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 Sermon > Sunday Evening Service |
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Title |
God''s Grace - Young Adults Mission''s Devotional Service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 Corinthians 15:10 |
Date |
2010-05-16 |
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[Passage]
1 Corinthians 15:10
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has blessed us to have this devotional service. I also give thanks to all the devotees who have prepared for this service with all your hearts, minds, and souls.
Dear devotees, let me tell you a story before I get into the message.
There was a person who did an experiment. He selected several households in a town and helped with 100 dollars every day.
Those who received money gave thanks again and again feeling thankful and undeserved.
But after about a month, the people's attitudes began to change.
Their thanks just disappeared, and they waited for the money-giver and received it as if they actually deserved it.
It was when one month was up, and nobody came to give them money.
What do you think happened? Those who were waiting for the money got angry and they began to complain.
"Why is the money being delayed? I don't know what he is doing, but I need this money right now!" How dumbfounding they are!
But this clearly shows us the nature of flesh.
Fleshly natures change. At first, they are grateful, but as time passes they forget about the thankfulness.
Also, if they get accustomed to receiving something, they begin to complain about not receiving it.
Now, I want you to think about what kind of heart you have.
The title of today's message is God's grace.
You know very well about God's grace. You pray, "Thank You Father for Your grace and love," as if it were a habit.
You pray like this because our lives, and each moment of our lives are all the priceless grace of God.
You give thanks like this in your prayers, but how much do you engrave God's grace in your heart and give thanks to Him for each moment of your life?
What kind of actions are you taking before God to pay back that grace?
If that gratefulness and happiness do not cool down, and if you are filled with them, it is not difficult to cultivate your heart-field.
And then nothing can become an obstacle on your journey to New Jerusalem.
Through today's message I hope you will meditate on the grace of God once again.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, in thinking about this grace of God, you will march towards New Jerusalem in the fullness of the Spirit.
[Main]
Dear devotees, everything in our lives is God's grace, but among all of these, I am going to talk about only three things.
First is the grace of salvation.
We cannot thank God enough for this grace of salvation even though we thank Him with tears every single day.
It is the grace that we will remember on this earth until the Lord comes back as well as in the heavenly kingdom.
Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
We were stained by sins, but God forgave us with His love and gave us redemption.
He gave us life while we were destined to die, and He made us His children.
He gave us the hope for the heavenly kingdom.
Of course, you will say you all know about this grace.
But how much do you remember this grace during each moment of your daily lives, and how much thanks do you give to God for this grace?
When you go on a pilgrimage in Israel, you have the opportunity to take and carry the cross yourself on the way of the sufferings of Jesus.
It's much lighter than the actual cross that Jesus carried, but most of you have tears that pour down while carrying that cross to Golgotha.
You confess in your heart saying, "Lord, how could you give this kind of love for a sinner like me? I will never forget this grace. I will become sanctified as soon as possible!"
Also, in the special Easter performances every year, many of you weep seeing Jesus taking the cross.
As the sound of the scourging is heard, you feel like your heart is torn apart.
When you hear the sound of the nails being hammered into Jesus' hands and feet, you feel like those nails are piercing your hearts, and you say you can't even watch it.
Your handkerchiefs become wet with tears as you remember the grace of salvation.
It is this kind of confession of thanks that should be in your heart not only on special occasions, but throughout the entire year.
I urge you in the name of the Lord that you will be able to confess to God everyday saying, "I give my life to the Lord who saved me and to the Father who loves me."
Dear devotees, the grace of God that you have to remember secondly is the grace that enables you to understand the Word and pray.
After we receive the grace of salvation, our faith has to grow.
When a baby is born, he has to grow up. He shouldn't just remain a newborn baby crying all the time.
Also, if the speed of growth is too slow, it is also a problem.
Our faith also has to grow up from the faith of a child to the faith of a young man, and to that of a father.
In order for our faith to grow up, we first have to realize our 'self' by the word of God.
