1125 - The resources of heaven belong to God, but they are prepared for you#
1125 - The resources of heaven belong to God, but they are prepared for you
(JP 文字组 - beloved 整理)
Today's topic is: The resources of heaven belong to God, but they are prepared for you
2 Corinthians 3:17-18:
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
When a person accepts Jesus as their Savior, the Holy Spirit dwells in their heart and will never leave. The Bible tells us that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. With the Holy Spirit in your heart, you are free. The latter part of the verse also mentions that we all, with unveiled face, can behold the glory of the Lord.
Glory and honor are the same word. How can God's glory come upon you? Some say it is through good deeds, striving to do good, so that people can see the glory of Christ in me. Today, you receive God's glory not by your efforts. It is a gift from God. We merely express what God has given us. God is willing to let the resources of heaven serve you.
What kind of resources are there in heaven? Glory, wisdom, honor, authority, and all good things. Everything in heaven belongs to God, and God has given you all the resources of heaven!
The Lord's Prayer begins with, Our Father in heaven. This is our object of prayer. This is who we pray to God. Whenever we encounter any problems in life, we can pray to God. How do we know that God is willing to save us? Because He is our Father. He loves us. He has power, honor, and authority.
When you pray to God, you must first determine one thing: this God has the power to help you. If you have a problem in life, would you ask your two-year-old child for help? Saying, "Child, the household utility bills are not enough, can you go raise some funds?" So when people seek help, they look for those they believe are qualified and capable of helping them.
Today, when you come before God, you must believe that God has the power to help you because the kingdom, authority, and glory all belong to Him!
The first point to share: When you see the Lord's glory and authority, it can be reflected upon you
How do you receive the authority of Jesus? Christians can lay hands and pray for others to be healed; where do you get this authority? How do you obtain this authority? Some say it comes from God? The moment you believe in Jesus, God's power is reflected upon you, not earned through effort. Today, we will share this point later.
Matthew 5:14, Jesus said, "You are the light of the world." How can a person strive to become light? No matter how many years one tries, it is impossible to become light, but the Bible says, you are the light of the world; how is this possible? Because the light of Christ is within you, this is not earned through effort; it is when you believe that God places the Holy Spirit within you, and it is He who shines the light from within you.
What you need to do is not to hide it. Let Jesus take the first place in everything. Jesus said, A lamp should be placed on a lampstand. A lampstand is higher than ordinary objects in your home; no one places a lampstand in a corner; lampstands are always elevated. Jesus said, you are that light; you must place this light on the lampstand and not cover it with anything.
Brothers and sisters, today we just need to say: "Lord, I am willing to reflect Your light through me." That is enough. Christ has glory, authority, and honor, and this will also be reflected upon us; it is very simple. As long as you are willing to accept Jesus, this light is within you!
Earlier, we read that we all, with unveiled face, can behold the glory of the Lord. First, you must see that Jesus has such glory, and then it will reflect upon you like a mirror; you will be transformed into the image of the Lord, and glory upon glory, just as transformed by the Spirit of the Lord. Today, do you find it difficult to look in the mirror? Do you need to tell the mirror, "Mirror, when I look at you today, you must reflect my true self"? As long as you stand in front of the mirror, it will surely reflect you.
Similarly, today, when you stand before Jesus, He can reflect upon you, and you already possess the authority and glory of the Lord. How can we obtain the Lord's authority today? You just need to be willing to draw near to Jesus; if you are willing to come before Him, His light will shine upon you! You will be able to reflect it out!
So we are willing to come before Jesus to enjoy His rest; His glory, His authority, and His power are upon you. This is why many brothers and sisters, when they first enter the church, feel very restless; they have no peace; they are under great pressure, but by the end of the meeting, they are renewed and leave filled with strength! It is God who restores His strength here. When you sit down to receive, God is continually renewing you from within! Restoring everything about you.
This is not difficult. It is not by your ability that you become like the Lord. Today, many people say, "We must strive to pray hard; we must work hard to serve the Lord to have the image of Jesus." The Bible says, today, as long as you come before Him, just like reflecting in a mirror, you possess His image, you become that same image. When you see the Lord's glory, the Holy Spirit begins to work. Jesus is the Lord who possesses all honor, authority, and glory. If you know and see, today this power will come upon you!
