Good afternoon everyone. I’m extremely thankful that I can meet you all through this broadcast. In my life, after having met Jesus, the book of Genesis has greatly influenced my life. And so the purpose of this session is to share the grace that I received through the book of Genesis. Through this broadcast, you will get the chance to discover the Lord, inside of the book of Genesis, more deeply. It is my hope that, through the book of Genesis, you will obtain the promise of God just as Abraham, Noah and Jacob did.
Please open to Genesis chapter 1, it is the very first book in the old testament. We’ll read from Genesis chapter 1 from verse 1.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. And the earth was without form and void, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘let there be light. And there was light.’ And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.”
We read chapter 1 from verse 1 up to verse 5. You know, whenever I read the bible, it gives me hope every time. Because when I’m reading the Bible, my heart when I first open the Bible, and when I close the Bible, are always different. In Genesis chapter 1, it begins by saying “in the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth”. Let’s look at verse 2. “And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” This is the beginning of Genesis and in the beginning, we see the earth was without form and void and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. It was darkness that was ruling over this earth. And emptiness had conquered the earth. And formlessness conquered the earth. And so when this earth was conquered by formlessness, by emptiness and by darkness. What hope would there be, for this earth? What could we expect from this earth? In darkness, emptiness and hopelessness, all you can see there is despair. Here, of course, the spirit of God is moving upon the face of the waters. If we had first seen the earth along with God in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2. Upon seeing this earth, what would you say to God? “God I don’t think this earth is gonna do well. It’s so dark. It’s so dark we can’t do anything about this. What are you going to fill this emptiness with? And it’s without form.”
I can’t express to you in words, how much strength this book of Genesis gives me in my daily life. I didn’t get to see the earth shown in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 but sometimes I discover a similar state in myself. My heart was like that of Genesis chapter 1 verse 2: being without form and void and being in deep darkness. Before I received salvation in 1962, although I attended church, my heart was truly without form, it was void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. There was an emptiness in my heart that I wanted to fill but it could not be filled with anything. And there was nothing that could uphold me, who was so confused. Not only was I inside deep darkness, but I also had no idea what was what. But still, I tried hard and struggled to live a good spiritual life. Of course, I couldn’t do well in spiritual life but I didn’t even know why I couldn’t live a spiritual life. Despair was all I had.
But the amazing thing is, as God was there, even in this condition, God changed this earth amazingly. God amazingly renewed this earth. God destroyed the emptiness on the earth. God cast out the confusion from the earth. And with his light, he cast out the darkness. When you fight, the strong one is the one that lasts. One time this is what Jesus said. When the strong one protects the house, the house is safe. But if a stronger one comes the man will lose his wealth and lose his belongings. The earth for a long time was without form and void and full of darkness. What is the reason the emptiness, formlessness and void were holding the earth? Because there was no one stronger than that. But when some kind of a force even stronger than that came along. The confusion, the darkness the emptiness had to go away. They could only be kicked out.
One day Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus. And Jesus said, remove the stone. Mary, the sister of the dead said, lord he’s been dead 4 days. And Jesus said if you believe didn’t I say that you will see the glory of God? And by the word of God, the door of stone was opened. And then Jesus, he spoke to that tomb. Lazarus come forth. Until then, who was holding Lazarus? He was held by death. The power of death was strongly holding Lazarus. Lazarus didn’t want to leave his loving sister. His sisters were crying, saddened and they were weeping. And because he didn’t have the strength to overcome the power of death he had to lose himself to it. And later on, Lazarus was held by the power of death and was rotting away in the tomb. And then Jesus came. Jesus, he defeated the power of death. And Jesus said to Lazarus, Lazarus come forth! When Jesus said Lazarus come forth. The power of death could not hold on to Lazarus and he had to come forth. The power of death was trembling before the word of Jesus and he had to let go of Lazarus. That is why Lazarus came out alive from the tomb. The power to overcome darkness is inside the loving Lord. Inside of Jesus Christ, there is the power to overcome darkness. There is the power to defeat Sin. And the power to defeat the emptiness is in the lord.
One day Jesus said to the man in infirmity for 38 years. “rise, take up thy bed and walk”. Until then that fearful disease of palsy was holding that man in infirmity for 38 years. When the palsy was holding the man in infirmity for 38 years, the power of the disease was holding this man. As the power of the disease was holding onto this man hope left him, joy left him, happiness left him, his family left him and there was nothing with him. Jesus said, rise take up thy bed and walk. Amazingly, before the words of Jesus, the power of the disease could no longer hold onto him and it had to let him go.
Truly, I have seen many people who didn’t know that a power was holding on to them, trying with their own zeal to serve God. No matter how much the earth was without form, and void and in deep darkness, it doesn’t have the power to withstand the word of God. No matter how deep of a pit we may be in, there is no pit that the lord cannot deliver us from. No matter how strong the ropes that bind you may be, there is no rope the lord cannot untie. No matter how deep in sin you may have fallen into, there is no sin Jesus cannot save you from.
