Discovering the Treasures of Faith
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Transcript:
1 Today's topic: People Who Create History!
Last Sunday, I spoke about People with Treasures in Their Bosom. You are all people with treasures in your bosom. With treasures, do you still need to worry about life? No, you don't. Would you still ask such a foolish question like, Can believing in the Lord fill my stomach? You wouldn't! But not all Christians know this. I was one of them in the past. It seemed like I knew, but it seemed like I didn't. Actually, if you believe in Jesus Christ, the God who rose from the dead, it's such a pity not to know that you have a treasure in your bosom! Today, I feel that I have shortchanged myself too much in the past twenty-plus years of believing in the Lord. If I had known that I had a treasure in my bosom and how to use it when I first believed, just like some of you new believers, I think it would have been incredible these past twenty-plus years! The Apostle Paul was about the same age as I was when I believed. But Paul, at my age, was very powerful!
We face two problems: First, we must know that we have a treasure in our bosom, and with this treasure, there is nothing we cannot do! Second, we must know how to use this treasure. If we don't know we have a treasure, and we don't know how to use it, it's the same as not having a treasure! We have come this far for over three years, and we are both grateful and filled with emotion! We are grateful that we suddenly discovered that this treasure is real. It's simply divine. We have experienced so much grace. We are filled with emotion because we only realized it after being Christians for over twenty years! I have shortchanged myself! Three years ago, we wouldn't have dared to imagine that things would be like this today. Today, I am starting to believe that the bigger our hearts are, the more God can fill them! Although we have seen many of God's miraculous graces, what we have experienced is just a small part of what Jesus Christ has promised! What awaits us to experience must be something we cannot imagine today! We are all climbing the mountain of the Lord Jehovah, and with each step we take higher, we see more and more amazing, and wonderful things! When we reach the summit and enter the temple of the God of Jacob, the wonder will be beyond our imagination! If we have only taken a small step in building a glorious church and have experienced such great miraculous grace, what glory lies before us if we continue to push forward!
A few years ago, when I was facing great difficulties, almost besieged on all sides, I met a prophet who came to me and told me directly, When you pass through this long dark valley, you will see great glory ahead! At the time, I just thought it sounded good, but I didn't understand it. Today, I think I have really seen the glory of this treasure!
In the past, when we saw a cancer patient, we felt that it was very difficult for them to be healed. When we encountered someone with back pain or leg pain, it was all very difficult. But today, it has become very simple! In the past, when we read in the Bible that the Lord Jesus said, If you have faith, you can tell this mountain to move into the sea, and it will be done for you, we found it hard to believe. But now, we not only believe it, but we also often experience it! Because God is with us. What are we doing? We are changing people's destinies because we have the Lord Jesus inside us! He is the God who controls destiny!
A person with heart disease, through our healing, their path ahead is a different path. A cancer patient who comes among us and is healed, their path ahead is also a different path. So what are we doing? We are changing their personal future! We are creating rewritten personal micro-histories!
What our hearts desire is bigger than what we have now! We not only want to change the individual's future, but we also want to change the future of our families and the future of our nation. That is the topic for today: Changing History People!
Let's look at today's scripture.
2 Today's Scripture: Revelation 8:2-5
The Power of Prayer and the Change of History
Revelation 8:2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Rev 8:3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. And there was given to him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 8:5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
You may ask, There is no mention of changing history here! But I tell you, it is here. You have to listen to me explain it one by one.
3 Prayer – Be a Person Who Creates History!
Pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen!
4 The Background and Analysis of This Scripture
-The era we are in is this era. The seven seals are about to be opened!
- Next is the seven trumpets
-These seven trumpets represent the Third World War - After the war, it is the day the church is raptured!
5 Our Prayers Can Reach God's Presence, and the Fire of the Heavenly Altar Will Be Poured on the Earth
It says here that our prayers ascend to God's presence from the angel's hand. Then, the fire of the heavenly altar will be poured out on the earth. Then, what happens? Then there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. It seems like a bad thing. That represents the power of God! No pastor is preaching. Those newly baptised must become people who bring down the fire from the heavenly altar.
When God's power is manifested, it is a bit violent, very violent. This is God's doing.
6 Is it Mingding Destiny, or Can it Be Changed?
In 1833, Darwin, who advocated evolution, went to an island inhabited by cannibals in order to find evidence to support his theory of evolution. He observed these cannibals there and concluded that it was impossible for anyone to be more primitive or degraded than them. There was no hope for them, and there would be no change; he called them people who were close to the most primitive animals. Thirty-four years later, Darwin went to that island again, and strangely, he thought there would never be any hope there. But those cannibals built churches, started going to school, and completely became civilized people. Why? Because a missionary named John Paton went to that island and preached the gospel of Jesus to them. They believed in Jesus, were reborn, became children of God, and received God's grace, and as a result, they completely became civilized people. As long as the gospel of Jesus is preached to any primitive people, they will become civilized people. The cannibals completely became civilized new people. People without education, in the Holy Spirit, become educated.
