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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Our Father Gives Us Blessings - Thanksgiving Sunday Morning Service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Psalm 29:1-2 |
Date |
2010-11-21 |
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Passage
[Psalm 29:1-2]
"Ascribe to the LORD, o sons of the mighty, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in holy array."
[Introduction]
Today is the Thanksgiving Sunday 2010, the Year of the Harvest.
God has given all of us abundant blessings this year as in previous years.
Psalm 104:13-15 sings as follows: "He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine which makes man's heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which sustains man's heart."
God has given us water and sunshine on the ground and cultivated the food for His children.
The harvest of such food is on display on the altar. There are the grains and vegetables of various shapes and colors and fragrant fruits.
As we count the blessings given by God on this Thanksgiving Sunday, we can see we abound in blessings of many kinds.
Our God is the good Father who always gives blessings to His children.
As we recall the many kinds of blessings God has given us this year, I hope you will offer up heart-felt thanks to Him.
Just as the words of the song given by the Father are sung, "As we offer our thanks to the Father from our heart, our heart overflows with praises," if we give thanks from the depth of our heart, our praises will overflow.
I pray in the name of the Lord that God will pleasingly accept your praises and He will think of what additional blessings He can give to you.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the first grace that God the Father has given to us is that He has guided us to become His true children.
From the opening of the church until today, He let us realize our sins through the holiness gospel.
He gave us the power of the Holy Spirit to cast away sins.
Also, even while He was solving our life's problems or answering to our heart's desires, He was also giving us the blessing of our souls' prosperity.
You've learned that when you face problems of disease, poverty, or problems in family, you first look back on yourself.
You cast away sins with repentance.
In this year as well as in previous years, many people testified that their problems were sorted out after changing themselves and receiving prayer with faith.
Especially on the days that God declared as days of blessing, such as Lunar New Year or on my birthday, He gave us even greater blessings.
He gave us the spirit of repentance so that we can repent from heart even of the grave sins that cannot be forgiven.
As you repented of sins and received prayer, God solved any kind of problem.
When He gave you blessings in your businesses or in your finances, He first let you have a proper heart before God.
That is why this year I preached the series "How to Cultivate Our Heart-field" and "The Law of Sowing and Reaping."
It's because the blessing of the prosperity of our soul is the true blessing that precedes all other blessings.
Since this Lunar New Year in particular, God let us realize our self-righteousness and frameworks and how to demolish them.
There were those who were at the threshold of entering into spirit for a long time because of their self-righteousness and frameworks, and God let them go up to a higher level.
Also, He guided us to realize even the deficiencies of the body, which hinder us from realizing our shortcomings and changing. He also allowed for us to fill up those deficiencies.
He has touched each one's heart delicately.
Brothers and sisters, God said He has already given us the money for construction of the Canaan Sanctuary.
But what is the reason that God put it on hold for the time being-
It is to give you a time to think about the extent that you have cast away sins and to let you accomplish true sanctification.
Moreover, He has given you the chance to repent of and receive forgiveness of the grave sins that cannot be forgiven.
In order for this to happen without going against the justice of God, He let me, as your shepherd, go through the adaptation to different dimensions.
It was such harsh training that average person would not be able to endure it.
But I accepted it with happiness for the flock entrusted to me and clung to God.
Through this, many of you church members came to repent and turned from your sins.
In Ezra 9:15, we find Ezra, who was a leader of the Jews during the Babylonian reign, praying to God.
It's because even after their country was destroyed, they did not repent but rather committed more sins.
It says, "O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this."
Ezra 10:1 says, "Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly."
A large assembly of the people repented with Ezra and turned from their lawlessness.
God has given such grace to our church as well.
Of course, you must have had some fear, sense of guilt, and disappointed about yourself in the process of realizing how grave your sins were and confessing them.
But you could give thanks realizing all that is the love of God.
God did not reveal each one's sins to judge and condemn them.
In fact, this special period of grace and forgiveness was the answer to the second prayer title of this year.
Namely, He let our measure of faith go a level higher.
Because He revealed all the sins clearly, you could check how much fellowship you had with God and how well you were marching towards the pearl gates of New Jerusalem.
