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 Sermon > Sunday Evening Service |
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Title |
Thanksgiving - Feast of Harvest Sunday Evening Service, Holy Communion |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
John 6:55 |
Date |
2011-07-03 |
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Passage
John 6:55
"For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink."
Introduction
We have the Feast of the Harvest after we finish the first half and begin the second half of the year.
It's a chance to quietly think about the grace of God given in the first half of the year and how much fruit we have borne in His grace.
God promised explosive works of power in 2011, and as promised He gave us many blessings.
When we think about those blessings once again, I hope you will realize the love of God and offer up to Him deep aroma of thanks.
As the earth absorbs the sweet rain and produces fruits, I pray in the name of the Lord that all the grace and blessings of God will be abundantly borne as spiritual fruits in you.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The first thing for which we should be thankful to God is that He has given you the strength to fill your hearts with the truth since the time of repentance.
He gave us 100 times more blessings in 2010. But before the blessing came into our hands, He first gave us the grace of the great repentance.
Those who had been committing the grave works of flesh including sins leading to death could start a new life of faith with renewed minds since December 25 last year.
But we cannot say you gained great faith just because you repented and were forgiven.
You have to quickly increase your faith which is at the 1st or the 2nd level of faith to reach the Rock of Faith or higher so that you will never be tempted by sins and you will lead a joyous Christian life.
Suppose you had stinky and dirty sewage in the vessel of your heart. You would have to first empty the sewage and then clean the vessel.
After that, you should not leave the vessel empty. You have to fill it up with clean water.
The 'New Jerusalem Movement' is also a way to empty and clean the previously polluted vessel of the heart and to fill it full of clean water.
It is a movement to cut off the worldly things, to pray hard, and to fill your heart with the truth by learning the word of God.
Also, you receive new strength and grace to keep your heart in the mini-crusades every week.
I hope you will be thankful that God has given you the grace to fill your hearts with the truth after repentance.
The second thing you should be thankful for is that He has let you see the original light.
Through the numerous powerful works until now, you have experienced the glory of God as if you had seen, heard, and touched it yourself.
Moreover, since this past May, God has let you see the original light, adding grace upon grace and letting you experience His power.
In every church event, God gave us the best weather conditions.
But for my birthday service in May, we had cloudy weather with a few drops of rain. So, we were wondering what kinds of works God would show to us.
On that day, many people began to see the aurora-like lights among the clouds.
Ezekiel 1:28 says, "As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance."
With our physical eyes we cannot see the glory of God that Ezekiel saw.
But for you to be able to see the form, God showed us aurora-like lights which are also like rainbows in the clouds on a rainy day.
This way, God gives you the grace so you feel like you have seen God in person.
This light is the sign and proof that the original power of God the Father is manifested in this church.
It is a promise that He will let you experience the unhindered power to the extent that you trust in God and the shepherd and become united with him.
I hope you will give thanks everyday for this amazing grace and receive greater blessings through these lights.
Dear brothers and sisters, what you need to be thankful for thirdly is that God has taught you why you could not go into spirit and He has now given you the power and strength to do it.
You have tried to go into spirit, but many of you were stuck in spiritual growth by your own limitations.
But now God is letting you realize your fundamental problems which you have not been able to realize before.
God let you realize yourself clearly as to what kind of person you are, and He has let you see the obstacles that hindered you from going into spirit.
Through the leadership conference starting tomorrow, if you keep in your mind what you've realized and change yourself, many of you will enter into spirit.
Those who prepare for this conference with faith and longing will experience the power of God who can do the things men can't.
What you should be thankful for fourthly is the grace and fullness of Spirit, and physical and spiritual blessings given through the special healing meetings.
No single event in this church takes place by coincidence.
Several months ago, God urged my heart to have the special healing meetings, and that is why I pronounced that those with bad eyesight should prepare to receive healing.
But God did not move my heart to have this special healing meeting just for the recovering of bad eyesight.
