King David said, “I would rejoice with gladness when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Glory to Jesus. We should rejoice, yes. We should rejoice with gladness because we have come to God’s sanctuary; we have come to God’s house, my beloved. We have come to that place, the place where only the high priest could enter, and today we have entered in the name of the Lord Jesus. Glory to His holy name. Today we are His people, His beloved people. May the Lord’s name be glorified, beloved people of God.
In my heart and soul I will glorify Him; with my songs I will give thanks. How did the song go? “And I will meet Him.” How wonderful it is; what life it is, beloved people of God. Today we have come before life; we have entered into life. We are in Him, in Christ Jesus. He is seated in heaven, and we are at His right hand, seated with Him. By faith, our Jesus is with us. He is our life, our Savior, our guiding Shepherd, and, most importantly, our God of love, who loved us and gave us His Son, Jesus Christ. “God so loved the world,” it says in John 3:16, “that He sent His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” God did not send His Son to judge the world, but so that the world might have salvation through Him, beloved people of God. Glory to His holy name.
May the Lord be glorified. Therefore, we read from Philippians chapter 4, beginning with verse 4: “Rejoice in the Lord at all times; again I say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which is beyond every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is holy, whatever is lovely, whatever has a good name—if there is any virtue and if there is any praise—think on these things. What you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
You Must Hear in Order to Believe
And you heard and saw, beloved people of God. It is very important—as my brother was just speaking about today—to hear, to speak the Word of God.... You must hear in order to believe, beloved people of God. If you do not hear, how will you believe? A person can never believe without hearing. When something is said, a person hears it, then says, “Yes, yes,” becomes interested, and believes. That is why the apostle John says in his first letter, “That which was from the beginning, which we heard, which we saw with our eyes and looked upon, which we heard....” They too heard, beloved people of God; we saw with our eyes....
That is why listening is so important today, beloved people of God. We must hear the living Word of God. Most importantly, none of us simply got up and came here, then somewhere said, “I worship God.” Has it happened that way for anyone? Well, yes, but how would a person know who that God is, where He is, or what He is? As for me, I knew nothing at all, nor had I heard about God.... Well, you have heard the name of God—everyone says “God”—but as for what He is, how He is, or where He is, I had not even gone to churches, so to speak.
Personal Testimony
Therefore, beloved people of God, the work of God’s Word is very simple. It is so simple: to hear and to see. If you do not hear.... That is why there are many people who, when someone speaks, say, “Ah, I don’t want to listen.” Well, if you do not listen, it is for your own sake that you are not listening. But the one who listens gains. I too was one of those people from time to time.... That is why I want to share a little today, because this particular message also turned toward that condition. I want to present a little from my own situation, my.... because testimony is more important for certain things. It is more important that our apostle testifies, “We saw; we heard with our own eyes; we saw, and that is it.” Today I want to speak a little about this, and then I will continue.
I want to speak about my faith in general.... The first time someone spoke with me, the first question I was asked was this: “Do you believe in God?” Of course, I said, “No, I do not believe.” How could I have said otherwise? I had neither seen God nor heard about Him. Nothing had been said in the schools where I studied, whether in school or wherever I studied afterward; only godlessness and atheistic teaching had been preached. Even at the workplace.... I had not heard. But when that occasion came and we met, the first question was, “Do you believe?” I said, “No, I do not believe,” and I explained why. I said exactly what I am telling you now, because that was what I had heard. But what did he say? After a few questions, he said, “But would you like to hear the Word of God? Would you like to hear about it, about that God?” He said that God is living, that God exists—the Creator God, the Creator of heaven and earth, made this heaven and humanity. In short, after speaking about certain things, he said, “Would you like to hear about it?” I could have said, “No, I do not want to hear,” but I said, “Yes, I want to hear.” Beloved people of God, how important that first step is: listening, beloved people of God.
Once I listened, after I had heard much of the Word of God, God began to work with me. A change began in me. It was as though those things filled my heart by themselves. And so, beloved people of God, that Word went into action. Later I said, “If God exists, let Him free me from these things”—things from which I simply could not free myself—and God freed me the very next day, all at once. The Word became action, beloved people of God. It did not remain only words. I also said, “Let us ask God to set me free,” and the Lord Jesus set me free, my sisters and brothers. That is a long story; I do not want to tell it now. What do I want to say? It is very important today to listen. When you listen, God also puts what you heard into action. He makes it so that you see it truly with your own eyes and believe, just as our apostle John says: we heard, we saw, we walked with Him, and it continues.