Through this, those who didn't have faith to receive salvation gained it, and those who could barely receive salvation gained the faith even to receive rewards, and those who were stuck at the threshold of entering into spirit grew up to a mature level of faith.
I believe you yourselves felt this deep love of God the Father
Brothers and sisters, since the fall of Adam, God has been eagerly waiting for a long time for true children to come forth.
But the people became increasingly more evil.
Today, 2,000 years after the ascension of the Lord, this world is not just full, but it is overflowing with sins.
It's no different from the time of Noah when people ate and drank and got married and gave their daughters to marriage right up to the moment of punishment of the flood.
Just watch and read the news nowadays.
Sins that couldn't have existed even in Sodom and Gomorrah are committed so easily by people today.
It's a world in which even the believers can easily be stained with sins.
God has revealed the origin of sins in the heart of our church members this year.
With the mirror of the holiness gospel, God shed the light even on the darkest part of your hearts.
And He washed the revealed sins with the blood of the Lord and the mournful intercession of the Holy Spirit.
Again He held your hands so that once more you could walk the way of God's children.
I hope you will never forget this grace and come forth as true children who understand the love of the Father God.
Brothers and sisters, secondly, God who gives us blessings has protected us all the time.
He protected us from diseases, accidents and disasters.
According to the Korea Food and Drugs Administration, there are about 122 million diseases that have a name.
Among all these diseases, there are so many diseases that cannot be cured with medicine.
Also, there are newly found diseases and mutated viruses all the time.
The mental health of people is at a risk, too.
So many people suffer depression which leads to suicide, and so many people are addicted to alcohol and drugs.
Nowadays, to surprise the world, people who externally seem to have no problem, those who have wealth, fame, and authority commit suicide.
Among the diseases, there are so many of them that are not even identified or defined by medicine.
In this disease-filled world, God protected your family.
He protected your little children, too.
There was even a woman who had no amniotic fluid during her pregnancy but gave birth to a healthy baby.
The life of the fetus in her womb that had no amniotic fluid was saved by the power of God.
Many medical doctors in the WCDN International Christian Medical Doctors' Conference said they were really touched by this case.
As I said, God is love.
God gave us a very effective medicine that contains His love.
It was the message on "The Seed of Life".
Those who learned this message very well and applied it in their lives have received blessings of health.
One of them had acute appendicitis and it became peritonitis. She was in a dangerous situation.
While she was lying in hospital bed waiting for the surgery, she repented of her sins while listening to the message on the seed of life.
As she received the handkerchief prayer, she immediately began to recover.
She became so healthy that she didn't need the surgery any more.
One of the senior deaconesses lost a lot of hair and was thinking about wearing a wig when she listened to the message on seed of life.
Then, a lot of more hair than before began to grow on her head.
Other than these, there are so many more testimonies of those who succeeded in their diet, who quit smoking and drinking for they gained self-control after listening to the message on seed of life.
Some senior citizens testified they got more black hair and more strength in their body.
They received the blessing of not just healing of sicknesses but also rejuvenation.
Likewise, God the Father has protected all the flock of Manmin in the space of the shepherd this year.
This space is made in so many other countries, too.
As the Estonia crusade was live-broadcast to more than 220 countries, countless people received the healing of God.
There are so many more people who were set free from diseases in handkerchief crusades or while they were watching GCN and Manmin TV programs.
We still continuously receive testimonies of healing.
God the Father has protected us not just from diseases, but also from accidents and disasters.
This year especially, the whole Earth suffered from natural disasters.
Beginning with Haiti, there were so many powerful earthquakes worldwide.
There was an airway blockage due to volcanic eruption; droughts and forest fires, typhoons, storms, heavy rains, and floods put the Earth in terror.
The aftermaths such as food shortage and outbreak of contagious diseases caused many people to suffer even more.
The UN announced that there were 235 natural disasters that occurred from January to September of this year.
The official number of deaths is 236,000 and more than 250 million people suffered from disasters.
Korea was no exception, either.
We had a particularly heavy snowfall, a strong typhoon, and heavy rains during the Chuseok holidays that were unusual.
