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 Sermon > Sunday Evening Service |
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Title |
Obedience |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 Timothy 4: 5 |
Date |
2011-09-18 |
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Passage
[1 Timothy 4: 5] "For it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer."
Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has let us have this 2011 Inauguration Service.
Today, we have three pastors, 10 elders, 2 honorary elders who are being inaugurated in our church.
Also, there are 88 senior deaconesses, 12 honorary senior deaconesses, and 3 associative senior deaconesses being inaugurated.
There are 118 persons who have new duties to perform in the church.
Congratulations to all of you who have received precious duties in the kingdom of God.
I also extend my thanks to all their relatives and guests who have come to celebrate this meaningful day.
The well-ripened fruits and grains will become comfort to the farmers who have worked hard throughout the year.
You who are being inaugurated with your faith being ripened will become great comfort to God.
From several years to as long as several decades, God has been carefully taking care of you.
1 Timothy 1:12 says, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service."
Our Lord has given you not just life but also the strength for you to perform your duties.
Now, how thankful you are that considering you to be faithful, He has given you these duties!
I believe all of you who are inaugurated feel this grace deeply, and you are confessing to the Lord saying, "Lord, use me at Your will!"
The Lord also wants to use you.
But before that, He would ask the question. "Can you really obey Me?"
Obedience cannot be carried out just with your zeal.
Complete obedience can be accomplished only when you have a holy heart, the heart that resembles the heart of the Lord.
This inauguration service is a turning point and a chance for another take-off in your life.
I urge you to rely on the message today and come forth as obedient workers.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that, you will be preciously used for the kingdom of God.
Main
Pastors, elders, and senior deaconesses who are being inaugurated today, what do you have to do to cultivate holy hearts and obey?
First, you have to break down your fleshly thoughts.
Romans 8:6-7 says, "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so."
Just imagine you are rowing a boat.
If you are rowing in the wrong direction you cannot reach your destination no matter how much you row.
The place where you will end up will be completely wrong or you will end drifting away.
Similarly, as long as you have fleshly thoughts, you cannot completely obey God no matter how much you want to.
God is always speaking to you through the voice of the Holy Spirit, but you follow the path of disobedience following your fleshly thoughts.
Instead of the Holy Spirit's voice, you depend on your own thoughts that come from your experience or knowledge.
You choose the way that seems to be right or good in your own opinion.
In a spiritual sense this is same as listening to the voice of Satan, the enemy of God.
It is just as the Bible says, "mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God." How heartbreaking this is!
You cannot obey if you do not break down your fleshly thoughts. At the same time, you cannot cultivate holiness either, which is something essential to cultivate obedience.
It's because it will be difficult for you to realize what kinds of evil and deficiencies you have as long as you have fleshly thoughts.
But if you deny yourself completely and rely on God, you will be able to see those things. You will also be able to cast them off.
Furthermore, these days, God is making you realize yourself through the original light and explosive works of the Holy Spirit, so it is easier for you.
In this trend, I hope you will quickly demolish your fleshly thoughts and come forth as obedient workers who clearly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and inaugurates, in order to cultivate holy heart and obey, secondly, you have to arm yourself with the word.
Ephesians 6:13 says, "Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."
The following verses tell us to gird our loins with truth; put on the breastplate of righteousness; have shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; take up the shield of faith; take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
You are the ones who are supposed to lead the church members at the front as spiritual warriors.
To win the spiritual battle in obedience to the Lord, you have to arm yourself firmly with the word of the truth.
You have to discard your fleshly thoughts and become powerful workers who stand firmly on the word.
Of course, all you church members and especially you inaugurates are trying to arm yourselves with the word.
Some of you have read the Bible completely many times, some others listened to hundreds or thousands of sermons, while still others have read all my books.
Many of you invest many hours listening to the messages and summarizing them.
Some others memorize Bible verses and also memorize the key points of each sermon.
But the thing is in many cases these words remain in you as just pieces of knowledge.
Namely, you know the word of God to a great extent, but you do not actually put the word into practice thereby not cultivating the word in your heart.
Even though you put on the armor and hold the shield and sword in your hands, it is of no use if you cannot use them skillfully.
The equipment will not help in your battle but they will only become a burden to you.