Through the works of the original light that God has recently given to me, He has allowed not just your physical eyes to brighten, but the eyes of your hearts to brighten too.
He has brightened the spiritual areas that have been darkened by the cords of idols or previous sins.
Namely, God has let you realize your 'self', that you were slow to understand the truth even if you heard the word, and that you could not feel the love of the Father deeply.
God has let you find your fleshly attributes that you could not realize before due to fleshly thoughts.
He has let you understand what a sincere heart and perfect faith is.
It was not just finding out and realizing. He has given you the assurance and power so you can actually change.
He has filled you with such thoughts as, "I can do it now. I can also go to New Jerusalem if I can just keep on going with the grace of the Father, love of the Lord, the help of the Holy Spirit and the power of my shepherd."
I hope you will give thanks to God, more and more every day for giving you such grace and power.
Dear brothers and sisters, what you should be thankful for fifthly is that you have not encountered any disasters but instead have lived happy lives by dwelling in spiritual space, even though the world is so dangerous.
Nowadays, we can hear a lot of news about accidents and disasters, if you just turn on the news for a short time.
It's difficult to find justice anywhere, and there are also increasingly more people who harm other people with no reason.
They say they are afraid to walk on the streets and to send their children outside.
There are so many natural disasters, too, and it is difficult to expect any peace or stability in economics or political situations.
But you are always at peace and you are happy.
Even during the economic recession, your tithes kept on increasing. Even when there are so many natural disasters, all Manmin members around the world are protected by God.
Most of you live healthy lives without having anything to do with hospitals.
Many of you tell me as follows:
"I am always happy for I dwell in the Father and the Lord. I was protected in the space of the shepherd. I received blessings."
I hope you will give to God a deeper aroma of thanks for God has kept you, protected you, and gave you many blessings.
But you should keep something in mind once again.
To dwell in the Lord is not just to say, "Lord, I believe," with lips alone.
It is to actually obey and practice the word of the Lord.
To stay in the space of the shepherd is not just to attend Manmin church.
To dwell in the space of the shepherd is to practice the word of God in obedience to the teachings of your shepherd and not to commit sins.
The Holy Communion we have in this evening service is a time to re-imprint this meaning on your hearts and minds.
Jesus said that we have life in us only when we eat His flesh and drink His blood.
We can enjoy the blessing of salvation and eternal life only when we understand correctly what it means by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of Man and practice it in obedience.
To eat the flesh of the Son of Man spiritually means to take in the word of God.
John 1:1 says "The Word was God."
John 1:14 says the God who became flesh and came to this earth is Jesus.
Thus, to eat the flesh of the Son of Man is to take in the word of God.
It is to change the evil heart into the heart of truth and of goodness.
To take in the flesh of the Son of Man, we also have to drink His blood.
This means that when we learn the word of God, we have to practice the word in obedience.
It is like when we eat food, we have to take in liquid as well.
If we just eat dry food without any liquid, it is difficult to digest the nutrients.
The nutrients can be absorbed and the body waste can be passed only with liquid.
In the same way, as we learn the truth, the word of God, there must be the effort to practice it.
God tells us to do, not do, keep, or cast away certain things and we have to obey them.
Only then will such words become your life and strength.
The untruths that were in your hearts will go out and it will be replaced by the truth.
Hatred will go out and it will be replaced by love.
Arrogance will be replaced by humbleness. Hot-tempter will be replaced by meekness.
I hope you will participate in the Holy Communion remembering these spiritual meanings.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today, we very briefly thought about the things for which we should thank God.
But I want you to offer up to God a deeper aroma of thanks contemplating on these things later.
If you think about how you came to receive such grace and such blessings, how amazing and thankful it is!
God has given us this great grace in the first half of this year, and He is preparing for even greater blessings in the second half.
Your profession that you will go into spirit and whole spirit will be realized in actuality for many of you.
It is not grace that comes upon somebody else who is living in a distant place. It is the grace of God prepared for you.
I urge you not to miss this flow of spirit.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will all achieve the goal of entering into New Jerusalem. |
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