That is what became clear to me. “Ah, yes.” I forcibly pushed myself to start. In the end, we keep talking about Genesis chapters 3, 6, and 11. Right? Self. In reality there is no need for that. If you truly receive an answer, there is no need for that.
3. Praying to gain a position
What is the third? The Jews’ prayer is all about positions, like — “I am such-and-such a high priest, you are a Pharisee, and I am such-and-such” — praying for that.
4. Fleshly prayer
What is the fourth? In the end what Jesus is speaking about today is all fleshly prayer. Fleshly prayer must also be done. But if fleshly prayer is all you do and it is your center, that is wrong — that is what He is saying.
5. Praying for what Satan loves — material things (Matthew 4:3), the desire for honor (Matthew 4:5-6), illusions (Matthew 4:8-9)
What is the fifth? Strangely, people keep praying for what Satan loves. How dare Satan say to Jesus: “Make these stones into bread.” He came out like that. We may be praying this without realizing it. And what else did he say? “Since you are truly the Son of God, jump down. Won’t your legs be supported?” The devil said that. What is that? It stimulates the desire for honor. Even now, when our desire for honor rises, we pray fervently. That is wrong prayer. Right? Why is it wrong prayer? Because Satan sees it as laughable. You become a being that Satan does not fear at all.
Christ broke it in one blow. And what else? He showed all the kingdoms of the world — all an illusion — and said, “Bow to me.” If we are not careful, that is the prayer we are offering.
We are moving forward with the enormous age-defining blessing of building a sanctuary. You must understand this clearly. Many large churches in the metropolitan area — they ran Satan’s errands and all collapsed. They rushed in trying to profit, fought, and fell. Laughable. Some people even collected all the offerings and ran away. They are in Seoul. How much they run Satan’s errands — and they call that prayer.
▣ Main_ The Right Prayer That Receives Answers
Today you are going to start truly answered prayer, right now.
1. Prayer that comes out of darkness
What is the first? Prayer that comes out of darkness.
1) Matthew 5:21-26, 1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 4:26-27 Do not be angry.
What is it? You have to look from the beginning. Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 to 26: “Do not be angry.” Because Satan is following you around 24 hours a day right now trying to tempt you. You need to know that. Satan’s purpose is for you to be ruined, going around like that. Satan knows it cannot defeat you. So it keeps trying to shake you.
The Scripture says, “Like a roaring lion, going around seeking whom it may devour.” Ephesians chapter 4 verse 27 says that when you are angry, that is when Satan works. It is clearly written in Scripture. You have to come out of darkness — praying “Lord!” while still inside darkness is useless. When your spiritual eyes are opened, even if someone gets angry at church, you understand because that person is speaking out of how hard things are for them, and you end up praying for them instead.
2) Matthew 5:33-37 Do not swear.
Chapter 5 verses 33 to 37: “Do not swear.” And why not? Because it is self-assertion — do not do it.
3) Matthew 5:38-42 Do not take revenge.
Chapter 5 verses 38 to 42: “Do not take revenge.” “It is your own fault, so why take revenge? Do not take revenge.”
4) Matthew 6:1-4 Do not give to the needy in order to be seen by people.
Chapter 6 verses 1 to 4: “Do not give to the needy in order to be seen by people.”
5) Matthew 6:5 Praying to be seen by people brings no answer.
Today chapter 6 verse 5: “Praying to be seen by people brings no answer.” Right? When church leaders pray during Sunday worship, if you truly prepare and pray before God, enormous answers arise from that. Right? If pastors, when preaching, are too focused on performing before people — that is not a sermon. Right? No matter how insufficient I am, no matter how weak you are — that is your situation, but God is set to work upon you through the Holy Spirit. If you have given to the needy or prayed in order to be seen by people, you don’t need an answer anyway, because people saw — that is already the reward.
6) Matthew 6:6 Go into your inner room. Pray before God.
Chapter 6 verse 6: “Go into your inner room.” So do you have to go into an inner room to pray? Do you have to pray where no one can see? That is not what it means. What does it mean? “Pray before God.” Because it is the work of the Holy Spirit, a spiritual world — animals can never do this. Pray before God. In short prayers, works happen. Right? When you stand before God, in a short prayer tremendous works happen. No need to speak ill of others. Place yourself before God. There are so many right things to say about blaming the other person. But when you place yourself before God — right? If you do not place yourself before God, you think, “Is that person crazy? Why are they saying that?” But when you place yourself before God, so many things turn out to be right. Right? That is not the issue though — it is this. The more important thing. The first point. Come out of darkness — that is what it is.
2. Prayer that enjoys the power of the throne — prayer that overcomes the forces of darkness
This is the second. This is the prayer Jesus speaks of today. In one word: enjoy the power of the throne.
1) Enjoying the blessing of the throne
From that moment it begins to be enjoyed. From the moment you come out, because you have that standing, it begins to be enjoyed. The moment Abraham abandons unbelief, the door of the throne already begins to open. What does it say?
(1) Matthew 6:9
“Our Father in heaven.” If it said “Our Father in hell,” we would have to enjoy hell. “Your Father in heaven.” Enjoying the blessing of the throne in heaven. “Your name.” That is different. “Hallowed be Your name.” And it does not end there.
(2) Matthew 6:10
“Your kingdom come” — that is the blessing of the throne. And what else does it say? Same thing. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
(3) Matthew 6:13
At the very end: “Pray that the kingdom, the power, and the glory belong to the Father.” Tremendous. This is the blessing to enjoy.
2) Do not worry (Matthew 6:11) – daily bread
“Since you can only eat daily bread and no more, do not worry.” That is what He is saying.
3) What we must do (Matthew 6:14) – We must forgive the wrongs of others in order for our own wrongs to be forgiven.
If there is something we must do: “Forgive the wrongs of others. That is how you receive forgiveness.” That is what Jesus said.
4) Do not lead us into temptation (Matthew 6:13).
And “Do not worry about temptation.” “Please remove the temptation.” We pray like that, right? That is wrong prayer. “Do not lead us into temptation.” While living on this earth, why would there be no temptation? If you want to go where there is no temptation, if you say you don’t need temptation, if you ask “Why is there so much temptation?” — then you should leave the earth. Other than that, it exists. Never mind. Pray “Do not lead us into temptation.” That is what Jesus said. How important those words are. It is the answer we must receive.
Let me give you an example. Say I have a sore here (pointing to the side/back). It hurts, right? My younger sibling rolls over while sleeping and bumps into it. It hurts, right? Whose fault is it? If you must assign fault — whose fault is it? It is my fault. Because I have a sore, when someone touches me it hurts. When I am in pain, even someone comforting me hurts. Even someone gently patting me hurts.
5) Seek His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
In this tremendous blessing, God is now giving an explanation about the throne — Jesus is speaking about several things in succession.
(1) The nine blessings of the Triune God and the power of the throne – “His kingdom”
And then “Seek His kingdom and His righteousness.” This refers to the nine blessings of the Triune God and the power of the throne that are being spoken of lately. Pray for this.
(2) This must come upon the church and the field – “His righteousness”
Must it not come upon the church and the field? Looking at that, “seek His righteousness” — it cannot help but be answered.
3. Prayer that makes darkness bow completely (verses 14-15) – Forgive the person who has done wrong.
He taught one more thing at the end. This one — He taught how to make darkness bow completely. Look at what that is. It is verses 14 and 15 of chapter 6. After teaching the Lord’s Prayer, He taught the prayer that makes darkness bow completely.
Let me read it. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” This came out right in the middle of cleanly teaching prayer.
What does this mean? You need to understand the meaning. He’s telling us to forgive bad people? There are two reasons for that.
1) In order to make darkness bow completely.
“Make darkness bow completely.” That is what it means.
2) Because I also have wrongs.