What is the role of the Holy Spirit? Many teach that the Holy Spirit is to remind you of how many sins you have; the Holy Spirit is to remind you of what mistakes you made today; let us look at the Bible:
John 16:13, Jesus said, When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.
The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. The Chinese Union Version says He will help you understand all truth. If you read this Bible without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you can read it several times and still not understand; when the Holy Spirit opens your heart, you suddenly understand. This is why there is a need for preachers to preach, because the Holy Spirit uses such people to help you understand these truths.
So we do not randomly speak about the Bible; we speak based on the Bible. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. This is what Jesus personally said about what the Holy Spirit does; Jesus said, if one day I leave you, I will go back, but I will send the Holy Spirit down, and He will continue to teach you.
No matter how good your memory is, can you remember what you did three years ago today? Let me put it this way, can you remember what kind of sermon I preached three years ago? You see, the disciples' memory is not much better than ours, right? They are not superhumans; they are just like us. Three years later, they had almost forgotten what Jesus said. At this time, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, came down to remind them of the words Jesus spoke.
Do you read the Bible and forget it quickly? But it doesn't matter; the Holy Spirit is within you, when you have a need, the Holy Spirit will remind you of the verse you need from the Bible! For example, when you encounter something, suddenly you remember a certain verse. This is the revelation given to you by the Holy Spirit!
John 16:8-10:
When He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;
Some say, "Isn't this saying that the Holy Spirit is for sin, to let us blame ourselves?"
When interpreting a verse, you must look at the context to understand what it is saying. Do not take one sentence out to explain; this is very dangerous. We see that it says, concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, convicting oneself. Verse 9 says, what is concerning sin?
Verse 9 says: Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. It turns out that the Holy Spirit will convict some people, calling them sinners, because they have not yet believed in Jesus, so the Holy Spirit only convicts them of the sin of not believing in Jesus. Does it say that after you believe, you will still be blamed for your sins? The Bible does not say that at all!
The second: Concerning righteousness. Because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer. Jesus has accomplished righteousness for us! Those who believe in Jesus have the righteousness of Jesus upon them! But Jesus has gone back to the Father; who will prove that you are righteous? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will tell you today, no matter where you are, at any time, you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ upon you.
The third: Concerning judgment. Because the ruler of this world is judged. When we read the Bible, we must read it in light of the surrounding context. When we pray, you should not be thinking about how many sins you have; you should be thinking about God's glory and God's authority. When you come to God in prayer, you must first know that Jesus has the power to save you; He has that authority! The devil has already failed before Jesus; Jesus has overcome the world.
Since the creation of the world until today, God has been willing to dwell with man. From the beginning of the Garden of Eden, after God created the garden, He placed Adam and Eve in it, and God was there. He was willing to dwell with man. During Moses' time, God told Moses, "You go build a tabernacle." God was in there; He wanted people to see His glory. After Solomon built the temple, God was in there. How can this temple allow you to dwell? The earth is your footstool, and heaven is your throne. How can God dwell in a temple made by human hands? But today, God is willing to dwell in this temple to manifest His glory, to let us see His glory through such a temple. When you see it, this glory will be upon you.
In the time of Jesus, God personally became flesh. This Word means the Word. When you read the Bible, you are actually reading God's Word; this Bible is the Word, it is given to you by God. So when you read the Bible, you are actually getting to know this God; what Jesus speaks to you is God personally speaking to you. If you can believe the words above, this power and authority will be manifested upon you.
We see that after Jesus became flesh, He personally dwelt among people. He introduced the gospel of the kingdom to people; performed many miracles, and did many healing works; He forgave people; His words had authority enough to prove the glory of the Father and His authority. So today, Jesus is the same; no matter what kind of person you are, if you believe in Jesus, He will be with you, manifesting God's glory through them!
When you work, He will be with you; when you do business, God will be with you; when you have problems, God does not leave you; God is still with you. At this time, what you need to do is close your door, come and pray to this God, and He will give you methods; He will comfort you.
Many times, you will find that your problems still exist, but after you pray, you have a certainty that God tells you in your heart, "Child, do not be afraid; it will pass soon." You have received this certainty, so you will no longer be afraid of that problem because God has already spoken to you through the Holy Spirit; this is a sign that God is with you. This is God's glory already manifested upon you. Even when you are in difficulties, He will tell you, "Do not worry; I will help you with all of this." Why are you so certain? Because the Bible has already told you, the kingdom, authority, and glory are all His, forever.
