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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
Spirit, soul and body(17) - The 2nd lecture on - Spirit, soul and body(9) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
2 Co 10:3-6 |
Date |
2004-05-16 |
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[Scripture]
[2 Corinthians 10: 3 -6]
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete."
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters, you have witnessed and experienced the works of the living God in the Two-week special revival meeting.
Members and ministers from not only Korea but also from many other countries, and especially medical doctors and press reporters from different countries are witnesses to these works. Among those who participated in this meeting via satellite and Internet all over the country and around the world, there were many people who were healed and gave glory to God.
Every night, God the almighty has shown us things that were not possible with human ability.
What, then, is the reason that He is showing us these works?
It is to let everybody know that God the Creator is living today.
We cannot see God, who is spirit, with our physical eyes. But by showing miraculous signs, God is letting us believe that He is living.
Also, He is letting us know that all the words in the 66 books of the Bible are true, and that there is heaven and hell in the life to come.
Also, He is letting us believe firmly in our heart that our Lord Jesus Christ will come back to take us.
Now, since we have witnessed those works, we have to believe in the living God in our deep heart, throw away sins and evil according to God's Word, and become holy children of God.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Before our Lord bridegroom comes to take us, we have to make our whole spirit, soul, and body complete and finish preparing for His coming back.
I am delivering the message on the spirit, soul, and body in Sunday morning services to let you understand the way to become God's true children who resemble Him.
You can find out about yourself and change yourself after listening about one's spirit, soul, and body in detail.
This is the 9th session of the 2nd spirit, soul, and body.
I bless in the name of the Lord, through this message, that you will become holy as God's children and be able to receive the Lord without any blemish on your spirit, soul, and body.
Dear brothers and sisters, members who are attending the service all over Korea via satellite, members of branch churches, local sanctuaries, Light and Salt Mission, Restaurant Mission, and those who are attending the service on the Internet all over the world, those who are listening to the tape, and children of Sunday school,
Today, I will continue with the 'soul' part of the spirit, soul, and body. It is about what we have to do to have operations of soul belonging to truth.
But before we get into the message today, let us review previous sessions in which we learned what soul is and what we have to do to have operations of soul belonging to truth.
First, what is soul?
Soul is the generic term for the memory device in human brain, the contents that are contained in it, and the thoughts that retrieve and utilize these contents.
It is possible for us to feel and remember things that we learn, hear, and see, and to remember and think something because we have soul. Children of God, when they operate their souls, have to do it in truth.
They should not have untruthful operations of soul like having prejudice and misunderstanding somebody, or judging, condemning, hating, or being jealous. They must have truthful operations of soul in the sight of God.
Only then can they change into true children of God, namely men of spirit.
So, in the last session, we looked at two ways in which we can have truthful operations of soul.
First, we have to distinguish everything only with the standard of truth to have truthful operations of soul.
Different people have received different education since childhood and have made up different customs and values in their own cultures and circumstances.
Therefore, we must not judge other people or their situations with our own thoughts and values.
The only standard with which we can distinguish everything regardless of time and place is the Word of God contained in the 66 books of the Bible.
Second, to have only truthful operations of soul, we should have feelings that are right in truth.
Even feelings belong to operations of soul, and depending on our thoughts, our feelings can be different, too.
Even the things that we used to dislike can be lovely and cute depending on our thoughts.
In order for us to have feelings belonging to truth, we have to accept everything with good feelings that belong to the truth.
It is because the first feeling affects the following feelings to a great extent.
Long time ago, I once saw a parent who was scolding her child saying, "You will be scolded by the pastor." This way, she made the pastor a "fearful person."
So, as the child grew up, he feared the pastor and tried to keep away from him.
But our members do not act in this way. You talk about the shepherd in lovely way, and that is why even little children try to come close to me and they receive my prayer very quietly.
According to what was put into the children in the beginning, the response becomes very different like this.
It is same even after people become adults. According to the first feeling, the following feelings become different very much.
For example, suppose somebody is taking the initiative in certain works. Now, if another person thinks about him in untruthful operation of soul saying, "He is boasting too much. He is trying to show off," this person would probably have bad feelings.
Once this kind of bad feeling is put into him, it is very easy for him to have continuously bad feelings whenever he sees that person.
On the contrary, if this person operates his soul in truthful way saying, "He is very enthusiastic in God's works," he would have a lovely feeling about that person.
Once a certain feeling is put into one's mind, it is not easy to remove that feeling later on.
Therefore, it is very important to receive everything with goodness and feel only with truth from the first place.
Then, you can think and feel only with truth when you hear or see something from now on. But what do you have to do about the feelings that you have already put into your mind in untruth?
About this, you should not try to remove or just avoid thinking about it, but to change it into feeling of truth.
For example, those who grew up listening to many horrifying stories about demons or evil spirits have fearful feelings.
Especially after watching a horror movie, if they are alone in a dark place, they would get surprised by such small things.
They try to deny the fact that they are afraid, or they try not to think of anything fearful. But the more they try to forget, the more they are reminded of those things.
But if we come into the faith, clearly understand about the world of evil spirits, and live in truth, we can change these feelings.
We would not just try to forget the fear, but once we realize that they are not at all fearful beings, we can change those feelings.
Because evil spirits fear the blood of Jesus Christ, if people with faith command in the name of the Lord, they must go away.
If we live in the light after accepting the Lord, the almighty God protects us, so that the evil ones cannot even touch us. They rather fear our spiritual light.
Once we clearly understand the identity of evil spirits, the fearful feelings will disappear.
When we went on pilgrimages long ago, there were some of the female members who were embarrassed when they saw sculptures in museums in Europe. It is because they had wrong feelings.
Because of those wrong feelings, even though they tried to be calm, they were reminded of those bad feelings.
