/Acts 14:1–7
Now it happened in Iconium that the two apostles went together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and made them hostile against the brethren. Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the two apostles. And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them, they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. And there they were preaching the gospel.

The two apostles entered the synagogue of the Jews and preached the gospel. Those who heard the gospel were divided into two groups: there were those who accepted the gospel and those who did not accept the gospel. Those who did not accept the gospel joined together with unbelievers and severely persecuted the two apostles.
The two apostles went to another place and preached the gospel. Following the word of Jesus, they left the place where they were persecuted, went elsewhere, and continued to preach the gospel.

The situation at that time shows exactly the condition of the church today.
The gospel is to believe in Jesus as the only Savior and to obey only the word of Jesus. When one has failed to obey the word of Jesus, one must repent and receive forgiveness.

However, human doctrine claims that there is salvation in other religions as well, and it says that even without obeying the word of Jesus and without repenting, if one only attends church, everyone goes to heaven.

These people say that before a human being was even born, God had already divided people into those who would be saved and those who would not be saved, and that those who were chosen were already fixed as citizens of heaven, so they go to heaven unconditionally.
Therefore they claim that there is no need for us to labor in evangelism, to repent, or to obey.

Pastors and church members who believe in human doctrine greatly dislike hearing the gospel of Jesus, which says that one must repent, receive the Holy Spirit, and obey in order to go to heaven. Therefore they deeply hate and persecute those who preach this gospel.
Those who believe in human doctrine join together with the Gentiles to stop the gospel of salvation from being preached. This is the work of Satan.
At that time, the chief priests, Pharisees, and scribes who cried out for Jesus to be crucified were all servants of Satan. Those leaders who should have honored Jesus most failed to understand the Scriptures and killed Jesus. However, through the death of Jesus, God redeemed the sins of mankind.
Even after that, those who gathered in the synagogue every Sabbath, read the Scriptures, and worshiped God instead opposed the apostle Paul, who preached Jesus and the gospel of life.
Their faith was false.

Even today, there are very many false church members in the church who have a formalistic faith and believe human doctrine. Such Christians act contrary to the will of God in order to fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
They advocate pluralism, support anti-discrimination laws, join hands with wicked politicians to pursue worldly benefit, and do not even repent of such sins.
Such false Christians exist in every age. During the Japanese occupation they supported shrine worship, during the Korean War they acted as collaborators for the North Korean army, and in order to gain worldly things they continue to do the work of Satan inside the church. They are people like Judas Iscariot.

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Acts 14:8–10
And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.

When Paul evangelized, many sick people were healed, but not every sick person was healed.
In Paul’s sight, the one who had faith fit to be healed was healed.
The power to heal all diseases does not belong to man, but to God who made man.
When God permits it, Satan gives disease to human beings, and when God wills it, the diseases of human beings are healed.
When the Lord commands, all diseases and demons must leave human beings.
The occurrence of disease and accidents is something that God has permitted.
When people do not believe in God, do not obey, and do not repent of their sins, the Lord disciplines them.
Disease, accidents, and problems are means of God’s discipline.
All those who do not believe in God, commit sin, and do not repent go to hell.
But when one believes in Jesus and repents, everyone is forgiven and goes to heaven.
Yet countless human beings do not realize this truth.
Therefore the Lord causes people to suffer disease, poverty, and various hardships in order to lead them to repentance.
To love the things of the world more than God is idolatry.
One must abandon such sins in order to become a citizen of heaven.
But many do not believe in God, and even those who believe in Jesus do not obey the word of Jesus.
Therefore the discipline of God comes upon human beings.
When Paul preached the gospel, one cripple accepted that gospel.
This means that he believed in Jesus as Savior and repented of his sins.
At that time, Jesus commanded Paul to pray for him.
When Paul obeyed the Lord’s command, that cripple rose up.
This is the power of Jesus, never Paul’s own power.

This makes us realize today that the source of all power is God.
Those who exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit must never boast in themselves.
They must use the gifts of the Lord according to the will of Jesus and exalt only the Lord.
Through the servants of the Lord, the Lord heals the diseases of church members or casts out demons. At such times all glory must be given only to the Lord, and man must not seize it.