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should be saved. God needs people who can bring down the fire from God's heavenly altar through prayer. God's power will descend on the earth. Nothing cannot be changed.
Change requires... Can natural disasters and man-made disasters not awaken people? (Recently, disasters have occurred one after another, a bus overturned in a valley, killing 44 people)
The Miracle of Faith and Prayer
Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, had a picture in the corner of his office, on the wall of the washroom, which was out of sync with his large office. It was not painted by a famous painter, but just a cheap painting. The painting had a large ferry with large oars. And Carnegie treasured this painting. Every time he entered the office, he saw a large ferry with large oars on a deserted beach, with no one around. When others asked him the reason, he said that when he was young, hungry and cold, he saw this painting on the road. Beneath the ferry in the painting, the painter had written a few words, which he happened to see. The tide will surely rise, and on that day, I will sail to the sea. Please say after me, The tide will surely rise, and on that day, I will sail to the sea. Your life may be like a boat abandoned on the beach with only one oar, but there will surely be a day when the tide rises, a day when good times come, and a day when opportunities come. On that day, we will be able to sail to the sea of success. Carnegie looked at these words and waited for the tide to rise, overcoming all trials.
We pray with faith, and we believe that the fire from God's altar in heaven will surely come down! God's power will surely come down! God is a faithful God!
7 Our prayers can change everything!
Pray with faith. J.C. Penney was a wealthy American. After becoming famous, he lost all his fortune due to stock market fluctuations and became ill, ending up in the hospital. Penney often felt pain and anxiety in the hospital. One day, he heard the sound of praise coming from the hospital chapel. After a while, he heard the sound of Bible reading and prayer, which became a new opportunity in his life. Penney recalled at the time, confessing, I heard the sound of praise, Bible reading, and prayer, and miraculously, it was as if sunlight slowly shone into a dark cave, and later the whole cave was lit up. I felt like I had been brought from hell to heaven. Then he decided to start a new beginning in his life and set the slogan for his business and life as: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. After making a comeback, he later became a department store magnate and a victorious Christian! Who changed him? It was the prayers of the saints! I believe that our prayers are also quietly changing people's lives!
Prayer can change everything!
I once saw such a testimony. There was a businessman who, halfway through his business, had his bills dishonored. At that time, he had only five million Korean won left. So he thought of using the last of his money to build a church on Panay Island in the Philippines and dedicate it to God, so he took out this last sum of money. It so happened that some Filipinos did not have money to build a church and were worshiping under trees, so he used this money to build a church, which he named Dishonored Church. Because this was the money given by a person whose bills had been dishonored. The reason for this name was that they did not want to forget this Korean businessman and often wanted to pray for him. Whenever they saw the name of the church, they prayed, May God bless this dishonored businessman. Then they prayed for him every day. Finally, a miraculous thing happened. The businessman whose bills had been dishonored made a comeback and is now enjoying great success in his business. When faced with mountain-like problems, as long as we first sow seeds of faith, we can reap abundant fruits. This is the law of sowing and reaping. It's not just that problems exist, but solutions also exist. The solution is: with dreams and faith, sow seeds of faith, expect miracles to happen, and pray to God, and God will solve our problems for us. Even great mountains must move in the face of faith the size of a mustard seed. To move a mountain, there is no need to smash a large rock. Just sow faith the size of a mustard seed, a living faith, and with dreams and hope for God, pray and pray for miracles, and God's power will be revealed, moving the mountain away.
If you just believe, you will receive.
The Power of Prayer and Faith: The Mission to Create History
Faith is like a mustard seed, the mountain can be moved into the sea.
8 We are creating history
-. Creating our personal history
-. Creating our family history - (Family members are paralyzed and lying in bed, that's what we are here to change!)
-. Creating our nation's history
-. It was originally like that, but because of our prayer warfare, it has become like this. Originally destined to die, but now alive. Our prayers can change everything.
-. Because we bring down the fire from God's altar in heaven, God's power is constantly revealed.
-. History is the history of the victorious, and we are the victorious!
Max Weber, a German sociologist and economist, studied the relationship between capitalism and Christianity and wrote a book called The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He said, Wherever Christianity goes, the economy recovers. Christian nations will lead all nations. Families that believe in Jesus will lead families that do not believe in Jesus. And Max Weber found these reasons in the Bible. Max Weber is a famous economist. And he said that wherever Christianity goes, the nation prospers, and families that believe in Christianity prosper. Why? Because we Christians are the people who bring down the fire from God's altar in heaven, the people who create history by relying on God's power!
9 Conclusion: Our hearts must be bigger, to create history, that's the kind of people God wants!
There was a professor from Taiwan whom we met when we went to Taipei for observation and learning. He pulled my wife and I aside and said, I have a feeling that you should write down what you have experienced, because God is going to do new things through you! What we are doing is what God wants to do in this generation!
-. Not only can it change individuals, but it can also change families.
-. Not only can it change families, but it can also change nations.
-. Even if we are old, but the Bible does not say young people or old people, but the prayers of the saints.