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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
God''s Will(2) - God''s Will (2) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 |
Date |
2015-06-07 |
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[Passage]
[1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters,
This passage is the basis of Christian faith, the condition to stand on the rock of faith, and also the short-cut to go into spirit. Furthermore, this passage is a guide for those who are already in spirit to go into deeper levels of spirit and whole spirit, according to the extent to which they cultivate the spiritual meaning of the verse.
I talked to you about this in the Lunar New Year holidays, and how well are you putting these verses into practice in your lives?Today, I'd like to talk about not ceasing to pray and giving thanks in all things.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters,
I said God's will is that we should rejoice always. We were destined to go to Hell due to sins, but we have been saved through Jesus Christ and become God's children. Now we can go to Heaven, so how can we not rejoice just for this fact alone?
Even if you face some problems or difficulties, you can still rejoice from the depth of your heart.That is, as long as you believe that they were allowed by God in order to give you better dwelling place and greater glory in Heaven.
You can be full of joy all the time by having the faith in the almighty God the Father and the hope of Heaven.
Secondly, it is God's will that we pray without ceasing. Praying without ceasing has three meanings.
First, we have to make it a habit to pray.
Some people pray only when they feel like it or when they have a problem to solve. Some others pray only when they are in a good mood or when there is something to be thankful for. But we have to make it a habit and pray all the time, in any situation.
In the Bible, we can see that Jesus and many other patriarchs made it a rule to pray. Right after accepting Jesus Christ, you might not know how to pray, and you might feel it is difficult to pray. But as you continuously learn the word of God and keep on praying, your spirit will grow up and become healthy, so that you will be able to pray powerfully.
You will feel that you just can't stand it anymore and you can't live without praying. For this reason prayer is called the breathing of our spirit. When God's children who are born again by the Holy Spirit, cease to pray, at first they might not feel so much difference, but as time goes, they feel increasingly more afflicted in their hearts. Though invisible to our eyes, how suffocating would it be for the spirit?We will die if we do not breathe for several minutes. Likewise, if we do not pray for a long time, our spirit also has no choice but to die.
On the contrary, if we keep on praying without ceasing, we will always be full of God's grace and the Holy Spirit, so that the enemy devil and Satan cannot disturb us. Also, we can have communication with God and receive His protection through prayers.
Brothers and sisters, what is the reason that tests and trials or diseases come upon the believers?One of the main reasons is because they cease to pray.
As we fill up the measure of prayer by following our habit of praying, the oil of the Holy Spirit will not run out. We'll be able to keep the fullness of the Holy Spirit and receive the strength to live in the words of God. In so doing, we can always be protected by God.
So, as I have told you many times, you have to pray at least an hour just to keep your faith, two hours to fulfill your church duties, and three hours to receive power from God.
Secondly, to pray without ceasing is to pray at all times in the Spirit.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit urges our hearts to pray at times other than our designated prayer time. If we obey and pray at these moments, we might experience something special, for instance, avoiding a big problem or escaping from an accident.
But to pray at all times in the Spirit is to be guided by the Holy Spirit all the time with a prayerful heart. When the Holy Spirit speaks to us and urges our heart, we can hear His voice and obey the urging only when we are awake with a prayerful heart. We can be sensitively receptive to the works of the Holy Spirit only when we pray being on the alert.
And to do this, we have to have the word of truth in us. For this reason, to pray without ceasing is, thirdly, to meditate on the Word of God day and night. This means, in other words, the word of the truth must be active all the time in your heart no matter where you are, what you are doing, or who you are with.
Some believers seem to be crying out in prayer, but as they go back to the world after the prayer, they live in their old ways of living without any change. No matter how long we pray, if we live in fleshly thoughts and untruths, we cannot be considered to have prayed with our heart.
If we pray without ceasing and with all our heart, God's Word will always dwell in our heart. Then, we can communicate with the Holy Spirit and be guided by Him at all times. When we do this, our lives will change; we will be able to cast away evil from our heart and become holy.