Forever means transcending all time and space. At any time, He can manifest His authority and glory. This is the resource of the kingdom of heaven, and today God wants to give it to you!
The Spirit of God dwells within you; God's glory is within you; God's authority is within you. So when you return home today, you can also pray for your children. Because that glory is what God wants to manifest through you.
When David said, My God is my fortress, my protection. That protection will reflect upon him. Therefore, wherever he goes, he knows that God is protecting him. You must see God's glory upon you because when you see His glory reflected back, it shines upon you!
The second point we will share: Because of Christ, you have confidence before God
Today, many people pray: "Lord, please give me faith!" Even if people pray like this, they may not necessarily have faith after praying. What is this faith? Seeing Christ gives you faith.
Let us look at 2 Corinthians 3:3-4:
You are clearly a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Because of Christ, we have such confidence before God. The closer you are to Jesus, the more faith you will have. Today, what we possess is not your own faith; it is the faith of Jesus that shines upon you. So when you are willing to be close to Jesus and be with Him, His faith will shine upon you. Because of Christ, you know that God will surely hear your prayers; because of Christ, you know that God is pleased with you!
You are clearly a letter from Christ. You can understand it this way; the Bible is a letter written by God to you, expressing God's love for you, His help for you! And God's heart!
You will never find anyone who loves you more than God! If you read the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament, you will know that it describes the intimate love between you and God. The Bible is a love letter written by God to you; it is a letter from God to you. It mentions that you are a letter from Christ. Who reads this letter? The world reads it! God has given His letter through the Bible to us; we can know God through the Bible. Today the Bible says, you are a letter from Christ, this letter is not just a book, but a living person; each of you is a letter from Christ.
When you go out, the world will see Christ's likeness in us. The way you express Christ will determine how the world perceives Christ. If our behavior is terrible, and we curse, even worse than the unbelievers, "This is what believing in Jesus looks like." They are not saying how terrible this person is; they are saying this is what believing in Jesus looks like. Because he represents the letter of Christ. So today we say, God tells us that God wants us to always rejoice.
We tell others that God is the God of peace; He is the God of joy, so first, you must experience God's joy in your life; let others read the peace that God has given you from you. How can you obtain such peace and joy? You must draw near to Jesus; through reading God's words, the more you read, the more joyful you become; the more you meditate, the more joyful you become.
Let me give an example of how to express joy. Today, the world does not look at what we say; they look at what we do. Because their faith has not reached that point. For example, when you come to church, you tell your child, "Hurry up and eat! Quickly eat, we have to go to church soon; if you don't hurry, we will be late." What does your child think about going to church? The child may think, "Why is Jesus so scary?" It is not that the father is scary; he reads an angry Jesus from you. If you approach it with a joyful heart and hopeful spirit, "Child, we are going to church; we are going to worship God; this is a blessed moment." At that moment, the child will also be very happy. He can read God's joy from you.
God is a joyful God; He is the God of peace; etc. But if every time before you go to church, you shout and yell, "Let's go, it's time to go to church!" then he will have an aversion to this God. So today, what you receive from God is what you reflect from God. What do you read from Jesus? What kind of Jesus is He? Jesus is always filled with authority and glory, and He is also a joyful God.
Think about it, why does Jesus have such charisma? When He calls others, does He say much? We see in Matthew 7:28, After Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. When people listened to Jesus preach, they felt that He preached with authority because He was securely obedient to the Father. What He received from the Father was glory, authority, honor, and power, so what He sent out was also such authority, glory, and power. First, you must receive from the Lord, and then you can express the beauty of Christ to others.
Some movies always portray Jesus with a frown. Jesus is not like that; He is very joyful. Because nothing can make Him sorrowful or discouraged. When He faces nature, can diseases defeat Him? No! Can storms defeat Him? When He faces all of this, He has God's peace in His heart.
Matthew 9:9 tells us, As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed Him.
Let us think about why Jesus has such great attraction? The tax booth is a place where money comes in quickly. Because Matthew collects money there; when a person comes in, they pay money; when another person comes in, they pay money. Jesus comes in and says, "Follow me."
