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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Jesus Christ - Christmas Celebration Service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Philippians 2: 8 |
Date |
2011-12-25 |
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Passage
[Philippians 2: 8]
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Merry Christmas!
Felicitations on the birthday of the Lord!
When the Christmas draws near, not just children, but also grown adults become aflutter.
The dark and desolate night streets are decorated with beautiful lights.
The Christmas card or emails from precious people make our hearts warm.
Non-Christians also have parties and enjoy themselves with their friends and families on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas morning, the children find the presents in the socks and under the tree and rejoice.
But the joy of the worldly people can disappear overnight in many cases.
The joy of Christmas that is in your heart is different from that.
It's because you have the true joy that comes from understanding the meaning of Christmas.
Christmas is a day to celebrate when we received such a precious gift from God.
It is the way of salvation.
We used to be sinners, but God opened the way of salvation by sending Jesus to this earth as a sacrifice for us.
Furthermore, members of Manmin received such a special gift on December 25 last year.
There were some of you who did not consider the gift of salvation so precious, which was given by the sacrifice of the Lord. Some of you had lost it while others had almost lost it.
But God the Father had given this salvation as a gift to all of you who turned from your sins.
Since then, Christmas, the birthday of the Savior Jesus has become all the more meaningful and happy day.
It is now our turn to give our gift to the Father God and the Lord who loved us.
What kind of gift do you think our Lord would want to receive?
It is the heart of the souls that resemble the heart of the Lord.
What kind of person is Jesus whom God the Father sent to this earth for us? Let's consider it in three aspects.
We can become the most precious gift to God if we change ourselves by reflecting upon ourselves using the Lord as our example.
Furthermore, God will give us an amazing gift which is even more amazing than our salvation. It is New Jerusalem.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be overflowing with the joy of Christmas with the gifts that you share with God, the Lord, and the Holy Spirit.
Main
Brothers and sisters, and viewing audiences,
What kind of being was Jesus when He came to this earth in the form of a human body?
Firstly, He was lovely.
He did not have any rough characters, and He was not a difficult person.
Everything with Jesus was beautiful, including His heart, behaviors, and words.
Isaiah described Jesus as follows, hundreds of years before Jesus was born.
Matthew 12:19 says quoting from Isaiah, "He will not quarrel, nor cry out; nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets."
Why don't you just imagine the appearance of Jesus?
His words were wise and very powerful.
He also performed amazing works.
Just by laying the hands, or when the sick person just touched the edge of His robe, the blind, the deaf, and other seriously sick people were healed.
Even the wind and the sea obeyed the command of Jesus and calmed down.
Thus a great number of people gathered wherever Jesus went.
But He did not raise His voice at all.
He never wanted anybody to acknowledge Him or praise Him.
But He rather walked quietly not to reveal Himself. He never spoke with a loud voice.
Moreover, even though He had such great power and authority, He could never imagine trying to get undue gains by extorting and exploiting other people.
Even when He talked to a little boy, He treated him servingly and not with overbearing manner.
He rather humbled Himself and served His creatures.
Jesus only wanted to give glory to God.
He never raised His voice either.
Among the people who were closely watching Jesus, there were people like Pharisees and the priests who opposed Jesus.
They continually tried to set a trap before Jesus and catch Him if they had the chance. They tried to bring Him down.
Jesus accepted even such people with love.
Of course at times He rebuked them, but it was not to argue with them with an intention to make them submit to Him by force.
It was to let them understand the truth and turn back to God.
Matthew 12:20 says, "A battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out, Until He leads justice to victory." As written, He loved even those people who seemed helpless.
Jesus had such a beautiful heart, and would He have spoken harshly or done anything unpolished?
1 Peter 2:22 says, "[He] committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth." As said, He was perfect and holy in all His words and deeds.
If we also have a beautiful heart like that of Jesus, we would also have gentle words and behaviors.
Those who have mild hearts would want to do only the things that are pleasing before God.
They would speak only words of faith and words of goodness with every word they speak.
Furthermore, those who have beautiful hearts would watch for their own words and behaviors when interacting with others.
It's because they don't want to do any evil to their neighbors.
To the extent that such desires grow stronger, you can make the deficiencies of the body perfect that you are hearing about nowadays.
Brothers and sisters,
God the Father has put the heart of the Lord in the songs that He has given to us, so we can cultivate such a heart, too.
For example, we can see the heart of the Lord from the song, "Heart."
"The heart given by God is a beautiful heart. It's the heart that understands and can accept anything. The heart given by God is a wonderful heart. It's the heart that is priceless and at peace in all things. It's the heart that willingly makes sacrifice. It's the heart that insists not on itself. It's the heart of the meekest and humblest of men. It's the heart of our Savior and our Lord."
It's the heart that holds precious each soul on the earth. It's the heart that is gentle and benefits all. It's the heart full of power yet the desire to serve.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be beautiful and gentle both in the sight of men and God just as our Jesus was.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and viewing audiences,
Our Lord who is God Himself in origin, secondly, was a person who sacrificed Himself completely.
Jesus gave His everything to the souls from the day of His birth until He breathed His last on earth.
He was born in a stable to redeem mankind who was no better than animals.
He was laid in a manger to become the bread of life to such people.
To redeem mankind from the curse of poverty, He lived a poor life though He was rich.
His body was scourged to make us well from all diseases and infirmities.
Finally, He died on the cross in place of the sinners, taking the burden of their sins.
He gave up His right to enjoy abundance and to live a free life.
His life was filled with only God the Father and the souls.
He had no 'self' in Him at all.
Philippians 2:8 says, "He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
This sacrifice was not made out of sense of duty, namely because He had the duty as the Savior.