Jesus Is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
For this reason, beloved, it is very important today to hear the word of truth. My only framework had been this: I was also a Party member, and my doctrine and thinking went only in that direction, the direction of the Party. I knew that to be the truth, the highest thing on earth. But God changed that, beloved people of God. God made me understand that it was not the truth. That is why John 14:6 says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He is the truth, beloved people of God. Outside of Him there is no life and no truth, beloved people of God. Therefore, may the Lord bless you, strengthen you, and keep you faithful in His house, so that we may worship and glorify Him. For it is written in First Timothy—Timothy, chapter 2, beginning with verse 3—“For this is good and acceptable before God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved....” God desires it; this is why it is important. He desires all people to be saved, so that no one is left out, “and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is very important: to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, to be testified in its proper time.” Glory to Jesus. Yes, He gave Himself for everyone, to be a testimony. His apostles testified about Him and about who He is, and there are many testimonies about Him. Even in the Old Covenant there are testimonies that He would be the Savior. In short, you have read much about this and know it better than I do, beloved people of God.
Do Not Give Up Meeting Together
Most importantly, what is essential in this teaching of ours? That we gather with one another. Gathering together is very important. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Do not give up meeting together.” Do not give up meeting together, because it is very important. When we gather together today, in whose name have we gathered here? We have gathered here in the name of Jesus. “Where two or three are gathered in My name, I am present among them.” He is present among us, beloved people of God. He hears every one of our conversations, our prayers, our weaknesses, and our illnesses, which we speak about and bring before Him. Does He hear, or does He not hear? He hears, beloved people of God. We should rejoice and give glory. We are strengthened when we come here because we hear the Word of God. The Word of God is indeed the truth; it is the Word that gives us life today, beloved people of God. It is the Word that gives us life. It is the Word that is a hammer—yes, as my brother said—and fire and everything. Therefore, may God help us, my beloved.
“Peace Be with You”
And so, every time we come, do you know what Jesus says? He says, “Peace be with you.” How.... what a wonderful thing: “Peace be with you.” My sisters and brothers, the disciples were gathered together again and were mourning. They knew Jesus already.... I do not know what had happened, but suddenly Jesus came through the closed doors—as it is written—and said, “Peace be with you.” And it says that the disciples—Matthew 20:20.... no, John 20:20—it says that they saw and rejoiced. That is why, when we come here, Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” so that we may see and rejoice, see and rejoice every time because Jesus is present here among us, beloved people of God. Should we not rejoice in our Jesus? Should we not come and say, “Let us go and share in Jesus, see Him, speak with Him, tell Him our sins and mistakes, come and be healed; if we are sick, come and find healing”? Is that not what our Lord wants? That is what our Lord wants, beloved people of God. He loves us. He laid down His life for us on the cross; He laid down His life for us, beloved people of God. That shameful death—it was a disgrace—He agreed to be lifted up on the cross and die for us so that we would not die. Otherwise, we would have died and would not have had life. He was laid in the tomb and rose again so that we too might rise. Glory to the Almighty Lord. And the God who raised Jesus Christ will also raise your mortal bodies on the last day. Glory to Him. Let us say, “Glory to You, Lord God. What a God we have; what a God of love He is,” beloved people of God.
Thomas and Faith
We must see and rejoice. Yes, the first time Thomas—forgive me—was not with them. He lost a great deal. What did he lose? He missed the peace Jesus brought. Then he missed the joy the disciples had with Jesus, did he not? He did not share in the fellowship with his fellow disciples. Then, for more than a week—because it is written there that eight days later He came a second time—Thomas lived in mourning for more than a week. The disciples already knew about Jesus’ resurrection, but he was mourning. Then, on the eighth day, Thomas came together with the disciples. Jesus stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Glory to Jesus. And He spoke, showed His hands, and said, “Come, Thomas, your hand.... Look at My hands, and put your finger into My wounded side.” What was left for Thomas to do but say, “My God, my Lord”? Only then did he understand whom.... what he had missed, beloved people of God.
May the Lord help us. And because he had been partly believing.... “Do not be unbelieving”—that is, unbelieving, not partly believing; that is what He said, isn’t it?—“do not be unbelieving, but believing. Blessed is the one—you saw and believed”—isn’t that how He said it? But blessed is the one who has not seen and yet will believe. Have we seen? We have not seen, but we believe the Word. We have heard that Word, and today we believe that Word. The Lord is among us. Glory to His holy name. May He be glorified forever. Jesus loves His children very much and does not want anyone, as we read, to perish.
