The scripture you read today is verse 11 of chapter 3 in Ecclesiastes, and the topic is “Spirit.” You probably had something you were seeking in your heart that brought you to church. You may not have come to church first to seek that something; instead, you might’ve sought it elsewhere first but eventually came to church because you couldn’t find it there. A person I knew used to go to the hospitals to get treatment for their illness, and then to the Buddhist temple, but couldn’t receive any help and eventually came to church. Others also came to church because they became poor in heart after their business failed and they were left in despair.

In this way, there are many reasons that bring people to church, but the One we must meet at church is God. It is to meet Jesus Christ, who is truly our God. And what we seek to obtain through Him is related to today’s topic. The topic for today is “Spirit.” What is spirit? Our faith life is also called a spiritual life. Jesus said, “My words are spirit, and they are life!” It is also said that we humans have a spirit.

We hear a lot about the spirit at church, but what is spirit? It refers to an eternal being. An eternal being. You might have been to many places seeking something, and you could’ve gained some things there. However, what you should obtain here at church is the everlasting. If you have been seeking the success of your business at different places and came to church as a result, you might end up disappointed. You may gain more support at the Buddhist temple in that case. However, you will fail in achieving what is eternal. What you can get at church is eternal.

Some of you might have thought, “If I live for 70 or 80 years and then die, that’s it,” during your time in this world. Our flesh does deteriorate after 70 or 80 years, and after death, it disappears into dust. If we consider that, it’s hard to think that humans are eternal beings.

However, there is something peculiar. In our hearts, there is this desire that endlessly seeks the everlasting. For example, there’s a couple dating and one of them asks the other, “Do you love me?” And the person answers, “Yes I do!” “Will you love me forever?” People like to ask these questions. They seek everlasting love. So, are we able to give them eternal love? No, we can’t, because we also die. So how can we love others forever? Yet, just to please the other person, people tend to lie, saying, “Yes, I will love you forever!” And the person is happy to hear that they will be loved forever, even if that is actually not true. But not long later, those pleasant words turn out not to be true.

Why do people seek eternal love, even though they know it can’t be true? No person ever says to their loved one, “Honey, I want you to love me for three years!” Everyone wants to be loved forever. Another thing is happiness. Do you seek happiness? Does any of you want to be happy for just three years? Or for only five years? How long do you think you will live in this world? For instance, let’s say you have another 30 years left to live. If so, would you say, “I only want to be happy for 30 years”? You would probably want to be happy forever. Isn’t it strange?

Actually, our flesh doesn’t seek eternal things. For example, you missed your meal, and you are very hungry. We Christians do what is called a fast. If we fast, we might not eat any food for three days, for example. Then we will be full of thoughts about food. While fasting, food constantly occupies our thoughts. But as soon as the fast ends, we can eat whatever we want. We might think we can eat a lot after fasting. But actually, after a bowl of porridge, all those thoughts of wanting food will instantly disappear. We can’t even eat that much as well. That desire simply vanishes.

This holds for other things too. When I was enduring the cold while on sentry duty at the 38th parallel during the winter, it was unbearably freezing. While I was on duty I desperately wanted to go indoors and take a bath in hot water. But that desperate urge instantly disappeared once I took a shower in the barracks after I finished my duty. I couldn’t even remember how I felt before. This holds for all the desires of man.

In this way the wants and desires of our flesh come and go, but why are we still longing for everlasting love? We want everlasting happiness and everlasting joy. It is very strange. What does this tell us? It tells us that there is an eternal being within us. The flesh doesn’t want eternal things. It is the eternal being within us that desires everlasting love. It is the eternal being within us that desires everlasting happiness. Our bodies will live for 70 years or 80 years and then fade away.

However, within me is the eternal me. And that is called spirit. The Bible writes about this. God formed man from the dust, and the man was able to breathe, see with his eyes, speak, eat food, and move about. Then God breathed a spirit into the man. “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being!” In other words, the man became an eternally living being. He became an eternal being. Thus, we are eternal beings. All the people on this earth are eternal beings. And that’s where the problem lies. The flesh is not everlasting, but within us is the eternal being.