Also, it was not sacrifice made to lift Himself up and rule over people thinking like, "The people now have to obey My word because I made this sacrifice for them."
Jesus' sacrifice was one made out of pure and innocent love.
Let us remember a famous story so you can feel this love of Jesus with your heart.
There was a poor married couple.
The Christmas was coming up, but they did not have any money to buy Christmas presents for each other.
The wife eventually sold her beautiful, long hair to buy the fob chain for her husband.
The wife used to feel sorry that her husband's watch never had a chain.
She was so nervous about putting the chain on her husband's watch.
But on the day she gave her present to her husband, she realized he no longer had his watch.
He sold his watch, which was his only possession, and bought a comb for his wife.
But her hair was already cut and it was short, and no longer needed the comb.
Did the couple fall into despair in this situation?
No, they had the most emotional Christmas in their lives.
They shared deep love with each other, giving each one's most precious thing for each other.
We can feel the deep love of God the Father through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Jesus came down to this lowly earth for us forsaking all His heavenly glory.
He also gave us the most precious thing, which is His life.
God says, "You sinned, but I love you until death. I want you to come back to Me."
Jesus wanted to deliver to us the deep and great love of God the Father through His sacrifice.
His sacrifice was also an action of love with which He wanted to open the way of salvation for us.
Jesus appealed to God to give the mankind salvation and heavenly kingdom by sacrificing His precious body.
This sacrifice of love finally resulted in the opening the ways of salvation and heavenly kingdom.
It is as written in Hebrews 10:20, "By a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh."
As explained, the heart of God the Father and the Lord is completely filled with love for the souls.
But what are the hearts and thoughts of the people like nowadays?
They misunderstand Christianity saying, "Why do they say there is only one truth? Why do they refuse other religions saying there is no other way of salvation?"
There are even some believers who complain like, "Why do they coerce us to live by the Bible?"
It's because they do not feel the love contained in the sacrifice of Jesus.
How heartbroken our Lord would be for them!
From Christmas last year until today, I have also felt this kind of heart of the Lord.
When I was pleading with you to turn from sins and interceding for the souls with willingness to give even my life, most of them turned back being thankful to me.
But some people misunderstood my messages and felt it was only burdensome.
I was very heartbroken concerning such people.
I never want to lay a single burden on you in any case.
It's just that I could not just watch my own flock going to Hell. I was in so much agony because I wouldn't be with them in such a beautiful place as New Jerusalem.
So I knocked at the heart of God again and again asking Him to open the way of salvation for them and the door to New Jerusalem once again.
Even when I felt like I was bleeding from my heart praying to God, I only imagined with faith the scene in which you receive the Lord and go into New Jerusalem in heavenly kingdom.
What do you feel when you think of the sacrifice of the Lord?
His sacrifice was made only out of His love.
It was not a coerced duty.
If you truly realize and feel in your heart that His sacrifice was for each of you, you will also willingly sacrifice yourself for somebody else.
Many of you now have realized this love deep in your heart.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will share that understanding and love with each other, so that more of you will come forth as beautiful fruits of sacrifice.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Jesus, who is God Himself in origin, prayed without ceasing.
Jesus resembled God completely so He wouldn't need to pray for sanctification or love.
His power was not lacking in any aspect.
And yet, He never ceased to pray, even though He was spending very busy days.
Even though He couldn't sleep or eat properly, He always took the time to pray.
He humbled Himself and asked God for everything that had to be done.
He prayed that He would fulfill the duty as the Savior completely, and that the souls would come to enlightenment and God would uphold the disciples.
It's because He knew very well the law of the spiritual realm that says the answer is given to those who ask, seek, and knock.
Jesus always prayed also because He loved God deeply.
He earnestly wanted to understand the will of God more deeply and fulfill it more completely.
Prayer is a behavior that you would do naturally if you love God.
I believe most of you would have the same kind of desire on this meaningful Christmas day.
You would think like, "Father God, thank You. Thank you for saving me, changing me, and letting me hope for New Jerusalem that I could not even have dreamt about. I want to become God's true child and live for the kingdom of God and for the souls. This is the will of the Father, the Lord, and our shepherd."
But no matter how earnest your desire is, you cannot bear any fruit in your life without praying.
Therefore, please do not forget that you should always be on the alert and pray for your sanctification and fulfillment of your duties.
You might face difficulties in the process of achieving what you have determined to do. And here, before you get disappointed thinking you cannot do it, you should first pray remembering that Jesus also always prayed without ceasing.
As you keep on marching towards spirit without ceasing to pray, God the Father will lead you to come forth as men of spirit and whole spirit.
Revelation 3:12 says, "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name."
Therefore, I hope you will overcome the enemy devil and Satan by always praying, and ultimately become the pillars of New Jerusalem.
Moreover, by always praying for the kingdom of God and for your God-given duties just like our Jesus who set the example of prayer life, I hope you will come forth as workers who are like pillars.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and viewing audiences,
God the Father not just sent Jesus to this earth but He also gave us many gifts as well.
Ezekiel 14:11 says, "In order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God,"' declares the LORD God."
From December 25 last year until today, God the Father has given to us such great grace.
Namely, He gave us rock-like faith and faith of spirit with which we will never depart from God by sinning.
He guided many of you near to the Rock of Faith.
We will never be able to forget this love forever.
He engraved the love of sacrifice deep in our hearts and marrow of our bones.
Now, I hope you will love God truly and love the souls that God loves so much and thenceforth become people of sacrifice and prayer.
On this joyous day, I pray in the name of the Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior that you will offer up yourselves as presents before God the Father whose mercy endures forever. |
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