Actually, it is a very simple sentence, yet Matthew was completely attracted to Jesus and left everything to follow Him. Because he saw the authority of Jesus, he saw His glory. As a result, Matthew followed Him for more than three years until he became an apostle of God. The Gospel of Matthew is written by Matthew.
So Jesus has such charisma. You can imagine, if Jesus spoke with a frown, would Matthew follow Him? No. Because if He spoke like that, Matthew would also be like that. As a result, he saw that Jesus had great peace within Him, and when facing any situation, He would not panic; He was calm and composed, filled with God's glory!
So when people saw Jesus, they read that this person is not an ordinary person. They began to discuss, "Could He be a prophet? Could He be Elijah? Could He be the Lord?" Although they could not fully recognize Him, they saw a different authority in Jesus. Brothers and sisters, this is not something we can learn; it is that you see God's authority and power, and then it reflects upon you. So many times when we read the Bible, you feel that this sentence is given to you by God, then the power of this sentence will be manifested upon you. Jesus is very clear about the glory and authority of our Heavenly Father.
John 5:24 tells us,
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
Whatever kind of life the Father has, we also have that kind of life. So Jesus is very clear about what He possesses now because He understands the Father very well; He knows the authority of His Father; He knows the glory of the Father. So He has rest in any situation. When you know that God is a Lord who possesses great authority, glory, and power, no suffering will scare you; you know God will surely solve this problem for you!
Jesus knows this, so He is filled with God's glory. Today, Jesus not only has this ability and glory for Himself, but He also gives this glory to those who believe in Him, and the authority as well.
Matthew 28:18-20:
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."
When Jesus sent these disciples, He had already given them authority; do you think this word from Jesus today is spoken to you? He said, "Go, make disciples of all nations," not by our ability; not by our authority, but by God's authority; God's power.
Then it says, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
What is an important revelation here? Today, God dwells within you; when you do things in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God's power will be manifested. When you pray for others, and that person is healed, that is not your ability; it is the power of the Holy Spirit within you! It is the power of Christ within you being manifested; this authority is sent out through you, and then that person sees God's glory. Jesus never doubted His ability and glory.
When He spoke to Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me."
Then He said, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out. This is God's power manifested through Jesus! He knows God's power, and this power is also reflected upon Him. Each of us is a letter from Christ. So when we go out, your body is filled with Christ.
When God gives you this name, this name also includes all the resources of the kingdom of heaven: honor, glory, authority, and power! So today, we possess these not because of our efforts; if you are willing to spend some time with Jesus, you will receive these. Brothers and sisters, if you are a person with no faith at all, as long as you follow Jesus, you will have faith. As long as you are with Jesus, you will be like Him; this is called influence.
Today, a person knows nothing, Sister Wang is doing insurance; she knows everything. As a result, a newcomer comes in who knows nothing, and Sister Wang says, "Stay by my side and watch how I do it." As a result, whatever you do, he sees it, and over time, he will learn.
First, you must know that Jesus is a person filled with faith; if you spend time with Jesus every day, over time, you will have faith. To grow your faith, you must read God's words; through spending time alone with Jesus, which is prayer, your faith will grow! So joy is the same. Some people seek joy, saying, "Lord, give me Your joy!" This is not something you can ask for.
When you understand that Jesus Christ has already prepared everything for you and is willing to save you from suffering, you already have joy. Because you are certain that even if everyone in the world abandons you, your Lord will never forsake you. You will have His peace; you will have His joy, and this joy will flow out from within you!
I suggest you spend some time every day, read the Bible daily, to meditate on Jesus' ministry and what He has done for you. Because the world now hears too much negative news; looking at the news, the most seen is negative news, fires, children getting into trouble, etc. After watching this, what does this information bring you? It brings you fear and unease. Especially now that the internet is quite developed. I have noticed that many people are forwarding negative news. Some titles can make people uneasy at a glance.
One title is written like this, "An article that leaves you speechless," and when you look at it, it is all about the uncivilized aspects of society, the terrible things, and the abandoned aspects, what diseases people have, and all sorts of messy things. Such information is being forwarded daily; what you bring to others is not positive news but negative.
Others may be quite happy, but after seeing your message, it will disturb them. What they need is the good news of salvation from Jesus Christ. I am not saying that this information is bad; I am saying that what we forward should bring others positive and constructive messages. Wouldn't it be better to share the peace of Jesus Christ with them? So I have also found that many Christians are forwarding messages about Jesus, the good news of Jesus.
For example, the spiritual food I send daily. Many people are forwarding it; thousands and thousands of people have been changed because of reading this. The spiritual food I send daily via WeChat has over three hundred people forwarding it every day. Many people come to me for prayer, saying, "The messages you send have helped me a lot." Even some people who do not believe in Jesus say, "Is your Lord really that good? If it is really like this, I am willing to believe in Him." People have seen too much negative news. We need to share God's peace and joy with them. We call such news good news, also known as the gospel.
What the world needs most is the good news of salvation from Jesus Christ; they need to know how to avoid these diseases from happening to us; how can I avoid a third party appearing in my family? The method is very simple: introduce Jesus to them, and all problems can be solved. What people need is the good news of Jesus Christ. So the faith we show them is Jesus Christ. God has given you the resources of the kingdom of heaven to let you give it out.
2 Corinthians 3:7 says: Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
The ministry of condemnation in the Old Testament is the ministry under the law. Moses is the standard minister under the law. How did Moses receive the glory? How did Moses' face shine? It was sought after because he was the mediator between the Israelites and God at that time; everything was communicated through him. As a result, he went to sit with God, and God chatted with him and taught him. When he came out, his face began to shine; that was God's glory.
Today we are spiritual ministers, ministers of the New Testament. The Bible says, if even someone like Moses had glory, then today, as ministers under the Holy Spirit, our glory is not greater? They are ministers of condemnation. When Moses came down the mountain, he said, "You people must listen to God's words. Otherwise, God will curse you." If the ministry of condemnation has glory, how much more glory do you have today as ministers of the Holy Spirit?
Condemnation brings death, but the Spirit brings life! Each of you is a minister of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not tell you how many sins you have today because the law has already told you how many sins you have. The Holy Spirit reminds you of the words Jesus spoke to you. Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. Jesus did not come to point out or dig out our sins; He took all our sins upon Himself. He gave us His life, so we must pass on this good news.
Verse 11 says: For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
Spend some time with Jesus, and your body will naturally be filled with Jesus' glory. In other words, the change in Christians does not come from your efforts; it does not come from doing good deeds to change. It is that you spend some time with Jesus; spend some time reading the Bible; spend some time listening to the Word. It is really simple; the Bible tells us this. As long as you are willing to dwell with Jesus, these people will change!
Let me give an example to the brothers and sisters; Peter was originally called Simon. What does Simon mean? He was originally like a floating thing, without roots. After Jesus renamed him Peter, which means rock. A person who is unstable and fickle, after Jesus renamed him to Peter, did he immediately change? He followed Jesus for three and a half years.
One day, when Pentecost arrived, the Holy Spirit descended upon Peter, and this originally unstable person became another person; this is Peter's transformation. He followed Jesus, saw what Jesus did; he listened to what Jesus preached; the Holy Spirit was within him, and this person completely changed.
So today, why can we confidently say, no matter what bad habits you have in the past; no matter how great your difficulties are, as long as you come before Jesus, calm your heart, listen to Jesus' words, and place Him in your heart, you will change; your past bad habits will be renewed by God. So we must know, God wants to renew us through the Bible, through the Holy Spirit. Every time you listen to a sermon, you are renewed; every time you are renewed, you are changed.
So God is willing to give you all the resources of the kingdom of heaven. You must be certain that what you pray for, God will surely give you! God has the power to solve your problems because the kingdom, authority, and glory all belong to Him! Today, God is willing to give you His resources, not because of your good behavior, but because of Jesus on the cross; He is your righteousness, so God is pleased with you through Jesus! Because of the redemptive work Jesus accomplished for you, God sees you as righteous; God no longer condemns you. So God is willing to listen to your prayers! He is willing to be with you! Think about it, if you have sin, how could God possibly be with sin? The price for that sin has already been paid!
Philippians 2:13 tells us, For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
So when you pray, know that God is working in your heart to accomplish His good pleasure in you. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.
No matter how the world sees you, you must be certain that in God's eyes, you are righteous; God is willing to listen to your prayers; God is willing to be with you. He is willing to give you all the resources of the kingdom of heaven, making you a blessing to all!