God’s Given Faith

God is one and only. There are countless spirits in heaven and on earth. Heaven is filled with innumerable spirits, namely angels, and many spirits exist also on the earth. However, God is the one and only God. In what way is He unique? As spiritual beings, spirits are immaterial. They are intangible. They are formless, meaning they are invisible. Nevertheless God is the One whom man can touch and see. The reason we know this is by faith.

When believers evangelize, they often say, “If you come to our church and receive prayer from the pastor, you’ll be healed from your sickness and all your problems will be solved”. And those people who come to church after hearing that, only want to receive the pastor’s prayer without having any faith. Of course, nothing is impossible with God. Even so, God does not work beyond faith. Here, faith is referring to that which is given by God; it is not one’s own conviction by which people say, “As long as I work hard, I can definitely become successful!”

There is a common Korean saying, “Sincerity moves heaven”, which means that one’s sincere and hard efforts will bring about success. This notion is far from Christian faith. The promised signs and wonders of God are not displayed to those who have self conviction but to those who have the faith given by God. Christians listen to sermons at church and study the Scriptures in so that they may understand what God’s given faith is.

Pharisees were people who pursued a most holy, godly life. Nobody else was as distinguished as them by the standards of man. However Jesus warned them saying, “Woe to you!” Then He added that harlots and robbers would enter the Kingdom of Heaven before them. Regardless of how well a person observes the Law, and how morally upright a person might be, without faith he is bound to perish.

Jesus, the Image of God Who Revealed the Invisible God

God gave us faith two thousand years ago from now. That faith is Jesus Christ. To ask, “Do you have faith?” is equivalent to asking, “Do you have Jesus in you?” Everybody has a form of belief called conviction. However it is impossible for anyone to receive forgiveness or blessings, nor enter the Kingdom of Heaven by their own conviction. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus Christ is the faith which God has given us.

To believe in Jesus means to believe in the words of God which He has spoken through His Son. When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and coming out of the water, God said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17). If anyone claims to believe God but cannot believe in His words that say Jesus is the Son of God, he is actually not a believer.

It is impossible by man’s reasons, knowledge and emotions for anyone to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. The help of the Holy Spirit is imperative for us to possess the faith God has given. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit”, while Romans 8:9 says, “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Whoever claims to believe Jesus but does not receive the Holy Spirit is no more than just a religious person. And the Lord will bring all of this to light on judgment day.

People who do not believe Jesus as the Son of God will eventually perish. This was preordained by God from eternity past. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” The reason people are unable to have God’s given faith is because the god of this age has blinded their minds. To overcome this, they must first repent and believe in the Gospel. So then what is the Gospel about? It is that Jesus Christ is the image of God. An image implies something visible to the eye. God is One who is invisible to the eyes of man. Yet God manifested Himself so as to be seen by man’s eyes. Jesus is the substance of God’s being, whom man is able to see.

The Scriptures Written as They Had Seen and Heard the Image of God

To have seen Jesus the image of God means to have seen God. However there is a problem. Jesus died and already ascended into Heaven after He resurrected, and there is no way that we can actually see Him today. Here lies the reason why God has left us with the Bible. The Bible is a record of the testimonies of the people who saw and heard the image of God, writing exactly what they had seen and heard. For example, the Gospel of Matthew (one of the Synoptic Gospels) records exactly what Matthew had seen and heard while he followed Jesus, and does not include anything subjective like man’s feelings or imaginations.

Jesus is the image of God, and the Scriptures are accounts of having seen and heard God’s image. Therefore our faith cannot go beyond the Scriptures. There are some people who focus on memorizing the Scriptures as a way to obtain faith through it. But if faith could only be attained by memorizing the Scriptures, people who are not very intelligent would struggle to have faith. Just as it is with mathematical formulas, the Bible is not a book that should be learned by rote. We have to understand the picture the Bible is trying to convey. In other words, we must be able to see the Picture of God’s Will revealed in the Bible in a glance.

