2017.08.20_What I Do Have

The Almighty God Who Raised Jesus Christ From the Dead

God is the Almighty. From eternity to eternity His everlasting power has no limit. From the microscopic organisms to the vast expanse of the universe, from the visible physical beings to the invisible spiritual beings He created them all and even now He holds them in His hand.

Since the earth was created, countless numbers of people have lived on earth. And God is the only One who can give them life. By his own authority a person cannot give life to another, and not even the highest authority in a state can raise up a dead man from the grave. But, God can give us life, feed us, give us anything as our possession, and bring us happiness. God has the power to do all these things.

Many people are prepared to confess that God is almighty, but they do not actually acknowledge God. What good is it for them to call out to God in a loud voice if they do not recognize God? If a person says, “I do believe I will eat this meal”, but only looks at it and doesn’t eat it, the meal will not satisfy his hunger. We must acknowledge God’s existence, His omnipotence and His will.

The Almighty God has promised us that we would experience the resurrection. Everyone who is born will eventually die, and when they do, they can never return to the world again. We know this from the experiences of those who lived and died before us. But Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Of course, there have been some rare cases of people who died but came back to life after a day or two. However, they eventually came to the end of their natural life and died once again. But Jesus is different. He is still alive.

Jesus Christ is now in heaven. Those who believe in Him can still receive the Holy Spirit because Jesus is in heaven asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit. While He was on the earth, Jesus said to His disciples, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, l will send Him to you.” (John 16:7) He said this to His disciples while He was in the world. In the future He will come to the world again, destroy His enemies, and take us to where He is.

Those who do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ are those who have no faith. All their efforts will be in vain even if they live a very religious life. 1Corinthians 15:14-15 says, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless and your faith is in vain. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses of God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead. But He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.” Faith is the great power that leads us to the resurrection.

Give Them Your Name So That They May Be One As We Are One

The most important thing in understanding the reality of faith is the name of God which is Jesus. John 17:11-12 says, “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. None has been lost except the son of destruction so that the scripture would be fulfilled.”

People at the time were amazed to see that Jesus possessed a kingdom, authority, and glory. Yet, Jesus proclaimed, “For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever!” emphasizing that all of it is the Father’s. The authority, glory and kingdom that people find in Jesus inherently belong to the Father. The Father gave them all to the Son. And in Jesus, they have been granted to us also. Matthew 25:34 says, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

Do you have the hope of inheriting the kingdom, authority, and glory of God? Romans 8:17 says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” If we treasure the kingdom, authority, and glory, we must prove it while we are here on earth. In other words, we must demonstrate that we have the heart, the wisdom, the hope, and the patience to endure suffering. Those who endure to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:13)

The Father gave the Son the kingdom, the authority, and the glory by giving Him the Father’s name. Matthew 28:18 says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Through the Father’s name, the Son inherited all these things and now the Son has given us His name. Verse 19 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

We are those who received the name of Jesus. The name first belonged to God the Father and the Father gave it to the Son, giving Him possession of the kingdom, the authority, and the glory. The Son has given us the name in order that we might possess the kingdom, the authority, and the glory. In short, The Father and the Son are one, and by having the name of Jesus He has made us like the Father and the Son.

As Being One, We Must Be One in Will

The Son, who received the name Jesus as an inheritance, knew the Father’s will and has taught it to us. He knew the Father’s will and carried it out, even sacrificing His own life. Now that the name of Jesus has been given to us, we must align our will to the Father’s, our hearts to the Father’s, our thoughts to the Father’s, and our hopes to the Father’s. Just as Father and Son are one, we must also be one with them. That is the will of the Father that we may enjoy all the glory that the Father and the Son share.

Farmers sow seeds in spring, and diligently tend their crops during summer in order to reap the harvest in the fall. In order to do this, the hopes of the workers should be the same as those of the farmer. However, at the end of the harvest season, the wheat and the chaff will separated on the threshing floor. Matthew 3:12 says, “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” When the farmer threshes the wheat and separates the good grain from the chaff, they will each come to a completely different ending.

The Church is made up of various people. They worship together in the same place, pray and give their offerings together. However, when the threshing is done, some of them will appear as wheat, and others as chaff. Will you withstand the threshing floor? The ten virgins all waited for their groom, but only five of them entered the wedding banquet and the remaining five did not enter. We must remember the Lord’s warning. (Matthew 25:1-13)

There is the word that makes us fear. Hebrews 10:26-27 says, “If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” If you forsake your duty that God has commanded, for your old thoughts that you had had before you trusted in Jesus Christ, it is deliberate sin. Deliberate sin is a very fearful matter. If the sin is to be forgiven Jesus must be crucified again, but that cannot happen. You can be forgiven for violating the Law, and even for wounding Jesus, but there is no redress for blaspheming God. The third Commandment warns that those who misuse God’s name will not be found guiltless. (Exodus 20:7)

Just as the will of the farmer and of the worker should coincide with what is happening with the crop in the field, so too should our will, our perspective, and our thoughts be the same as God the Father and Jesus Christ after we are saved. So will the scriptures be fulfilled. Jesus’ prayer to “Keep them through Your name, which You have given me, so that they may be one as We are one” will be fulfilled in this way.

He Set His Seal upon Us, Putting His Spirit In Our hearts As a Guarantee

The name of Jesus coming to us means that the kingdom, authority, and glory of that name is also in us. John 1:12 says, “To those who receive Him, who believe in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God.” But, the name does not come upon us like an image projected on a screen, but rather like the seal placed on the skin of livestock. If an owner brands his seal onto the skin of his livestock, the seal never disappears unless the skin itself is removed. Likewise, God set His seal, the name of Jesus, on us and He sends the Holy Spirit to indwell us as a guarantee. 2 Corinthians 1:22 says, “He set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

If we received the Holy Spirit, we have the guarantee that we are sealed in God’s name. Nevertheless, many of those who attend church do not receive the Holy Spirit, many end up leaving the church even after living a religious life. There are even those who ignore the Holy Spirit, like tearing up a bond certificate or a promissory note. This is dangerous because those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven! (Matthew 12:31)

1 John 5:5-7 says, “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” When we receive God’s name, we receive the guarantee of the Holy Spirit and He bears witness that we belong to Him. We must have full assurance that the name of Jesus abides in us, and we should cherish the precious name.

What do people value most? If you are faced with a robber who threatens you with a weapon, most people would offer everything they have and beg for their lives. Money, nice homes and fancy cars can be taken away from you at anytime. The only thing you are sure to possess from the moment when you take your first breath until your last is only your life. Therefore, if there is only one thing that a person can say, ‘what I do have’, it is his life.

When Peter and John went up to the temple, a crippled man begged them for money. At that moment, Peter said to him, “I do not have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” The only thing that Peter could say that he had was only his life. Commanding the crippled man to walk in the name of Jesus was giving the only thing he had, his life.

Someone might say that there is no miracle even though he prayed for the crippled man in the name of Jesus. Let that man examine himself as to whether he regards the name of Jesus as his own life. Since we have received the name of Jesus, and have received the Holy Spirit as guarantee of this, then our own lives are bound up in the name of Jesus. Those who use the name of Jesus without regarding the Name as their life, what miracles will accompany them?

The wealth and honor that we enjoy on earth can disappear in a moment. Those who do not regard the name of Jesus as their lives might not continue to serve the holy name under those circumstances. However, if we regard it as our life, we will serve the name of Jesus as long as we live. No one will be able to take away the faith and hope of those who have received the name of Jesus and have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. Rather, their faith will shine even more when they lose everything and have only their lives.