Some of you may be new to church. Some of you may have been to church in the past but did not find what you were looking for, and have decided to come back to church again. There is something you must clearly attain at church. Just as we shouldn’t look for the wrong address nor seek hot water under cold ice, there is something we ought to look for at church.

The passage we read from today is a book called Exodus. And it’s the third chapter. A certain god appeared to a man named Moses. At that time, Moses was a shepherd looking after the sheep. He was in the wilderness for forty years tending the flock. But he had been brought up in the Egyptian palace. The king of Egypt is called Pharaoh. Moses was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Although he wasn’t the official prince, he was in an equal position to the prince. He received an elite education. However, because he murdered someone, he fled from Egypt and lived in hiding in the wilderness. He spent forty years there. He was a descendant of Abraham, whose descendants were living in Egypt at that time. In short, they were living as slaves.

One day a god appeared to Moses while he was tending his flock. Moses saw a tree a distance away and the tree was on fire. But the tree wasn’t burning up. He thought it was strange and went up closer to look. When he did, he heard a voice saying, “Moses! Moses! Take the sandals off your feet, for where you are standing is holy ground!” He was astonished. An angel sent by God had appeared to him. However, Moses couldn’t know what god he was.

Let me ask you a question. Are there many gods in the world, or just one? Most of the people who go to Sungrak Church will answer, “Many!” But people who have a faint idea of the church often think that Christians believe there is only one god. Many Christians do have the misunderstanding that there is only one god in the world. This is due to the first commandment of the Ten Commandments given in the Old Testament in Moses’ Pentateuch.

This first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” The commandment states, “You can’t have any other gods but only Me.” And this became misrepresented so that many Christians think there is only one god in the world. However, the meaning of that commandment can be understood as follows: A man and a woman get married, and the man says to his wife, “From now on, you must not have any other man except me!” Or even before getting married, he might say this. Are there many or few men and women in the world? There are many. Despite this, the man tells his wife, “You can’t have another man in your life apart from me!” That is what this god said. “You and your nation must have no other gods except Me! To you, I am the one and only god!” It doesn’t mean that the only god in the world is him.

There are many gods in the world. Some say that they first heard about this at this church. They say, “I have never heard this at another church.” However, that is a misunderstanding. The Bible speaks about countless gods. There are many gods in the world. But what is a god? In Korean, the word for god is “haneunim.” And the Korean national anthem has these words, “For god protect our country.” This god is different from the God we Christians believe in; it refers to a god. We don’t know what kind of god it is. It simply points to some god of heaven and earth that they believe guards our country. Although everyone calls it “god,” the being that each person thinks of can differ. Hence, the general term “god” is used in the national anthem. What do you think they call “haneunim” in Chinese? They call it “shin,” which means god. This word in Chinese was introduced to Korean, which is why we also use the word “shin.” “Shin” and “haneunim” mean the same thing. But the question is what kind of god is it? In other words, what kind of haneunim is this haneunim?

There are many gods in the world. As it is in English, it is written as “god” with a lower case “g.” It can also be pluralized as “gods.” There are so many gods in the world, yet what is a god? A god is an eternal being. Gods exist eternally. The piano right here will one day disappear, won’t it? These chairs will also disappear, and even the human body will disappear one day too. But gods don’t disappear. They exist forever, no matter which god it is. The God whom we believe in the church is not the only eternal being; all other gods apart from the God also exist eternally. Demons are eternal beings, and so are angels. That is the defining attribute of a god. Therefore, every god is a spiritual and eternal being.

Gods also have personalities. They have intellect, volition and emotion. They can think, speak, feel joy and sadness, and even hate.  These qualities—intellect, emotion, and will—are what we call personality, aren’t they? A god has a personality and is an eternal being. God is an eternal personal being. This is a god.

Then, are you a god or not? Are you eternal beings? Do you have a personality? Our bodies will decay and disappear, but within us is a spirit. A spirit itself is an eternal personal being. It’s a god. Therefore, if this eternal person does wrong, it can become a demon. But if it receives God’s word, it will become a god who attains sacred glory. The demon I just mentioned wanders aimlessly, tormenting people. When demons come in, they bring trouble to people. At times, they may appear to help, but ultimately, if you fellowship with a demon, your fate will become like that of the demon. The problem is that the demon’s fate is a failure. Even if a person might have had great wealth when he was alive on the earth, if he became a demon, he has lost everything. Regardless of how healthy and fit he was, a demon is one who has lost it all. Therefore, if you become acquainted with a demon, you are bound to follow in its steps.