But the two are very different from each other. The flesh can be seen. Our flesh can be touched. We can sense our flesh through our sensory organs. But our spirits cannot be sensed. We can’t recognize it. This is the problem. Since our spirits can’t be seen with our eyes, it gets ignored. We treat it as though it doesn’t exist. But there is a bigger problem. It is that our spirit is our true self. And spirit is eternal. But the flesh, which acts like my true self, actually bears no responsibility and departs. We sin with our flesh. Afterwards the flesh dies. We get many things done through our flesh on the earth, but then it disappears. So who bears the responsibility for everything done? It is our spirit, which remains, that has to bear everything.

God’s interest in what happens to the spirit. The matter that needs to be dealt with by coming to church is that of the spirit. I don’t know what your first impression of God is, but God is not someone who takes things away from us. God lacks nothing. He is not begging you to serve Him. He is not lacking that He needs you to do something for Him. Instead, God is the One giving you breath even at this moment. He is the One causing your heart to beat. When we were born, none of us planned as to how we will get our hearts moving. None of us is straining ourselves to get our hearts beating either. We don’t know why, but our hearts have been beating since the day we were born. Our hearts continue to beat, even when we are asleep. Some muscles require us to move to activate them, but others move on their own even while we are asleep. That is the way God made us. Therefore, it is us who need God; God does not need us.

Before we even knew it, God has been providing us with many things. For the flesh, He’s given a heart, breath, the Sun, wind, and rain. However, that’s not all. He wants to give us something far better than them. What God wants to give us is everlasting. God wants to give us what He has.

But think about that. God is eternal, and even if He were to give us the everlasting things He has, humans is unable to receive them. We will only be able to keep them for about 70 years or so, for our flesh will perish. Therefore, the only recipient that can receive the things of God is our spirit. That which God desires to give you is everlasting. But it is not to your flesh He gives but your spirit. The problem is that our spirit is invisible, and because of that, you have lived without any awareness of its existence.

And another thing—you are not the only spiritual being. In this world, there are many spiritual beings. Man isn’t the only spiritual being. There are countless spiritual beings invisible to the eye. We’ve all heard stories of strange, mysterious events happening in the world. We might’ve thought of them as strange and not paid attention to them. However, many of those strange phenomena are caused by spiritual beings. For example, people talk about things like reincarnation, don’t they?

Recently, I watched something interesting on TV. A child drew a picture and the picture was quite scary. He drew someone hurting another person with an axe. He was only about five years old. His parents were very concerned and thought it was strange. The child told them that he was a particular person that lived in such and such village. And he said he died in that manner. So they searched according to the description made by the child, and incredibly they found a village of that name, and the house he described. They looked into the family who lived in that house and found out that the son had gone missing. When the child saw somebody walking past in that village, he said, “You’re my neighbor and you killed me!” It‘s astonishing and scary. Then the boy said, “You buried me at such and such place!” The people investigating searched the place the child mentioned and really found a person’s body buried. This is a true story that happened in Iran in the Middle East. It’s a true story. So, people believed that the child has been reincarnated.

However, if you look at the spiritual principles found in the Bible, it’s a very simple explanation. The boy was not reincarnated, not was the dead man. It is written in the Bible that when a person dies in such a manner, he becomes a demon. Not everyone becomes a demon; only spirits who haven’t been saved, who haven’t been forgiven of their sins, do. These demons wander around in the world and go into people until their time is up. Until their appointed time is up, they go into people, torment them, and even sometimes display their attributes in those people. Hence, the demon that had been murdered entered that boy. And then, it manifested itself in the boy.

We, who believe in Jesus, especially many members of Sungrak Church, know about the spiritual world in more depth than other churches. Through the teaching of Sungrak Church, we have had many such experiences. As a result, we commonly experience these phenomena in our daily lives. However, to those who are unaware, it appears marvelous and mysterious.