It is also the way to be guided to the way of prosperity and blessing. On the contrary, if we cease to pray and lose the fullness of the Holy Spirit, thereby being unable to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then the fleshly thoughts will lead us. Then, we will not be able to live by God's will, and we will suffer from hardships.
Because we will then put ourselves ahead of God, we might even be caught by the traps of Satan.The enemy devil always tries to take away our faith so we won't go to Heaven. They are searching for someone to devour like a roaring lion, and we can drive it away only when we pray without ceasing.
For this reason God tells us to pray unceasingly, and even says it is sin to cease to pray.
Thirdly, God's will is that we give thanks in everything.
As I already mentioned, if we can always rejoice and pray without ceasing, we will have many conditions of thanksgiving in our lives. Even though we do not have visible things to give thanks for, we can still give thanks in everything if we rejoice always and pray without ceasing.
It's because we have already received such great grace and deep love of God that we cannot pay back, even by giving thanks all the time during the rest of our lives.Everyone became a sinner who was destined to die, but we were forgiven of our sins and have gained eternal life through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. We have received the right to become children of God and have the hope of Heaven. If we understand this secret of salvation, how can we not give thanks in everything as children of God?
Moreover, God's children who have faith have so many things to give thanks for. God promised that we will receive whatever we ask in the truth, we will find when we seek, and the door will open when we knock. And He has become our Father, and how thankful it is!
By the way, to give thanks in everything is not just giving thanks for good things but even in the midst of hardships. Anyone can give thanks when there are things to give thanks for.
If we give thanks with faith even in a situation where we cannot really give thanks, God accepts such faith joyfully and gives us blessing, so that all things will work out for the best. Thanksgiving has such wonderful power to change any kind of circumstances or situation. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
Therefore, if we rejoice, pray, and give thanks even in tests, God causes all things to work for good. The same principle applies to growth of faith. God the Father is leading each of you in the best way for you individually. He sometimes allows trials and unfolds before you the procedures that are required for your spiritual growth.
At those times, depending on how thankful you are in each situation, your growth of faith will also be different. If you think like, "Why is it that I am not given any measure of faith?" "Why has my faith increased only little?", then it is a proof that you are not thankful. Therefore, I hope you will take this message as your life and give thanks in all circumstances.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters,
There are believers who hardly change and whose faith hardly grows up even though they attend church for a long time. What is the reason?It's because they just know the Word but do not practice it. As in James 2:17 and 2:22, faith without works is dead, and faith is perfected by the works.
If you just attend church for about a year, you hear and know today's reading passage, "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks," but how many people actually obey it?
You know you should rejoice and give thanks even in tests, but in hardships, your joy disappears in a moment. You worry, complain, and cease to pray. But true children of God will rejoice, pray, and give thanks in any kind of situation or circumstances.
This is a person who really has faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."Most people just see with their physical eyes, so they only believe making things out of what already exists. But those with faith see with their spiritual eyes, so they believe creating something out of nothing. Therefore, they can give thanks in everything.
If they face a test due to their own fault, they can just repent and turn back, and they can become a better person to God. So, they can give thanks. If they face a test without a fault of their own, God will eventually pay them back with a blessing, so they will give thanks.
God the Father is requiring not just the men of spirit, but all the church members to fill up each one's measure of justice. Through this message, I hope you will check how much the measure of justice you are filling up. Just considering today's reading passage, how much of it have you accomplished in your actual lives?If you are on the rock or in spirit, have you cultivated this verse in you accordingly?
It's a very well-known verse that all of you already know. Please check how well you have cultivated this verse in you and quickly fill up the measure of justice that God the Father requires of each of you. I pray in the name of the Lord that, in so doing, for those of you who are doing God's will, the amazing outpouring of Father God's answers through the power of re-creation, blessings, and spiritual growth will overflow in your lives. |
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