However, if you understand their culture and change your own feeling, you would not be embarrassed or ashamed at all.
You would not consider it something bad but just as a piece of art.
I could see that after I preached about the spirit, soul, and body in the church, our members were no more embarrassed by those sculptures.
When you think about and accept everything in truth like this, also when you change your untruthful feelings into truthful feelings, you will be able to have only truthful operations of soul.
Dear brothers and sisters, to have only truthful operations of soul, thirdly, we should not accept things from our own perspective but from others' perspective.
If you accept things and situations with your own standpoint, experience, and way of thinking, there will be many untruthful operations of soul arising.
You will probably add to or deduct from others' words according to your own thoughts, or you will judge, condemn, or misunderstand that bad feelings will rise.
For example, if a person says, "I have been to Mt. Keumkang. The scenes were so beautiful that I shed my tears."
When people hear this, they would be reminded of their own experiences on mountains immediately.
They will be reminded of their own experience to a mountain. Or even if they have not been to Mt. Keumkang, the things about Mt. Keumkang that they saw on TV or pictures will come to their mind.
In most cases, they will accept the other person's words based on these materials.
Then, some may judge as follows; "So beautiful that he shed his tears? He is exaggerating."
These people will say so because they have never been touched or moved by such beautiful natural sceneries.
Or in some other cases, let us suppose a person with a severe burn complains about his pain. Then, those who have not experienced the same pain or those with more patience will probably think, "He is making a fuss."
If you accept other people's words based on your own standpoint and experiences, you will have untruthful operations of soul.
Even though you cannot fully agree, if you try to understand from the other's viewpoint, you can understand and believe him saying, "It was not so beautiful when I went to the mountain. But it seems it was very beautiful to him."
Also, you would not think the person is making a fuss, but try to understand his pain.
Let us suppose, a husband who came late from work did not answer to his wife's question carefully but brusquely.
If you think from the wife's viewpoint, she could be disappointed thinking, "How can he do this to me if he loves me?" But if she can think from her husband's standpoint, she would be able to understand him saying, "He is too tired," or "He had a bad day."
Then, she would try to help and encourage her husband instead.
It is the same with the husband.
Even though he had a hard time during the day, if he thinks about the wife who has been waiting for him until late, he would not disappoint his wife.
If just one of them has truthful operation of soul thinking from the other person's viewpoint, their peace will not break. It is the same when we look at the mistakes of other people.
You would not judge or disregard that person thinking, "Why does he do that?" You should understand thinking, "There must be a reason," and "We are not perfect yet."
If you can understand the other person, you will be able to forgive and have mercy even when you have to face others' mistakes.
If you just understand the other person' situation and embraces him, you will be in peace with everybody. You would not have to hate or have anything that is not comfortable.
Even though you are damaged because of another person, if you think of him first, you would not hate him but still love him and have mercy on him.
When I had been sick for 7 long years, some of my wife's family members gave me hard time because I could not earn any money for my family and I made my family suffer.
At that time, I could not love them at all. It was so sad to be sick, and I was even more sad and sorrowful because of those who persecuted me.
But after I was healed of all my diseases by the power of God and came to know about the love of Jesus who died for me, my hatred against them just melted away like snow. I thought, "From their standpoint, they could have done it."
I could understand that they could have hated me because I had made their lovely sister suffer so much.
Then, my hatred against them disappeared, and my heart changed into loving and serving heart.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you know about the love of Jesus who was crucified for us and the grace of God, you can love even your enemies.
It was the case with Stephen. Stephen pointed out the evil heart of the Jews who were standing against God. They were offended by this, and they stoned Stephen to death.
At this time, in Acts 7:60 Stephen said, "Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep."
Of course, understanding the other person is not to just keep on covering their faults unconditionally or to tell a lie by saying they are good while they are actually evil.
We should be able to distinguish between the good and evil with the Word of God, or we could also let others realize their evilness and advise them.
However, we should not hate or look down upon the other person because of that evil. Even when we advise them, we should do it with our love hoping that they might repent and their souls will be well off.
Those who have this heart can even pray with mercy for those who kill them.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters, continued from the last session, we learned what we have to do to have truthful operations of soul.
But, when we try to have truthful operations of soul, sometimes we can do it, but sometimes we cannot.
Therefore, we should pray fervently and receive God's strength while we are trying the best ourselves.
We must keep on trying to change our operations of soul into truth, always checking our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions.
And if you once go into the spirit, you can control your thought or feeling easily. Because the spirit is the master who controls the soul and body now, you can control anything as you make up your mind.
If you do not want to think of something, you can stop it. You can even avoid certain smell, sound, or pain as you decide.
For example, when I was a student, I was so sensitive that I could not concentrate on my studies only if there was the sound of the hands of clock.
But now, even though there is a loud noise, I do not hear it only if I just decide not to hear it.
It is the same with smell. Even if there is a bad odor in bathroom, I can just not smell it.
Even when another person pinches on me or hits me, I do not feel any pain only if I control my thoughts.
How comfortable and happy would you be if you could do this as well?
You have uncomfortable feelings in you and have a hard time when you are faced with something you do not like, because you have untruthful operations of soul.
If you control all your thoughts and feelings and have operations of soul only in the truth, you will be filled with joy and thanks always.
As said, "the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace," you will be filled with life and peace.
If you keep on praying and trying to have truthful operations of soul, you will finally change and be able to have only thoughts of truth and of spirit with which God is pleased.
Namely, you will be able to control your thoughts and feelings as you like.
I hope you will realize and find out what kind of operations of soul you have through the message.
I also hope that you will distinguish only with truth, and see, hear, and feel only with truth from now on.
I bless in the name of the Lord that you will get rid of all the untruthful operations of soul and have only thoughts in truth that God pleases. |
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