As such, spiritual beings are not fictional. They actually exist. But the problem is we cannot live without being in contact with those spirits. We are constantly in contact with them. Although they are unseen, in even this place right now, let’s say, how many spiritual beings are there? For example, if there are fifty people here, there might be around 400 spiritual beings. That’s just an example, to give you an idea. To such extent, there are many other spiritual beings that cannot be seen. They are active, bringing disasters upon people, causing strange events, and repeatedly making unwanted things happen to us. Strangely, the same accident occurs over and over again, or there might be a hereditary disease in the family. One’s father might’ve died of liver cancer and the son gets liver cancer too. These things happen as the result of the activities of these spiritual beings.

Hence, if we are in constant contact with these spiritual beings… There’s a saying in our country: “Like father, like son!” You’ve heard this, right? In the same way, we can say, “Like demon, like man!” Which spirit am I repeatedly interacting with? Which spirit is around me? According to this, I will be directly influenced by that spirit. If you are in contact with a demon that had cancer, it is easy for you to develop cancer also. Or if a demon died in a fire, and you are acquainted with that demon, you may keep coughing, have fears of a fire, or even experience fires. These kinds of things can happen.

Among all these spiritual beings, what our God is trying to give us through His Son Jesus Christ is not curses or calamities, but the good things He has. The first of them is eternal life. God wants to give us the everlasting life He has. This is what we accept. Next, God desires to give us all the beautiful authority and power He possesses. Furthermore, God has prepared heaven for us, and He wants to take us there. That’s why we believe in Jesus. That’s why we come to church.

From now on, as you start your faith life at church, if you come here seeking not the eternal but only the transient things that will soon disappear, you will end up disappointed. Then you may think, “There isn’t what I’m looking for here,” and go elsewhere. Perhaps you might turn to Islam, Buddhism, or even become an atheist. However, if you are seeking eternal things, you’re at the right place. What you should look for here at church is something everlasting. Even if your business succeeds, if that doesn’t last forever, it will only profit you for a short time.

Remember, what you should seek by receiving God’s help at church is something eternal. It is everlasting. Those who seek the eternal will find what they’ve been looking for here. The kingdom that our God has built is an eternal kingdom. Our country, South Korea, is a great country, but the kingdom God wants to give us is an everlasting kingdom. Jesus is already there and wants to take us there. I bless you in Jesus’ name that you will have real awareness that you are a spiritual being and thus find what is everlasting.

We are not seeking something that lasts only a short time and then disappears. What are we looking for? We are looking for the everlasting. That which is everlasting is what you must find at church. If you are looking for anything other than what is eternal, you will inevitably be disappointed. Instead, if you are ready to sacrifice the transient things that profit you only a short time in order to receive something everlasting, you will gain something precious. Can you give up the fleeting things for what is everlasting? If so, you will be able to meet God. But if you are still unable to give them up, saying, “I can’t let go of these things! I can let go of the next 20 years before me!” Then it will be hard to meet God.

I really hope you will meet God. For that, you need to be ready in your heart to give up the short-lived things to gain the eternal things. Otherwise, you cannot expect to meet God while idling your time away.  You need to be determined: “I will obtain the everlasting things, even if I have to give up the transient! I will meet the eternal God, receive eternal life, enter the eternal kingdom, receive eternal blessings, enjoy eternal happiness, and have eternal joy!”  Don’t be enticed by short-lived joy to give up eternal joy; don’t give up eternal happiness by the deception of passing happiness; don’t forsake the eternal house in order to have a house that will fade away; don’t reject the One who can love you forever by listening to the words of someone who can only love for a short time. You must choose the everlasting.

In Jesus’ name I bless you all to choose the everlasting. I’ll pray.

Father God, thank You for revealing the everlasting things to us, who once thought we were like animals, here for a short while and then disappear. Thank You for giving us Your eternal life and Your eternal blessings. Help us to understand the value of them and for our spirits to accept them. Also help us, Lord, to be the blessed souls who are able to give up the transient things before our eyes in order to gain the everlasting things. In Jesus’ name. Amen.