There are many gods in the world including demons and various angels. But among them, which of god will you draw close to? This is an important question. One might say, “I don’t want any gods! I want to live without having anything to do with gods!” However, that is not simply possible. Even if I was to say, “I don’t like air! I want to live without air!” there is no way I can survive without breathing, and even if I try to hold my breath, once I fall asleep, I start breathing without my control. Similarly, there is no way to live without being in contact with spirits, that is, gods. Why? Because gods want to get closer to you.

In the world are many gods, more than the entire human population. And those countless gods are trying to get close to you. They keep approaching you. You might’ve seen in movies with ghosts. What do they try to do? They try to go into people, don’t they? Isn’t it strange? Many ghost movies from around the world depict ghosts (demons) in this way. How come they all have this common view? It is because this is actually true. The Bible says so too.

In the Bible, a demon that was hiding in a person gets driven out. After being cast out, it wanders around looking for a new home to enter. But it finds none. Why? Every house already has an owner. Hence, it is very difficult for a demon to enter a new place. After wandering about, it goes back to the place it left. When it returns to the same person, it notices that the house is empty—no one has come in yet. “Oh, it’s empty!” it thinks, and so it enters the person again. The demon goes back into the same person it left. But when it returns, it is concerned, “what if I get kicked out of here again? I will make sure I take full control of this person so that I don’t get kicked out this time! I’ll take my friends with me!” So it goes and invites seven of its friends, saying, “Hey, there’s an empty room here!” and they all enter together. Then the state of that person becomes far worse than it was before the demon was driven out the first time.

In our church, the believers of Jesus drive out demons. But we don’t drive out demons randomly. The person suffering from a demon first has to know God and long for His word. Otherwise, if the demon is cast out unilaterally, it may leave. Sometimes it may not but it can leave. However, there is a high chance for it to return. When that happens, the person’s condition will be worse than it was before. In this way, these gods are not going to simply show a submissive attitude to you because you don’t want to get close to them.

Have any of you heard stories about people who become possessed and turn into shamans? They perform shaman rituals for the person to accept a god before becoming a shaman. You might think, “Oh, that’s just in their mind,” but the pain that the person actually endures is awful. It is not just a mental process; in the process, his body actually aches and the pain is horrible. He can’t even get up. It’s not just for one or two days. The pain is excruciating and unbearable. So, the person has no choice but to compromise with the god. In that situation, a shaman comes to him, performs a ‘gut’ (shaman ritual), and tells him to accept the god. Suddenly, he becomes completely well. Do you know why? The demon planned the whole thing in order to go into that person.

You might say, “I’m going to live my life without any relations with a god. There’s no such thing as a god in this era of modern technology!” But no matter how much you insist, you cannot live a life separate from these gods because they force their way in. That is why these gods are terrifying to those who can’t subdue them. Hence, people are scared of demons.

I don’t know about you, but I used to occasionally enjoy watching the TV program “Hometown of Legends.” After watching that program, I was scared to go home by myself. As a little kid, I felt like someone would jump out from behind the walls and scared me. So I waited outside until my parents came home. Did it get better when I got older? No, it was the same. Every time I went to my grandmother’s place in the countryside, the toilets were outside. To get there, I had to go through the front yard, open the front gate, and go outside. If I only needed to urinate, I could do that in the bushes or grasslands, but for the other one, I had no choice but to go to the toilet. It’s dark in there, with only a candle light while I did my business. How scary is that? But what was I so scared of? I was scared of demons – entities I had never seen in my life. I felt like something was going to pop out at any moment. It’s weird, isn’t it? Why was I so terrified of something that I had never seen? However, demons do exist.

One interesting thing is that after I believed in Jesus, that fear completely disappeared. It disappeared completely. Even when I go to a very dark place now, I am not scared at all. In the past, just being in a dark place made my hair stand on end and send a chill down my spine. But not anymore. I used to have the same fear at funerals. At certain funerals, I felt scared for no particular reason. But now, that fear is completely gone. Why? Because to believe in Jesus means to fellowship with a god whose tremendous power is incomparably greater than that of demons.

Which god are you in fellowship with right now? Out of the many gods in the world, which god will you stay close to? This is the important question. At church, you might be told things like, “Be kind! Be healthy! Be good to your neighbors!” However, those are not the essential matters. Ultimately, we want to introduce you to a god. But first you need to know who that god is.