May the Lord help us, beloved people of God. His people.... we need Him very much.
Faith: The Evidence of Things Not Seen
What is faith? What is its meaning? The Word of God gives the answer. Hebrews 11:1 says, “It is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” That is faith. There are many things in the world that we do not see, yet we believe they exist. We hear and hear, and we say.... People say, do they not, “Such-and-such a thing happened in such-and-such a place,” and we believe it from the news and so on. “There was an earthquake in such-and-such a place,” and we believe it, do we not? We believe those ordinary human things. If we believe material things, how much more should we believe in our Creator, who made this heaven, the earth, and the world, and who says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and all the rest? How can it be that we believe those small, material things, yet do not believe this important thing that the Word of God says? Therefore, we must believe. The most important truth is in the Word of God. This is God’s light, beloved people of God.
May the Lord help us and have mercy on us, because we need the Lord’s love and His presence. He wants His people to rejoice in Him, to have peace in Him, and also to have healing in Him, because He is also our Physician and King, beloved people of God.
The Work of God Is to Believe in the One He Sent
Therefore, in John chapter 6, beginning with verse 26, He spoke these very interesting words:
“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the bread and were filled. Labor not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains unto eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.’ Then they said to Him, ‘What must we do to do the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God: that you believe in Him whom He sent.’” Believe in Jesus; this is the work of God, beloved people of God. Is this not the greatest work—to believe in the One He sent? He sent Him to be the Savior of the world, to save everyone, all the people of the world. Glory to His holy name, beloved people of God.
Listen, Be Strengthened, and Have Peace
I want to read one more example; I do not want to go on much longer. May the Lord bless and strengthen us. May the Lord open our ears, so that when we come here, we open our ears to listen. This is very important. This is the Word that enters us and gives us life, through which we have salvation today—and we do have it, beloved people of God. Every time we hear this Word, we become stronger, my beloved. We should not grow weak, stay at home, sit there, not come, and say, “I am sick,” “I do not feel like it today,” or “Today I will go to the store and buy this thing.” What store, what thing? Go to church. Go and settle your concerns with your Lord. Let every concern be met with joy and peace. Let your heart be healed; let your heart be at peace. Have joy and peace, so that you may bring them into your home too, and then say, “Glory to You, Lord God,” and glorify that God. That is what He will give. You go to the store and say, “Oh, man, why is this so expensive? What is this.... Is this something anyone can buy? What are these people doing? What prices have they set?” A thousand different things—and in the process we judge other people, we judge ourselves, and there is no end to what we do. But the Word of God comes and says, “Peace be with you.” He wants us to have peace and joy with one another.
The Example of Saint Augustine
And so, one day Saint Augustine.... There is also Emperor Augustus, right? Yes.... Augustine repented. One day Saint Augustine was walking along the seashore and saw a little boy running near the water’s edge. The boy would fill his cupped hands with water, carry it over, and empty the water into a little hole he had made in the sand. When Saint Augustine asked the boy, “What are you doing?” the boy replied, “I am emptying the sea.” Emptying the sea? :-) Saint Augustine says, “There I understood how the little boy could not reason in his mind that the sea could not be emptied into that little hole. No matter how much water you pour into it, the sea will not be emptied....” In the same way, it is impossible to comprehend and explain the Creator of the universe, to try to make humanity understand Him with its little brain.... The knowledge of God is so deep that you cannot pour everything into it, my beloved. With your little cupped hands, with our small human brains, we cannot contain those great, great works of God.... But God has given us the opportunity, according to our measure and to the ability we have, to worship and glorify Him. With whatever understanding and capacity for thought He has given us, let us worship and glorify Him and do His will. Amen. Glory to His holy name, beloved people of God.
“Lord, Increase Our Faith”
Therefore, as we now prepare to pray, I want us to stand and ask the Lord to increase our faith. Whatever measure of faith we have.... it is little; may He increase it. His disciples asked, “Lord, increase our faith.” May He increase our faith. Let us ask Him for that very thing.
Prayer
Blessed eternal King and God, You are our King and Lord. We thank You, give thanks to You, and glorify Your holy name. Forever You are our King and God. Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, You know. Lord, we believe. Lord, You Yourself know the measure of each person’s faith, but we ask You to increase our faith and fill it to fullness, my blessed King and Lord. Glory to You. May we have one-hundred-percent faith in You, in God’s creation, and in everything, Lord. May we glorify You, rejoice in You, and do Your will. For all these things, may glory, honor, thanks, and gratitude be given to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Amen.