Even in such a difficult world, God protected you so well that even the hairs on your head were kept healthy.
Our mission teams that went to other countries were also always prosperous.
Even in the airway blockage caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, they finished the WCDN International Medical Doctors conference without any problem.
When Matsumoto Manmin Church in Japan had a handkerchief crusade, they were at the central part of the typhoon Malou.
The weather center predicted a really heavy rain, but God protected our mission team so well that they weren't even aware of such a situation.
The rains stopped whenever we had handkerchief crusades. God gave us such good weather that they could even have an outdoor barbecue party.
There are so many more testimonies of this kind, but I am sorry I cannot relate all of them right now.
As explained, God the Father protected all of you who lived in the word of God through the space of the shepherd.
Even if you did not dwell in the word and got sick or became involved in an accident, He healed you if you just relied on Him with faith.
Psalm 17:8 says, "Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings." As written, God has safely protected all Manmin members this year as well.
I hope you will remember this love in your heart and give thanks to God.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God who gives us blessings thirdly gave us the grace to increase our hope for New Jerusalem.
In other countries, I sometimes meet with those people who say, "Your book on Heaven changed my life. Heaven was just vague to me before, but now I have a clear picture. I am happier now because I have hope for Heaven!"
Many people also said similar things during this past anniversary events.
Especially, many of them said they wanted to go to New Jerusalem which is the most beautiful dwelling place of Heaven.
Year after year, God the Father is teaching us in more detail about the life in heavenly kingdom.
We had an event called "A Banquet on the Sea of New Jerusalem" for this past anniversary.
The stage and all the music, dances, and costumes, were so beautiful it was as if we were in Heaven itself.
During the summer retreat, you experienced the spiritual space through the dragonflies coming down from the sky.
You could feel the spiritual realm and heavenly kingdom as if you could touch it.
I am especially thankful that in this year, many church members are professing that they now have the faith that they can go to New Jerusalem, too.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, "Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass."
As written, they became convinced that God will lead them into New Jerusalem, even though they cannot do it with their own strength.
Through the chance of repentance, many people were touched in their hearts that God the Father has forgiven them when they did not deserve to be forgiven and that their shepherd is really trying his best to lead them to New Jerusalem.
Many of them also said they made up their mind not to commit sins any more but just run towards New Jerusalem, seeing the tears of their shepherd.
Above all, they were so touched by the endless love and goodness of God, and they became more eager to go into spirit and whole spirit even more.
The words of the song given by the Father says, "Passing through the Pearl Gates of New Jerusalem I could clearly see all the things that had become so precious now spread out in front of me" and it will be your own story.
Are you sure of this fact-
Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has given us such grace.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in this past October, I led a crusade in Estonia.
It was a country that has a small number of Christians and it has unseen persecution against protestants.
In the arena that was filled with 99% unbelievers, I preached the word of God to people who were like wet logs that couldn't be set on fire.
I earnestly prayed for the sick people.
It's because I felt how much God loves those souls and how much He wants to save them.
As a result, many souls met and experienced God through the explosive works of the Holy Spirit.
God the Father said that many people felt the love of God through my image in earnest prayer and the manifestation of works of the Holy Spirit.
God the Father loves even those souls who do not believe in Him.
And how much more would He love you who are trying to live in His word-
God the Father wants us to quickly build the Canaan Sanctuary, accomplish the kingdom of God, and receive glory through us.
But while He puts a hold on the construction of the Canaan Sanctuary, He is investing more time to allow for your souls to prosper.
It's because He wants to save you and further lead you to New Jerusalem, the most beautiful place in Heaven.
Since the Father loves us so much, wouldn't He have fulfilled our physical needs-
In this year as well, as our souls prospered, He gave us the blessings of finances and health.
Today's reading passage Psalm 29:1-2 says, "Ascribe to the LORD, o sons of the mighty, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in holy array."
On this Thanksgiving Sunday, I hope you will ascribe to God the Father the glory due to His name for His great love and power and for His blessings upon us.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, in the Canaan Sanctuary which we will have soon, you will offer up to God the praises of thanks in holy garment, which is the holy heart. |
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