Now let’s look at the word of verse 3. And God said, “let there be light and there was light”. This earth which was without form and void, the Lord came and now he began to work. As I minister, I meet with people very often. And when I meet some people, they think they’re the smartest in the world, they don’t want to accept the gospel and I think to myself “I can’t deal with that person”. One day I made a home visit to one of our sister’s house. That sister, it had not been long since she moved from Incheon. And when I went to see her, her husband was a rice vendor. And so I went to have service and then I visited her house and her husband was unloading the rice from his truck. I said, “hello how are you, I’m the pastor from the church.” That person looked at me and said, “pastor I don’t like you, don’t come to my house anymore.” I thought, “Gee, he’s meeting me for the first time, this young man, how could he be like this.” I said, “ok fine” and then I left. Afterwards, I thought, “how can I witness to that person? That’s impossible. Would he listen?” and a few months passed. I wanted to go to that house again but there was no chance for me to go. And one day, it was Sunday and we had the service. And at the back of the chapel, someone was sitting under the clock and I looked, and it looked like the sister’s husband. I thought, “is it that sister’s husband? nah it can’t be. He disliked me so much, he can’t be here.“ but it looked so much like him. In the midst of the sermon, I wanted to look upon his face. After the service was over, I ran to him. And it was him. And when he saw me, he was so embarrassed at the time, he didn’t know what to do. And then he gave me his testimony. He said he hated our church so much. He hated the fact that his wife came to church. The reason they moved to Daejeon is that they wanted to move to someplace, there was no church of ours. But he had ended up buying a church which was walking distance to the church. One day as he was driving by, he saw our church and was surprised. What in the world? I came all the over here because I hated Good News Mission. So he said that whenever he passed by our church he would drive around to keep his wife from knowing the church was there. But his wife had known all along. After I had visited his house, he one day went to the countryside to get some rice. And so he had his car full of rice and he was driving up and turning on the mountain and so while he was turning on the corner of the mountain, he thought it snowed a little bit so he put his foot on the brakes lightly but then the car began to slip little by little. And it was about to go off the cliff. He was so scared he said, “Oh God.” And when he said “oh God” the car was about to fall off then it stopped. He was so amazed he got off the car, smoked a cigarette. And he carefully drove the car back home. And so afterwards when the brothers would go to his house to preach he couldn’t refuse them because he would think of the God of that time. When the preachers would come he would run out the back door. Sometimes when they would come again he couldn’t run away he would just listen a long time. He would listen and he would get bored an fall asleep. He would listen once, he would listen twice. One day the word of God began to enter in his heart. And while listening to the word of God he began to realize it. “ah that’s how my sins were forgiven. Ah, that’s how it is.” And faith just came to him. He received the forgiveness of sins. It was so amazing. “I didn’t know this kind of church.” He wants to come to church but he feels so bad to look at the pastor. He thought, “should I go? No, I can’t go.” And that’s how he came to our church for the first time.
For a very long time, the power of darkness was holding this man’s heart. And it kept him from coming to the faith in Jesus like we have. And so he disliked believing in the words of Jesus. And he went against us and in his heart, he was held by the power of darkness. But one day, as the word of God began to come upon his heart. That was the end of confusion. End of terror. End of Emptiness. And the darkness ran away. Think about it. The earth which was without form and void and in darkness. It was changed into a beautiful garden where flower bloomed, where the fruits bloomed and the birds sang beautifully. Folks, when God goes there. No matter what dark heart, that person may have. This is telling us about the world of our hearts. No matter what evil persons heart it may be. No matter what despairful heart. The one that can sufficiently make the flowers bloom, the butterflies dance and the birds sing is God. You know I’ve met many people I thought “aw, it cant be possible with that person. No not that person.” The only person that it doesn’t work for, is someone who rejects the word of God. But there is not one person who does not change when the word of God enters their heart. The earth was without form, it was void and in deep darkness.
And in the eyes of God that earth was not good. And when God saw the earth that was without form, and void, and in darkness, he drew another earth. That is the earth that has flowers blooming, fruits bearing, beautiful birds singing. It is the earth of paradise. And so that beautiful earth that was in the heart of God that was shown through his mouth in the word and that destroyed the darkness, the emptiness and the formlessness. Even now, God is doing this. I’ve seen many people who are living inside of despair but through the Lord now living inside of peace and joy and hope. Everyone, do you have darkness inside your hearts? Is your heart inside of unspeakable emptiness that you do not know of? Aren’t you living life inside confusion? Folks, with what strength can you hope to overcome the emptiness, the confusion, the darkness. Sin is more powerful than we are. And when sin conquers us we cannot be freed from sin. Satan is more powerful than us. When satan holds us, how can we be free from that? Many people are being held by sin and satan and they struggle to be free their net. But it’s completely impossible. But one day when the words of Jesus Christ enters. The Lord said, “Let there be light” and there was light. Darkness had to run away without even asking. When the peace of Christ comes upon our hearts. Insecurity runs away without a trace. When the hope of Jesus Christ takes place inside our hearts, despair runs away, it’s nowhere to be seen. And so Jesus is teaching you how to form a new world inside your hearts. The heart that is without form, and void and in darkness. As the word of God of light is upon it. All of those things were gone. It turned into a bright, pure earth. How amazing is this? God is doing this kind of work inside all of your hearts. And God will work inside of your hearts with power. And I’ve seen many people change from this. Not only that sister’s husband, but even murderers that are in prison, death row inmates, mafia leaders, drug addicts, or gamblers, all of them they cannot free themselves from the addiction to drugs, ambitions of gambling, or the desire to commit sins, but when Jesus Christ is upon them through the Word, all those things will depart. And the peace of Christ will come. The earth that was without form and void and in darkness, as the word of God came upon it, it changed into a beautiful paradise where the flowers bloom, where the fruits bloom, where the beautiful birds sing. No matter where you look in the Bible, it always begins with despair but ends in glory. And God wants to do that work in your hearts as well. As you continue to listen to these broadcasts, when the word enters into your hearts, insecurity, the fear, the sin in your heart will be destroyed, and your heart will be changed into a glorious heart of God. Today we have spoken up to here.
Thank you. See you next time.
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