Before you take out insurance, what do you have to read carefully? You need to thoroughly read the terms and conditions. If you rely on someone’s words without checking, you could run into trouble or regret it later. But the problem is that they are written in small fonts, and there’s a lot to read. It’s hard to discern what is important and what isn’t. Moreover, the wording is put together cleverly, so although you read it thoroughly, you could still suffer losses down the track. Thus, unless you ask for advice and read the terms carefully, the insurance might turn out to be completely different from what you thought. When you truly need help, you might not receive support.

Many businesses approach us, telling us to invest in their companies. I sometimes receive those phone calls like, “There’s a really good piece of land!” Sometimes I answer back, “If it’s that good, why don’t you invest in it yourself?” Or I tell them, “I have no interest in money business. You came to the wrong guy!” Recently many people were induced to invest in a supposed treasure ship discovery, but it turned out to be a scam. Another one involved a solar farm that was supposedly being built, but after people invested their money in this business, the scammers disappeared. The result was totally different from their expectations.

This is the same with gods. They approach you with enticing and seemingly convincing words. But can they really give you eternal happiness? Occasionally, there are some gods that can make you happy for a short while. Some gods can give you happiness for a short while. Other gods can even make you earn a fortune for the time being. However, none of these are everlasting. Many gods lead people to failure in this world. And even if those gods could do you good on this earth, since they cannot give you what is everlasting, they will ultimately drag you down the same road as them.

All gods in the world were created by the god who is called God. I am giving you a concise idea of what the Bible is teaching and what I‘ve learned from it. There are many gods in the world, however there is a god who created all those gods. There are many gods in the world, but there is a god who ultimately determines the destiny of all those gods. But how do we believe that? That is why you need to make a sound judgment. You have to carefully determine what kind of gods are approaching you.

When those gods say, “I’ll give something to you! Something great for you! ” you have to carefully examine where those gods came from. Some businesses approach us saying, “Invest in this business! You will make a fortune!” We have to research that business, when it was founded and who started the business. We have to do the same with gods. A certain god appeared to my cousin saying, “If you serve me well, I’ll grow your business for you!” The next day, he decided to start a business and performed gosa rites (offering sacrifices to gods). The business did do really well. His business became a small company that was even introduced on TV as a successful blue-chip company. But he had to perform gosa rites on a regular basis because of the promise he made. For about 10 years, his business performed well. But after 10 years, the business went bankrupt. Worse, bad things happened to some of the employees- one or two of them even died after suffering greatly from liver cancer. Not only was my cousin cursed, but the people close to him were met with curses too. He started that business because that god promised to make him happy, but he later found out he was deceived. Where did that god come from? There is no trace.

However, the god whom our church wants to introduce to you has a written genealogy of what He has done. There is a written record of what this god has been doing, which person met this god for the first and what this god wants in this present time. There is a specific book that writes these things. Do you know what that book is? It’s the Bible. Please raise your hand if you have a Bible. The Bible is a thick book. It is hundreds of pages long.

The Bible consists of 66 books. How many books? 66 books. That’s how many books are in the Bible. The first book written in the Bible, do you know how many years ago it was written? The time Jesus was ministering on earth was about 2000 years ago. But the first book was written 1500 years before that time, which is 3500 years ago from now. The first five books of the Bible- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy- were written by a man named Moses about 3500 years ago. And the contents of the first book written write about things that happened around 4000 years ago. That book even writes about the events that took place since the time the universe was made. No one witnessed these events, yet they are written about. A man who never saw it happen wrote about the creation of the universe. And he wrote that the universe was created by a god. A god created the earth, a god created the moon, a god created the trees, and ultimately, that same God created humans.

But how can we possibly believe in that god? A man who lived 3500 years ago wrote about things that happened 500 years before he was even born, as well as things that happened place thousands, even tens of thousands of years ago. He wrote about things he never saw himself. So how do we believe that they are true? But here’s something remarkable. This man, Moses, didn’t only write about the past; he also wrote about things that would happen 2000 years after his time. And now, it’s been 3500 years since his time, yet he also wrote about what would happen 3500 years later. The people who have experienced, witnessed, and now testify to these are us- Christians.

Think about it. How could this man write about what would happen now, which is 3500 years after his time? How could he write about events that take place 2000 years later? He didn’t write this by his own ability. He was inspired by a certain god to do so. How was he able to write about the past? It was because he was moved by that god. If what he wrote about the future was proven to be false, we would not be able to believe what he wrote of the past either. However, that which he wrote regarding 2000 years later or 1500 years later, was proven to be true. Moreover, they have been verified as fulfilled over another 2000 years until now. Therefore, we can be sure, saying, “Wow! His writings has credibility! They are true! He really was inspired by a certain god!” The things he continually wrote about are actually about this god.

Remember we read that a certain god appeared to Moses? That Moses is this Moses I am talking about. At that time, even Moses didn’t know who that god was. When that god appeared to him, he said to Moses, “Go to My people Israel and bring them out of Egypt! You go there and bring them out! Tell Pharaoh I said, ‘Let My people go!'” Moses, who was a shepherd at that time, replied, “What am I that I can go up to the king and bring the people of Israel out? What am I?” But the god told him, “Tell them that God has sent you!” and gave him testimony and encouragement. So Moses asked, “I will go and tell the Israelites,“God has sent me to bring you out!”” Then they would ask me, ‘Who is the god that sent you? There are so many gods in the world. Which of them were you sent by?’ How should I answer them? Who are You?”

The Bible shows us the scene where this god answers Moses. What does he say? “Tell them, ‘I AM WHO I AM!”’ He is a god who self-exists. Other gods don’t self-exist. They were all created. But this god, who is self-existent, appeared to man. “I AM WHO I AM!” How can he prove that?

From that time on, Moses experienced the power of this god. He didn’t experience this alone but together with the people of Israel. In various ways, they experienced His power. But to put it simply, this god brought the Israelites out of Egypt, where Pharaoh had enslaved them through military force. More than a million people escaped from Egypt. Why on earth would Pharaoh let his slaves go free? He tried to stop them. But this god led them out. In the process, they were faced with a situation. The sea was before them and the Egyptian soldiers came after them from behind. Have you watched the movie “Moses”? That movie does have some elements of truth but some are not, which is expected since it’s a movie. In that desperate moment, when the people were crying out, Moses was instructed by God through inspiration and told the people, “Do not cry, for God will do great things!” Then he stretched out his staff towards the sea, and an east wind began to blow. The wind blew from the east and it was a very powerful wind. It blew all night. The wind was very strong. And gradually the sea was divided, and walls of water rose up. The seabed became dry ground. The people of Israel walked through it. It’s incredible, isn’t it! This is that god.

This really happened. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? People have never seen such a god, which is so powerful that they can’t believe. But this is the god whom we are trying to introduce to you. He is a god of power. Because this god is powerful, He was able to take the Israelites to the Palestinian land—the land of Canaan—and had them settle there. Isn’t it remarkable? That land was occupied by other nations first. But God promised their forefathers 500 years before, and He fulfilled it in their time. A truly remarkable event happened historically. That’s not it. After that, they became scattered and lost their kingdom. But after a long time, about 1500 years passed, they recovered their kingdom, and we see the nation Israel today. This is all written about in the Bible. This is the god whom we serve and meet. He is the One.

“Ah, so does that mean the god we are meeting with is the god of the Middle East? Isn’t He the god of Israel?” No, hee is not. They were used as a metaphor. All of this which happened in the past was a kind of metaphor. It was a pattern showing how God will deliver us from this world, controlled by the devil, just asHe did them from Egypt. And this God sent us the One called Jesus.

Jesus came 2000 years ago and spoke of this: “The God who appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and later to Moses is the God whom I serve! He sent Me! I am God’s Son! The one that appeared in the past was an angel sent by that God; but I am the Son of God! I am His image! In the past, God showed His works through the flesh, but I came so that God can dwell inside you, and you in Him! Yet you are unclean! You are full of sin. So I will shed My blood and pay the price of your sins! I will purify your spirits! Then I will go to the Father and send the Holy Spirit to you. When the Holy Spirit comes into you, you will become one with this God—God the Father!” Jesus made this promise, and truly, He was executed on the cross and died. Although it seemed as though everything ended, He resurrected three days later and appeared to His disciples as He promised. After that, He ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit, which is how the church was built.

This church is not a place that teaches you ethical and moral lessons. We are here to introduce you to God. This God has a history of working from a long time ago—the eternity past. He has been self-existent from eternity past. And this God desires to be with us. He wants us to be in Him and He is in us. For this reason, He sent His Son Jesus Christ. Hence, the God whom Jesus introduced to us, the God who revealed Himself through Jesus, is the One we fellowship with.

If someone were to ask me, “Who is your god? What kind of god is he?” I will answer like this. If I were asked, “Ki-Taek Lee, can you describe in a sentence who your god is that you believe in and fellowship with? Is he the god of Moses?” I would answer, “Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago, but the One who raised Jesus from the dead is this God.” When a man dies, he cannot live anymore. That’s death. One cannot do anything anymore after death. Jesus did many miracles and signs, and people said, “That must be Jesus’ power!” But Jesus died. He couldn’t do anything anymore. He couldn’t even breathe. All of His blood was shed because He was pierced with a spear. He couldn’t live again because He was a Man. However, He rose again. How? Someone raised Him to life. God raised Him to life.

The God who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt through Moses, the God who formed walls of water so that they could walk through the sea, that is the God who raised Jesus from the dead. That God is still at work in the church today. The God whom we serve has been communing with mankind for thousands of years, and all of His likes and dislikes are written about. So I know for sure what this God will give me. I know for sure, and I have the testimony.

If I keep close to this God, everything is good for me in the end. He will give me many things. But do you know the best, the most excellent, and the most important thing that He has promised to give me- and something I have sure testimony of? It is eternal life. I will resurrect. One day, I will die too. But within me is my spirit. The spirit will be clothed with an eternal body to live forever. I will resurrect. Jesus resurrected from the dead, didn’t He? In the same way, I will also resurrect. Where Jesus has gone, I also will go. That is why I believe in Jesus.

He has shown me many proofs of this on earth. He said, “When you believe in Jesus, you will receive the Holy Spirit and perform power!” Surely enough, since I believed in Jesus, I have been casting out demons. I can heal the sick. I even opened the eyes of the blind, which I never did before. The mute have spoken, and the deaf have heard. This didn’t happen only to me; those who are fervently living their faith life at Sungrak Church and know Jesus have these experiences. Furthermore, we have been taught so well by our Senior Overseer Ki-dong Kim, that this is what believing in Jesus is about. Not only our church members but countless people throughout the world—those who have learned God’s word and met Jesus through our Church—are doing the same works.

The other day, I uploaded a video on my blog. It was a video of a mute person speaking. I send the Lord’s Day sermons of our church to China every week, and this particular church in China held a camp. A person, who was mute, attended the camp. This person started speaking, “Jesus gǎnxiè, gǎnxiè Jesus, gǎnxiè Jesus!” He was saying, “Thank You Jesus! Thank You, Jesus!” He was overjoyed and the people around him were clapping excitedly. These things are happening in many places.

The God whom we meet is the One who can heal our sicknesses and even help us in what we do. And these are all testimonies. They are testimonies that we will ultimately resurrect. One of the things we can do by the power of God is to subdue other gods. The reason I am not afraid of demons is because they are afraid of me. We can subdue the demons. “Demon, get out! Take all the curses, your cancer, your depression, everything you used to torment this person!” When we command them like, they will come out. It’s not just once or twice we experience this. As Sungrak people, we often experience this.

Everyone, don’t get close to those other gods, but fellowship with this God whom we are introducing, the One who raised Jesus from the dead. Listen to His words. There are His terms which He has written. Read them carefully and do them. Then you will have eternal life and resurrection. No one is forcing you to believe. We are not telling you to blindly believe. Read carefully and find out that happens when you believe in this God. And then make your decision. If you say, “I don’t need eternal life! I’m happy right now! I’ll go to hell!” then you don’t have to choose this God. But if you instead choose a god that promises to give you a fortune, it can help you for maybe 10 years and after that lead you to destruction. So my cousin that I mentioned went to prison. He went to jail after becoming bankrupt. The god promised to make him happy but that’s what happened. He performed gosa rites so often, but it brought him to disaster.

But our God is truly faithful and keeps His promises. Because this God is one and only, we Christians want to differentiate Him as special and explain about Him well, which is why we call Him “God” and “our God,” using a capital “G” to set Him apart. It is because He is one and only. This one and only God is the One who raised Jesus from the dead, and we even call Him “my Father God.”

You might say, “I don’t know whether He is God. I don’t have any experience of Him.” However, remember this God whom we are trying to introduce to you. He is not going to harm you but give you every good thing. And make sure you sign at the end of the terms and conditions. To sign is to get baptized. Be baptized and united with this God. Then His destiny will be yours. Your fate, your destiny will be no more. His destiny will be yours; His fate will be yours. In this way, I bless you all in the name of Jesus Christ to be united with Jesus. I’ll pray.

Father God, who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, help and inspire these souls to believe that You will also raise us to life. Help them to believe in Your terms that say “whoever believes and in baptized will be saved,” so that they trust, obey, and take part in it. Help them to also experience that You are living. In the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!