David Yonggi Cho opens CGI-AC2010 with a powerful message on Fourth Dimensional living.
“You are a Fourth Dimensional being living in a Third Dimensional world,” said David Yonggi Cho, speaking at the opening session of Asia Conference 2010 on May 26 at Singapore Expo Hall 8.
Preceding his appearance at the pulpit was a short video of his 52-year ministry as founder of the world’s largest Protestant church, Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea. It also showed the wide-reaching humanitarian works of the Sharing of Love and Happiness Foundation, a charity organization Cho founded several years ago.
The video was an apt way of contextualizing what he was to share—the “secret” of how an ordinary young man, once at the verge of death from tuberculosis, was able to grow a group of five into the more than 830,000-member church it is now.
During his hour-long sermon, he explained that Christians have access to the Fourth Dimensional world, which is the spiritual realm, despite existing in the Third Dimension, which is the material world as we know, see and feel. This is because they have both soul and spirit. By learning to tap into the Fourth Dimension— to think, believe, dream and speak according to the Scriptures, Christians will then be able to overcome their limitations in their every day lives, and walk in their true destiny and purpose in order to accomplish good works for God.
One of the keys to gaining entrance into the Fourth Dimension is by having divine visions and dreams. “Visions and dreams are our guidance for fourth dimensional living,” explained Cho, citing the example of Abraham, who was promised by God that he will be the “father of a great multitude” despite being way past child-bearing age. As Abraham looked at the stars strewn across the night sky as God told him to, he was able to picture the faces of his descendants on them, and in time, bear children who would carry on his lineage and fulfill God’s promises for his life.
“We never grow beyond our vision. Our experience will always be limited by what our vision sees,” he says. “Once you grab hold of the plans and visions God has given you and keep it in your heart with passion, you will discover that God will take care of everything else, including things like financing and budgeting.”
Next, Cho shared on the importance of the spoken word. “Your speech is governed by the Third Dimensional world, but when you speak in faith based on God’s promises, you are moving in the Fourth Dimension.”
“Before we give a word, the Holy Spirit does not have the proper material with which to create. If the Holy Spirit imparts faith into your heart to remove a mountain, do not pray and beg for the mountain to be moved, rather, speak.”
Cho proceeded to teach the importance of receiving a rhema word from God, meaning a specific word of Scripture given by the Holy Spirit to a specific person in a specific situation. It is different from logos, the general knowledge one obtains from the Bible—rhema is given to those earnestly wait upon the Lord in order to hear from Him.
“God calls those things which are not as if they were,” he says. This was why God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “father to multitudes.” People started calling him by that name, he was repeatedly reminded of God’s promise.
He also underscored the power of visualization by illustrating with the story of Jacob, who, when he was placed in charge of Laban’s flock, dreamed the impossible, visualizing spotted and speckled sheep all the time. Eventually, the pure flocks produced spotted and speckled sheep according to Jacob’s dream, which led to him accomplishing his divine calling.
It is through this power of visualization that Cho was able to grow his church, Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, to its current congregation size.
He also cautioned the audience not to pray casually or half-heartedly, but on the inside, pray from a place of conviction and deep faith. “Say, ‘I am blessed with an Abrahamic blessing.’ Don’t pray casually for your blessings.”
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“People do not know how to apply biblical promises to their practical lives because they are living in the Third Dimensional world. We need to move into the Fourth Dimensional realm, to think, dream and speak according to the Scriptures in order for God’s blessings to flow upon us and through us.”
He also taught the importance of thinking in God’s ways, which comes through reading the Word of God and praying in the Holy Spirit. “These are powerful means to seek new ways and solutions for dealing with our daily problems, because they guide us in discerning three-dimensional circumstances. This is why we must begin thinking in God’s ways and not our own.
“We must let go of our feelings and preconceptions and think beyond our immediate surroundings and senses in order to experience miracles.” Thinking is a fourth-dimensional element that exceeds both the environment and one’s physical senses, as Christians build the basis of their thoughts on the cross of Jesus Christ.
He ended with a powerful word of encouragement for the audience, saying “Being Christians, life without miracles is no life at all. When you live by the Fourth Dimension, you can do the work of 100 men, and you will witness miracles.”
Opening to the sonorous beats of a synchronized Chinese drum performance, the Asia Conference and Church Growth International 2010 is attended by 22,000-odd international delegates from 70 countries, 26 of which were represented on stage during the Parade of Nations.
There was also a sharing of testimony by CHC member Yu Jianxiong, who told of how God miraculously healed him from a life-threatening brain disease when he was 19 years old. Through that event, he reached out to two of his closest friends, who in turn shared the gospel with their close ones. As a result, they have been able to influence 110 lives, multiplying their original cell group many times over. Today, Yu is happily married, serves as a cell group leader, along with his two friends. The Beulah Pop Choir from South Korea then gave an up-tempo, jazzed-up repertoire which comprised a medley of songs including the classic “Awesome God”.
It was a powerful start to CGI-AC2010, a session that left the 25,245 attendees hungry for more.
