Title: New Perception
Contents
Bible: Matthew 16:13-20
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There are many people who immigrate to the United States when they are ministering in the United States, but not all of them have adjusted well just because they immigrated. Immigrating to the United States means moving to a completely new culture, new soil, and new way of thinking. Those who accept these changes well adapt well, while those who do not accept the new changes well adapt well. You see things you can't do. As such, what is always important to us depends on how well we are aware of our changed reality and whether we succeed or fail in our lives.
Chapter 16 of the Gospel of Matthew we read today can be said to be a very important chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. It can be broadly divided into two parts: one in Galilee and the other in Jerusalem. The work in Galilee started first, and then the work in Jerusalem. Today's chapter 16 can be said to be a turning point from Galilee to the work in Jerusalem.
After Jesus asks his disciples who the world says he is, he asks, “Then who do you say I am?” At this point, Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Hearing this answer, Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah. Your flesh and blood did not make this truth known to you, but God the Father in heaven made it known. You will be a rock in the future, I will build the church over you, and the powers of Hades will never overcome you. I will give you the keys to heaven. You will become a heavenly keeper who checks who enters and leaves heaven. And what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Peter, who had only caught fish all his life, constantly emitting a fishy smell, and seemed to live ignorantly because he had not learned anything, became “the one who had the keys of heaven. Peter had a new self-awareness through Jesus.
The important thing here is whether I accept the changed me correctly. The question is whether we who worship today are properly aware of ourselves as children of God. In order to correct our self-awareness, it is more important to know how we perceive God first. God, who created the heavens and the earth, is our Father, and we are God's children. We must have an awareness of the right God, who says that the God who created the world is higher than the power of the world.
Second, we have our fears. If you have fear, you cannot achieve correct self-awareness. Fear makes you weak and makes you feel like you are insignificant. When Abraham was living in the tent because of this fear, he saw that God brought him out, showed him countless stars in the sky, and gave promises to his children, like the sand of the sea. If we fear, we lose the strength and courage to face the world's hardships that come upon us.
What is important for us is to correctly recognize who God is who has spoken to us, and to accept God's words to us correctly in our hearts. God said: John 1:12 says that to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
We are children of God. God never leaves His children alone. How does God not forget us? Jesus is the powerful Son of God. Please remember that we too are the sons and daughters of God who have received the power of heaven.
As such, there are many different stories in the Bible. In a way, it seems that evil triumphs. ‘How can such an evil person overcome?’ But if we look at the conclusion, the Old Testament tells us that God’s will to save mankind is being accomplished even in the midst of a wave that seems to triumph over that evil.
If we see it on Wednesday, I think Ahab wins. Ahab took away the vineyard of an innocent man named Naboth, truly amazing. And he killed Naboth. Evil seems to triumph, but what happens in the midst of it? The work of God in which the wicked were judged and the work of God in which the righteous were saved. So, “all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are the called according to his purpose.” Therefore, our life is uneven on the surface, but in conclusion, it is the fact that God is surely accomplishing God's good will through our lives. Because God rules the world. Do we recognize this fact today?
Also today, the Lord knocks on the door of my heart in Revelation 3:20. “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door of his heart, I will come in and eat with you, and you will abide with me.”
The Lord promises to always be with us. Do we recognize this God? Do you really believe this right? If we believe, we will live a precious, rock-solid life like Peter, and if we accurately believe in the God who told me, we will live a blessed life like Abraham, and we believe that we will live our lives as great warriors like Gideon.
2011-03-05 10:12:09