But today many servants of God use the gifts given by the Lord as a means to gain money and honor.
All such people have fallen into being servants of Satan.
The Holy Spirit departs from such people. Then the gifts of Satan come upon them.
So they still prophesy and perform powers, but it is not from the Holy Spirit; it comes from Satan.
However, ordinary church members often cannot clearly distinguish whether it is a gift of the Holy Spirit or a gift of Satan.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is to love God and one’s neighbor; it is not proud and does not covet.
But the gift of Satan seeks worldly honor and greed; it is always proud, does not forgive others, and cannot make peace.
Through the fruit of life, one can discern whether a person belongs to God or to Satan.
When a person believes in Jesus, truly repents of sin, and tries to obey the word of the Lord, Jesus heals that person directly even without using any gifted person.
To advertise that some gifted person heals every disease is a lie; it is terribly rude and proud before the Lord.
If God does not heal, no one can be healed.
The servants of the Lord must lead all church members to be healed through obedience to the Lord’s word and through repentance, because going to heaven is a far more important task than being healed of disease.

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Acts 14:11–15
Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.”

When the power of God through Paul raised the cripple, those who saw it regarded Paul as a god and tried to offer sacrifice to him.
Paul was so astonished that he ran into the crowd, tore his clothes, and barely stopped their vain act.
If Paul had not actively stopped their foolish act and had remained silent, he would have become an idol and perished.
Today, many pastors heal diseases or cast out demons through the gifts of the Holy Spirit and seize the glory of God as though they themselves had done it.
Such servants of the Lord will in the end perish.
When God performs miracles through the servants of the Lord, it means that believers must not depend on worldly things, but depend only on the power of the Lord. It means that they must believe only the word of Jesus, obey, repent, and be saved.
Yet there are far too many cases in which human beings, who are only instruments of God, seize the glory of God and perish. They do this in many ways.

Acts 14:16–17
Who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

When people did not know God, they all followed the lusts of the flesh and did such things. God overlooked them for a long time and did not judge them.
But when those who know God do these satanic things, God judges them swiftly.
The fact that God sends rain from heaven, gives the four seasons, and lets mankind enjoy the harvest in autumn means that all people should realize God and be saved.
It is in the same context that God shows various miracles and signs through the servants of the Lord.
The thing one must be most careful about while doing the work of God is not to boast in oneself, but to give all glory only to Jesus.
When Satan tries to exalt man, all servants of the Lord must actively stop it, just as the apostle Paul did. In doing so, they survive to the end.

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Acts 14:19–23
Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Satan severely hindered the apostle Paul, who was preaching the gospel of heaven. Satan used the Jews who believed in human doctrine to stone Paul and leave him outside the city as though dead. But God raised him again so that he could continue preaching the gospel.
While the apostle Paul was dead for a short time, God led his spirit to the third heaven. There he saw a beautiful scene beyond the power of human words to describe. That third heaven was heaven.
The apostle Paul is a very bold servant of the Lord. After witnessing the reality of heaven, he preached the gospel throughout the world with an even more unshakable faith.
As he preached the gospel, he urged people to hold firmly to Jesus.
He said that those who want to enter heaven must go through many tribulations.
This is the Scripture and the word of Jesus.

When people receive Jesus as Savior, their hearts are not changed in a single moment.
The filthy habits of the world still remain.
Through spiritual training over a long period, the old habits of the world gradually disappear.
That is why God causes Christians to go through tribulations.
A Christian who grumbles and complains when suffering comes is refusing spiritual training.
Christians who always do this cannot achieve complete repentance and therefore in the end cannot become citizens of heaven.
The one who realizes and corrects his own faults becomes a citizen of heaven.

“What does it mean, ‘Give thanks in all things; all things work together for good’?”
It means that through suffering and tribulation our faith grows, and as a result we enter heaven.
The greatest purpose of living a life of faith on this earth is to become like the character of Jesus Christ; it is never to succeed and live well in the world.
Even if one were to gain all things in the world, if a person who belongs to God does not receive training to become like the character of Jesus, he can never become a citizen of heaven.