The Holy Spirit Lets the Written Word of the Scripture Enter Our Spirit

No matter how much we read the Bible, it is futile if the picture of God’s will doesn’t enter our hearts. How can we have the will of God come into our hearts? It can only be possible by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (Jn 14:26). This is the reason why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The moment when we believed that Jesus is the image of God, the Holy Spirit came into us. And upon receiving the Holy Spirit, we began speaking in tongues. When we speak in tongues, it is with our spirit that we pray to God. This is just the beginning of the spiritual gifts not the end. But how many people become arrogant and fall away after receiving the gift of tongues? We should not be content that we are speaking in tongues but have the Holy Spirit work in us even more actively. We need to use more of the rich gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The faith God has given is truth. Jesus is truth (Jn 14:6), the Word is truth (Jn 17:17). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth who does not speak by His own will but only of what He has heard (Jn 16:13). There are people who claim to be full of the Holy Spirit and pray for others saying things like, “O daughter, you are blessed. Sell the house you’re living in and move to another place. Close down your business and start something else”. However God warned that such a person will be cut off from among His people (Ez 13:1-23). What we need to understand is, just as Jesus came to the world and revealed only God the Father, the Holy Spirit too reveals only Jesus.

Be Blessed in the Holy Spirit

Jesus whom God has sent is the image of God, the written accounts of those who saw and heard Him is the Bible, and the Holy Spirit is the One who makes those words come into our spirits. We must be blessed in the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that our businesses will grow and all of our problems will be solved if we are full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reminds us of the words of Jesus and leads us into the truth. The blessedness that comes through the Holy Spirit is found in knowing Jesus deeply.

I do not know when I’ll give my last sermon.
Yet, that message would probably be the final result of living a lifetime as God’s preacher, after being called as His servant. Then, I won’t be able to give another message in this world. And thus, that final sermon would be the ultimate, immortal message. For that final message, I must pour out my spirit, body, strength, heart, and will. It must be the sound of my blood offered up to God our Father.

God had chosen a worthless, worm like me to walk a long pastoral journey. I was full of power and signs and wonders because God had endlessly poured out the Holy Spirit upon me. The crippled were raised to walk, lepers were cleansed, dead were risen, deaf and blinds opened their ears and eyes, many sick were healed, and countless demons were cast out.

 This power was absolutely needed in my daily life. God poured out great blessings upon me, unending forgiveness and comfort, and material blessings. He allowed me to live long and beget an excellent son through whom I’ve received intelligent grandchildren. How can I even describe all these blessings with words? For a lack of better words, I received much love from God the Father.

 Love hurts. It is a spirit that breathes until the last moment after my body dries up and my heart is consumed. I love the Father because He loves me. However, am I loving Him simultaneously with sin? Because my flesh still exists, I continue to possess weaknesses that war against my spirit.

 I love God in the spirit. Though the expression of my love seems like empty words, even my flesh cannot deny this love that exists with the sound of my breath. Without love, I do not exist. If there is no love in my spirit, then faith cannot exist either.

 The love that God has given me is faith, which is an asset to my spirit. Loving God means I possess faith. Possessing faith means I have love.

 I give my best during my sermons as I head toward my final moment because I believe that any sermon could be my final message. There are times when I just want to cry during my message; yet, I restrain myself from crying. However, I just want to cry because it is my love song.

 O, my soul! I have been loved much in the world along with great persecutions as well. I was hated especially by my ministry partners.

 I’m not sure why they hate me so much, but I’m being immensely hated by those who say that they love me. I try to speak truthful words, but they seem to not trust me. So I’d rather shake off everything before I leave this world. If that is difficult, then I will give it up to the Lord. I will entrust my spirit to Him so that I could be fully prepared to give my final sermon.

Pastor Ki-Dong Kim
Lord’s Day Worship Column

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Outline and Summary translated by Sarah Nam
Letter translated by Jada Shim
Interpretations by Sarah Nam

Chief Editor: Helen Nam
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee