2026.06.28 District Message Week 26
「Strangers in a Country Not Their Own」 (Ge 15:7-21)
Genesis 15:7-21
07 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
08 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
09 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Summary
Genesis 3, 6, 11 – Darkness, disaster, plague
Darkness covers the whole earth and continues even now. Darkness, disaster, and plague have completely erupted. Having been tempted by Satan, people departed from God and fell into Satan’s grip. From this point came “let us do this,” and idols, ideologies, and philosophies all emerged. This Tower of Babel collapsed, yet people keep trying to build it still. So the earth is prophesied to ultimately face its end. Light was given here, and it was given to Israel. Israel was meant to receive the gospel from the beginning and was told to spread this truth, but Israel never spread it even once. So it was prophesied that “they will be strangers in a foreign land.” They will become a people wandering in foreign lands. Is this a curse or a blessing? It is natural. So we must find the inevitable and establish the absolute.
▣ Main
1. Suffering (natural) – Suffering came upon them, and what came was the natural consequence.
1) Egypt – 400 years – They were supposed to save Egypt but did not, so they had to be in Egypt for 400 years.
2) Assyria – captivity – They were supposed to save Assyria but did not, so they were taken captive.
3) Babylon – captivity – They only needed to shine light on Babylon but did not, so they were taken captive.
4) They became a vassal state under Rome.
5) Wanderers – Later, something even more natural happened. Since Israel, who had received this light, did not shine it, they were sent out as wanderers to the whole world.
2. Recovery (inevitable)
God desires to restore. It is inevitable.
1) Gospel
2) Living Word
3) Prayer
4) Evangelism
5) Mission must be recovered.
3. Reason (absolute)
1) Jeremiah 33:1-9 (Look) Let go of everything and look to the Lord. “Call to me, the Lord who acts, the Lord who forms and fulfills, the Lord whose name is the Lord. I will answer you. I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know…” And then He spoke of recovery.
2) Isaiah 40:18-31 (Let go) Truly let go of what is not God, of idols.
4. Foundation (mission)
1) Faith – Faith that rejects unbelief, faith that believes exactly, faith that believes God’s Word and not demons, faith that believes God’s power and not people – recover this.
2) Christ – There are things we cannot do by our own strength. We cannot change our destiny and cannot overcome Satan and the background of hell. So take hold of Christ.
3) Worship – Once worship is recovered, evangelism and mission are naturally recovered from that point.
4) Power – God’s power comes. We have limits, but God’s power has no limits.
5) We become witnesses.
▣ Conclusion – Mission
Today for the entire day you must realize a clear mission. You only need to find that. It is okay if you cannot find it. The fact that you asked the question is the same as having found it.
1. Answer – It is finding the answer through the Word in what you see.
2. Also finding evidence.
3. Watchman – It is starting out as a watchman of prayer who guards it.
District Home Group Lesson
(Week 26) Category: Speaker: Pastor Ryu Kwang-su
Date / Location: June 28, 2026 / “You Will Be a Stranger in a Foreign Land” (Genesis 15:7-21) / Immanuel Church (Seoul)
Title / Scripture
Transcript
I hope that as you look at today’s Word, you receive a new answer.
3, 6, 11
Darkness covers the whole earth and continues even now.
[Darkness, disaster, plague] – Light
Darkness, disaster, and plague have completely erupted. People don’t realize it. It is happening in a terrifying way. Having been tempted by Satan, people departed from God and fell into Satan’s grip. From this point came “let us do this, let us do that.” Idols. Ideology. Philosophy. All of it emerged. This Tower of Babel collapsed. People keep trying to build it still. So the earth is prophesied to ultimately face its end.
Light was given here. Where? It was given to Israel. Israel was meant to receive the gospel from the beginning. So the message was to quickly spread this truth. This is the answer.
But Israel never spread it even once. Remarkable, isn’t it? It was spoken from the time of Abraham, and yet not once. Then what about us? Israel never did it even once. Strange, isn’t it? Think about it carefully. The churches today that are not receiving any answers from prayer – that’s how they are. What about you? Even Jonah – God forcibly sent him saying, “Go and preach. The most powerful nation in the world, Nineveh, is doing these things (darkness, disaster, plague), so quickly go and speak.” “I can’t go,” and he fled. So the ship he boarded capsized. He barely survived from inside the fish and went to Nineveh. He preached the gospel and a repentance movement arose. You know what Jonah said? He should have said, “God, thank You, I’m sorry,” but instead: “God, didn’t I say so? Didn’t I say this was why I wasn’t going?” Funny, isn’t it? “Is it alright for those people to repent?” What a truly funny nation Israel is. But this is not a separate story. This is how funny we humans are. Right?
“You will be a stranger in a foreign land”
Unavoidably. I do not see this as a disaster. “You will be a stranger in a foreign land.” This was prophesied. Seeing Abraham sitting quietly, God said: “You will be a stranger among foreigners.” What does this mean? You will become a people wandering in other lands. You need eyes to see this. What is this? Is it a curse or a blessing? I see it as natural. So you need to find the inevitable. And you must establish the absolute. I’ll say it honestly and plainly. Living the life of faith is not difficult, yet we make it too difficult and too wrong. We exhaust ourselves mentally and then suffer for it.
1. Suffering (natural)
So suffering came upon them. I don’t see this as suffering either. We always need to have eyes to see – yes, this is suffering, but what came was the natural consequence.