It is similar with the word that is stored as knowledge in the head alone.
It is useless. You cannot obey the word of the Lord if you do not practice it in your life.
For example, in Matthew 23:11, Jesus said, "But the greatest among you shall be your servant."
Even though you have memorized this verse, you cannot serve others when you need to, if you have not cultivated it in your heart.
You cannot serve because the desire to be served and to seek your own, and your pride will be activated.
Also, if you have not cultivated the word in your heart to resolve your own problems, you cannot solve the problems of the church members with the word either.
The word you've stored as only knowledge may contain your self-righteousness and frameworks, so you might misguide the church members.
Therefore, I hope you will arm yourselves by learning the word, and cultivating it in your hearts.
You should have the enough ability to resolve any kind of problem that you may face in your life or in the performance of your duties with the word of God.
The way is very easy and simple.
First, start with going over the three sermons a week, namely, the messages for Friday all-night service, and Sunday morning and evening service.
Imprint the word on your heart first, and pray to cultivate the word in your heart.
Then, God will give you understanding. Also, He will give you the strength to cultivate it in your heart and practice it.
The real armament of the word that God desires of you is to cultivate in your heart and practice in your life the word that you hear and learn.
Your fleshly thoughts will also be destroyed to the extent that you arm yourself with the word, and to that same extent you can obey the word of the Lord.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, you will really arm yourself with word to live a life of victory and lead numerous souls to the truth.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and inaugurates, in order to cultivate holy hearts and become obedient workers, thirdly, you have to pray fervently.
Only then can the frameworks of your thoughts be destroyed and you will be able to put the word in your heart.
Of course, most of you pray every day.
You hurry to finish your work at home or at work in order to come to Daniel prayer meeting on time.
You always try to keep your place of prayer.
Sometimes you pray alone in your spare time.
But crying out with a loud voice, "Lord, Lord," for a long time is not necessarily fervent prayer.
You can pray fervently, when you pray with all your heart.
Now, what kind of prayer is to pray with all your heart?
I've already explained how to pray many times.
But today, I want you to think about how much thankfulness and love you have in your prayers.
Colossians 4:2 says, "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;"
How much thanks do you offer up in your prayers?
Those who are really thankful will always say thanks to a person who has given them some kind of grace.
Those who are thankful for the grace of God will also enjoy giving thanks to God.
They will give thanks to God everyday, whenever they come before God.
They will give thanks again and again for the grace of saving them from death, the wage of sin; of healing them and answering their prayers; and of giving them beautiful kingdom of heaven.
Furthermore, you inaugurates have one more thing to give thanks for.
It is that God made you workers for the kingdom of God.
Brothers and sisters, a conversation with your loves ones are joyous.
Prayer is your conversation with God the Father.
When you call on your dear God the Father wanting to see Him and talk to Him, when you give thanks for all His grace, how blissful that moment is!
But if you pray out of sense of duty thinking that you have to pray because you are a worker, it is not really joyous.
Therefore, I hope you will always remember the love and grace of God given to you each time you pray.
Also, try to find the things for which you can give thanks to God and give glory to Him.
Then, love will sprout in your heart and more grace will come upon you so that you can give thanks more.
As you give thanks for small things, you will have greater things to give thanks for.
To that extent, you will have a more intimate relationship with God.
Also, you will be able to pray with all your heart.
You will enjoy your prayer so much that even a long period of time will feel like an instant.
The prayer that you offer up with so much happiness and joy will be a beautiful fragrance before the Father God.
You will receive answers to any of your prayers very quickly including accomplishing your holiness.
I hope you will offer up such prayers of heart, fervent prayers everyday so you can experience the power of prayers.
Conclusion
Dear inaugurates and church members, in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said as follows:
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
It is actually easy to live by the word of God.
It's just that you feel that it is difficult because of your fleshly thoughts.
But if you just hold on to the word of God you hear and store up fervent prayers day by day, your fleshly thoughts will keep on diminishing.
All those words of God will become strength in you. Then, it will be very easy to obey.
You will quickly come forth as obedient workers.
Starting from today, I hope you will become workers who joyfully obey so that you will be used as precious instruments of God.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord who is our example of obedience, that you will reach the noble positions next to the throne of the Lord. |
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