To cast away idols, forgive one’s neighbor, repent of sin, and obey the word of Jesus is practice in becoming like the heart of Jesus and training for entering heaven.
A Christian who quickly becomes like the heart of Jesus receives relatively fewer tribulations.
And one who has received a great mission, like the apostle Paul, has greater influence on all people and therefore undergoes relatively greater tribulations.
It is impossible to enter heaven while keeping the habits of the world unchanged.
When we go through the sufferings and tribulations the Lord has allowed, we must be all the more faithful and thankful to the Lord who rescues us from a life of sin.
To keep a life of repentance and obedience according to the standard of the Lord’s word is to guard one’s life and to be faithful to the Lord.

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Acts 15:8–11
So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.

In the New Testament age, when people believe in Jesus and repent, all receive the Holy Spirit and are saved. This is the gospel that applies equally to the people of Israel and to the Gentiles.
In the Old Testament, only the people of Israel believed in God. At that time they received forgiveness of sins by sprinkling the blood of animals according to the law of Moses.
After Jesus bore the sins of mankind and died on the cross, the sacrificial law of Moses was abolished.
The age was opened in which both the people of Israel and the Gentiles receive forgiveness of sins only through the blood of Jesus.
This did not arise suddenly. It was the fulfillment of what God had planned from Genesis and throughout the Old Testament. In the early New Testament age, there were some who believed in Jesus but could not abandon the customs of the Old Testament.
They insisted that one had to keep the law of Moses and believe in Jesus in order to be saved. Such faith was wrong.
These people even went to the distant regions where Paul was ministering and insisted that people should believe in Jesus while receiving the Old Testament circumcision. Because of them, confusion arose within the church.
At that time, the disciples in Jerusalem gathered in accordance with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and they sent the decision that had been made to them in order to stop the confusion caused by Satan.

Acts 15:23–25
They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment—it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 15:28–30
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch; and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter. When they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement.

Those who believe in Jesus must obey the word of Jesus. And when they sin, they must always repent and wash their sins in the blood of Jesus.
Not loving God and one’s neighbor is sin. Therefore, because of greed, we must repent of every deed that was not done in love.
And do not eat food offered in sacrifice to idols, do not eat the meat of animals that have been strangled, and do not commit sexual immorality. When we live in this way, we live always enjoying the peace of God and then go to heaven.
All doctrines made by man can never become the will of God. Then as now, there are many who distort the word of Scripture and deceive the people of God.
Such people appear to believe in God, but in reality they belong to Satan. There are many pastors who claim that if one merely attends church, one will go to heaven unconditionally even without repentance and obedience. Such people are representative heretics who oppose and hinder the will of God.

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Acts 15:36–41
After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord, and he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Paul and Barnabas were co-workers wholly devoted to preaching the gospel, men who gave their lives to proclaim the kingdom of God.
However, a great difference of opinion appeared in the method of preaching the gospel, so they chose different paths.
Such a thing can happen today even among the Lord’s faithful servants. They live only for the gospel, yet because their opinions do not agree, they preach the gospel in different ways.
In such a matter, neither side is sinning. God acknowledges both sides. Anyone may preach the gospel in the way he prefers. But it must always be done within the word of the Lord. To go outside the word of God is disobedience.
When, in one church, the pastor prays and chooses the path of missions according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, all the members of that church must follow the pastor’s opinion. A church member who insists on another way is one who causes division. Division is accursed and leads to destruction.
However, it is proper for an independent church to evangelize differently from another church.
Today, because of human greed, many divisions arise within the same church.
Everyone must repent and return to the word of the Lord.
Those church members who, because of pride and human greed, go against the Lord’s will and cause division will soon perish.
However, all may seek to accomplish the will of God with a pure heart, and yet their opinions may still differ. In such a case, everyone must pray to the Lord about that matter. Then the Holy Spirit will give the same heart to all and open the best way.
But not praying, and insisting to the end only on one’s own stubbornness and greed, is the way by which all perish.