We have to know the standards of truth that God desires, and we need to realize the things that we have that are not in agreement with the truth.
After we find out such things, we have to pray so we can receive the power to change ourselves according to the standards of God.
We can live like children of God only when we understand the truth and change.
It is said that once in 1920, there were two girls who grew up with a pack of wolves.
From the time that they were very young, they learned everything from wolves alone, so they couldn't communicate with human beings, and they couldn't adapt themselves to civilized life.
They just growled like wolves and walked and ran on all fours.
When they were given food, they pressed the food down between their two hands and tore it off with teeth like wolves. They were no different from animals.
If they had parents, and if these parents saw their daughters in that shape, how saddened they would have been!
And this is same in the spiritual sense, too.
When you were living in sins before, you were just like these wolf-girls in a spiritual sense.
We were created in the image of God, and we are supposed to live a noble life as a man of spirit.
But if we do not accomplish the whole duty of men, we are no different from the animals.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, "The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person."
In other words, if we do not understand the word of God and do not change through prayer, we cannot enjoy all the authorities of being the children of God even though we've received the Holy Spirit.
Today, there are so many people who say they believe in the Lord but cannot change themselves because they don't keep the Word and pray.
They are same as before they accepted the Lord. They just live in sins just like worldly people. And yet, they do not even realize they shouldn't be living like that.
They do not experience self realization, and even if they do, they don't have the strength to change, and thus they keep on living in sins.
As they live like that, they suffer from tests and trials, and they face disasters just like unbelievers.
But in our church, you have an abundance of the Word of Life with which you can come to self-realization about yourself.
I have not been just teaching you to live a good life superficially.
You are taught very clearly about sin, righteousness, and judgment and you can understand even the most delicate forms of untruths in you.
If you just keep in your heart the three sermons a week preached on Sunday and Friday, it is more than enough for self-realization.
Also, our church's fire of prayer is never put out.
Even new believers can soon receive the power of prayer if they just follow onward as they are guided.
If you just pray with heart, you can quickly change into spirit.
You should realize how great this grace really is.
As well as in Korea, but especially in other countries, many people who learn these words feel sorry for themselves saying, "Why is it that I have come to hear such word of life only now?"
Also, they long for the Daniel Prayer meeting of our church.
The word and prayer that you have here are such a great and special blessing.
But some people do not even realize the value of it.
They hear the truth, but they close their ears to the voice of the Holy Spirit and just look at the world.
Even though there are blazing flames of fiery prayer, some say it's too difficult to struggle against sins and just quit praying.
Of course, when the power of truth and power of untruth in you are similar, you might feel this struggle is hard.
You know you have to practice the truth, but you can't do that because of your love for the world, so you feel the affliction in your heart.
But this struggle is not something you can choose to enter into or not.
It is a good fight that you must accept no matter how hard it is. It is a fight that you have to win.
And if you just have the determination to really win it, nothing will really be difficult.
If you pray fervently with the determination to obey every word you hear, and actually obey the Word, all those struggles will soon pass away.
Then, you will be able to say that leading a life in faith is actually easy.
Even though you haven't cast all untruths from you completely, if you have greater power of the truth in you, you won't feel the struggle is hard.
You can actually lead a much easier life in faith.
Dear devotees, sanctification is your decision to make after all.
God the Father keeps on teaching you the truth, and He gives you the strength to cast off sins whenever you pray.
Even though you sometimes choose the wrong way looking at the world, He has been patiently waiting for you to change.
Now, I hope you will not hesitate between two choices but always choose the truth.
That is the way to pay back the grace of God and also the way for you to find happiness.
If you do that, your soul will prosper and all things go well with you; you can receive anything you ask.
You can fully enjoy the authority of being children of God in God's love and blessings.
Dear devotees, the grace of God that you have to remember thirdly is the grace that lets you long for New Jerusalem.
When you didn't know the truth and were living in sins, you couldn't even think of Heaven.
But God still loved you and forgave you of all your sins.
He taught you the truth through the Word, and gave you the strength to change through your prayers so you could look up to Heaven.
But what God really wants to give you is not just the heavenly kingdom.
He wants to give you the most beautiful place in Heaven, New Jerusalem.
For this reason God gave you a lot of grace so you could long for New Jerusalem.
Opening the spiritual eyes of many of you is one of those acts, giving you more hope.
It was not just for you to see the spiritual realm. It was for you to really believe that there is a spiritual realm so you could cultivate sanctification of heart.
Furthermore, I taught you in so much detail about Heaven, New Jerusalem, and Hell, so you could all have faith and hope for Heaven even though your spiritual eyes are not yet opened!
If you just remember the contents of the book on Heaven, you will be filled with hope in your daily life.
Even though you receive persecutions in the name of the Lord, you can overcome with joy just like the patriarchs did.
When you work hard for God, you wouldn't say it is difficult or hard.
It's because you hope for the heavenly rewards you will receive for your work.
I cherish so dearly in my heart the explanations that God gave to me about heavenly kingdom.
I miss and long for Heaven so much and I want to be at the bosom of the Lord even right now, but I can't go now because I have duties to fulfill on this earth.
So, I keep in mind so deeply even just a very little thing about New Jerusalem and Heaven.
Also, even though I face difficult situations while accomplishing the works of God, I can overcome anything when I think of Heaven.
Now, how deeply do you remember and engrave the things in your heart that you heard about Heaven and New Jerusalem?
How much thanks do you give to God for that grace of letting you look up to such a glorious place? Do you increase that hope continually?
I hope you will be filled with the hope of New Jerusalem every day.
As said in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," I pray in the name of the Lord that you will gain the hope of New Jerusalem in reality.
[Conclusion]
Dear devotees, as you know very well, I met God in a very dramatic way.
I had been suffering from incurable diseases and poverty for 7 years before I met God.
I was forsaken by all my beloved ones and I had no hope at all.
And yet God met such a person as me and healed me of all diseases.
At first, I attended church with the thankfulness of His grace of healing me.
Then, in a revival meeting, I understood even greater grace.
As I learned that Jesus died on the cross to save me and because of my sins, I wept and mourned for many days in repentance.
I was so thankful and I was enraptured by the love and grace in saving me from the fire of Hell.
I was so full of Spirit that I was just so happy just to see a church or to see a person with a Bible on the street.
I couldn't help myself but spread this grace of salvation to whomever I met.
Even before I came to know about New Jerusalem, I considered fame, social power, or wealth worthless.
Because I loved God so much, I could give anything if that was for God.
I don't have to mention how my love and thanks grew stronger after I learned about Heaven in detail.
My love and thanks have always been increasing until today.
But it's not only me who has received such a grace.
Even though you didn't suffer from diseases for 7 years, you've received the same kind of grace.
Had you not listened to this gospel of holiness, what would you be doing now?
Wouldn't you have been going towards death, without understanding those perishable things are worthless?
God has let you know in detail about the 7-Year Tribulation, Judgment, and Hell.
He also taught you in detail about the blessing of the soul's prosperity, Heaven, and glories and rewards in New Jerusalem.
Also, through countless healing works and testimonies of blessings, and through the sweet water, rainbows, and other signs including dragonflies, He is showing you tangible evidences every day.
So, I think you understand what kind of life you have to live every day, and how you should change year after year.
God's grace given to you is more than sufficient.
God's comfort and love are also more than sufficient.
God is pouring down such grace just to let you look up to New Jerusalem and march towards it.
What can hold you back?
Can wealth, fame, or momentary pleasure of the world hold you back?
By no means!
Dear devotees, I hope you will more deeply feel God's grace of saving you, and the grace of letting you understand the truth and change yourself, and the grace of giving you New Jerusalem.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, in doing so, you will overcome this world by considering all fleshly things as rubbish, and march on towards New Jerusalem.
[Amen] |
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