1) Egypt – 400 years
They were supposed to save Egypt but didn’t, so they had to be in Egypt for 400 years.
2) Assyria – captivity
They were supposed to save Assyria but didn’t, so they were taken captive. Quite remarkable, isn’t it? Looking at the Bible, the answer is so clear, yet people still don’t realize it – Israel still hasn’t realized it today.
3) Babylon – captivity
They only needed to shine light on Babylon but did not. So southern Judah was taken captive too. Northern Israel was taken captive, and southern Judah was taken captive.
It is not difficult at all. I attended church from a young age. When I was young I didn’t understand much. Then I got to the age where I could think about things. So I began looking at the church. I quickly understood. Why? Because they were only doing things that don’t work. They were only choosing things that don’t receive answers. Wow. When you go to church, have you ever heard members talking about receiving God’s grace, about God’s work? I never heard it. Have you ever heard about God’s kingdom in Christ, the secret, the throne? I never heard it. Every day they were immersed in the world and then talked about worldly things again. Of course they couldn’t receive answers. But I understood easily. “Right. Of course they can’t receive answers. They need the power to overcome the world, but they don’t have it.” I do not see this as suffering. It is natural.
2. Recovery
Why? Because it needs to be recovered. This week’s lesson has been made somewhat difficult and complex. Do it as I say.
1. Suffering (natural)
4) Rome
They became a vassal state under Rome too.
5) Wanderers
Later, something even more natural happened. Since Israel, who had received this light, did not shine it, they were sent out as wanderers to the whole world. Of course, in history and in the process, there was much more to it.
2. Recovery (inevitable)
God desires to restore. It is inevitable. You can simply pass it on exactly as it is.
1) Gospel
What is it? You must quickly recover the gospel.
2) Word
After recovering the gospel, you must recover the living Word.
3) Prayer
You must be able to pray. You must recover prayer.
4) Evangelism
And what must you do? You must recover evangelism.
5) Mission
If you have this power that God has given, you must recover mission. It is natural.
3. Reason (absolute)
There is a reason. That is the absolute. I am speaking of these two things.
1) Jeremiah 33:1-9
2) Isaiah 40:18-31 (Let go)
Jeremiah chapter 33, verses 1 through 9, Isaiah chapter 40, verses 18 through 31. Two things. “Let go of everything and look to the Lord.” “Call to me.” Please don’t worry and just try it. It may look like extreme suffering. “The Lord who acts. The Lord who forms and fulfills. The one whose name is the Lord says this: Call to me. I will answer you. Great and unsearchable things that you do not know.” And He spoke of recovery. Do you know what this (Isaiah 40:18-31) is? Truly let go of what is not God; let go of idols.
(Look)
This (Jeremiah 33:1-9) is to look to the Lord.
What we must absolutely realize is that we need to quickly catch what to look at and what to let go of. And then do we go back to worldly standards? No. Look to the Lord. Let go of the idols that spread darkness. Hold on only to the Word. This came out here. “Is what was made by hands God? That was asked, wasn’t it?” What foolishness. “What? You carve wood, make something out of it, and then bow before it – is that God?” That is the reason that was heard.
This is the reason. The same applies to our lives.
4. Foundation (mission)
In the end, God wants to give us what is foundational. This is our mission. Natural, inevitable, absolute, mission. You must recover the foundation and pass it on.
1) Faith
Faith that rejects unbelief. Faith that believes exactly. Faith that believes God’s Word and not demons. Faith that believes God’s power and not people. That is what we are going to recover. In some ways, your suffering is not even suffering. God truly desires to bless you. You need to quickly realize that. Right? We shout “suffering,” but it is not. Isn’t this what the Bible says?
He is telling you to quickly recover.
2) Christ
There are things you cannot do by your strength. Christ. You can earn money through effort. But you cannot change your destiny. Christ. You cannot overcome Satan. Christ. You cannot overcome the background of hell that is destroying your household. Christ. This is what He is saying to take hold of.
3) Worship
And what is it that comes alive after that? Worship. I hope that during today’s worship, this becomes a time of power in which even the diseases you don’t know about are healed. Once worship is recovered, from that point evangelism and mission are naturally recovered as I mentioned.
4) Power
When this happens, God’s power comes. We have limits, but God’s power has no limits.
5) Witness
This is how we become witnesses.
This week’s district lesson was made too complex by those who edited it. Just do it exactly as I said.
▣ Conclusion – [Mission]
What is the conclusion? You cannot memorize everything while receiving the Word today. Right? So today for the entire day, realize a clear mission. You only need to find that. Then even if you forget, you can hear next week’s sermon again. During today’s worship, what is the clear mission I will realize? You only need to ask that. It is okay if you can’t find it. The fact that you asked this question is the same as having found it. Right? This is important.
1. Answer
So for reference, I find the answer in what I see. Through the Word.
2. Evidence
Not only finding the answer. Also finding evidence. While reading the Bible, while worshipping.
3. Watchman
And you firmly decide. You start out as a watchman of prayer who guards it.
I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ that throughout today and over the coming week you will experience God’s work. Let us pray.
Prayer. Thank You, God. Let us receive the strength God gives throughout this day. Grant us the power of the throne that the world does not know – the power that saves the world. Let us experience the work of a God who is full of the Holy Spirit even today. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.