And what else? Because I also have wrongs. You know, if we were properly punished for everything, not one of us would be standing here. Right? How many wrong things have you said? Right? Then all your tongues would have to be cut out — if we went strictly by the law. How many things have you seen that you should not have? All your eyes would have to be pulled out. Right? How many things have you eaten that you should not have? All your teeth would have to be pulled out. How many places have you gone that you should not have? Both your ankles would have to be cut off, then.
God says to us, “Forgive the person who has done wrong.” Do you know what that prayer does? It makes darkness bow completely.
Three prayers. Come out of darkness. Second, enjoy the heavenly throne and overcome the forces of darkness —
that is not the end. Make darkness bow completely. You must be able to enjoy this blessing.
▣ Conclusion_ The Model of Prayer
Our spiritual state throughout our lives — when we are born as children, our spiritual condition is shaped by our mothers and fathers. We cannot help it. And without knowing prayer we graduate from elementary, middle, and high school. Without enjoying this blessing of prayer, we even get married. So to be reconciled with someone who feels like an enemy — you have no idea how hard that is. And then you go out into the world. It is hard. So starting today, even just a little prayer will do.
You need to become a model of prayer. “Lord, truly come upon me with the power of the throne, with the Triune God and the power of the throne. Let this blessing be transmitted to my work.” That is this prayer. “God, truly work in me with the power of the Triune God, the power of the throne, and the power to save this age.” Try it. Even just doing this prayer, healing begins to come to me.
I do not just do it mechanically when it comes upon me — I breathe comfortably and healthily, breathe in to receive, and breathe out to pass on the blessing. Try it. Try it. Take someone who is truly difficult and say, “Lord, Holy Spirit, let this blessing of the throne truly come upon me. Let this blessing be transmitted to that person.” Try it and see what happens. Take a very wicked person and bless them. It does not matter if that person does not repent. It has no effect on them at all. If they come to understand, they receive the answer — no need to worry. As you do this prayer, Jesus said, “Breathe out and receive the Holy Spirit.” At the very last, at Mt. Olive, Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” Try this as a model.
Teach the children too. These days there are so many things like that for children. Yesterday? The day before? I am not sure if it was yesterday or the day before, but I happened to turn on the TV, and what came on was a child who cannot control his anger. Not being able to control anger — you cannot help it, it does not go the way you want. Sometimes a child feels lonely and hard all on their own. And when angry — the child would not listen to the teacher at school, would hit the father and lunge at the mother and so on. The child confessed later. The anger was uncontrollable.
So there is Dr. Oh Eun-young — she is a pastor’s daughter. She teaches while holding the child: telling them to pray is too much right away, so “Stop a moment and take three long deep breaths.” Right? And then “Count — one, two, three, four.” And then “Take three long deep breaths again.” After doing this once the child started to change. In reality. They showed it on TV. It was not made into a movie — it was actually filmed. Even doing just that brings improvement — but what you doing prayer amounts to is something tremendous. Because you do not know this prayer.
On Sunday, say “Truly let the five powers of the Triune God, the power of the throne, and the power to save this age come upon me. Let this come upon my work place right now.” Because we must give glory to God, if you just say it it starts to feel repetitive. Right? But if you truly enjoy it through deep breathing, it is not repetitive. You come to enjoy a deep and real power. Try it.
If you prayed about something, if you prayed for someone and that person does not change — never mind. The answer is set to come to you. You must properly enjoy this prayer. Then that is the end. Jesus taught it from the very beginning. He taught it at the very last too. He taught it in the middle too. “Stay awake and pray so that you do not fall into temptation.” He taught it in the middle too. And at intervals He taught it again. “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, God will make you understand everything. When the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, comes upon you, He will keep and guide you. He will even remind you of things you do not know.” That is right. Today, on Sunday, keep this prayer going throughout the worship service. You will become witnesses of this age. Let us pray.
Prayer. We give thanks to God. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth” — since the day of Pentecost has already come, let this promise become our promise. Let us be witnesses who enjoy and transmit the secrets of God’s throne. Let us be witnesses who save the world through spiritual secrets and power, changing what is physical. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.