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 Sermon > Sunday Evening Service |
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Title |
Goodness - District, Group, Cell Leaders'' Devotional |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 John 1:5 |
Date |
2015-06-28 |
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[Passage]
[1 John 1:5]
"This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters,
Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has blessed us to have 2015 District, Group, and Cell leaders' devotional service. I give thanks to all the devotees who have prepared for this service with all your heart, mind, and soul. Dear devotees, and other members, the title of this devotional service is 'Goodness'.
You heard many messages about goodness, so you know well about the patriarchs and the different levels of goodness. The first level of goodness is a level where you just suppress your hard feelings when others are acting with evil towards you. In the second level, even though others are doing evil things to you, you don't have any hard feelings or hatred. In the third level, you do not have any hard feelings, and furthermore, you can move the heart of the others with words and actions of goodness. And in the fourth level, you can even give your life even for your enemies.
The first level is not really considered goodness in the sight of God. Goodness of God begins with the second level. Then, which level of goodness do you have?You know the fourth level of goodness as knowledge,but are you really able to show even the first level of goodness when you are supposed to show goodness?
You devotees are the spiritual warriors who have to lead the souls in your district, group, and cell to the flow of whole spirit in this end time. You have the responsibility to cultivate hearts of goodness more than others. In this message, I will talk to you about the three aspects that you have to check in order to cultivate perfect goodness. Through this message, I pray in the name of the Lord that you devotees and all other members will go into deeper level of goodness.
[Main]
Dear devotees and other members,
The first thing you have to check to cultivate perfect goodness is whether you try to give life to others or suppress them.
John 6:63 says, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life."Spirit gives life. It gives strength to others to fill them with Spirit, and lets them change and gain eternal life.
Jesus did not break a bruised reed nor put out a smoldering wick. He did not reveal the evil of the people: the woman who had committed adultery; Judas Iscariot who would betray and sell Him out; or the Pharisees and scribes who tried to attack Him all the time. But He just tried to open a way to give life to them.This isthe good heart of the Lord.
On the other hand, those who are not good-hearted will just break bruised reeds because they don't look good. They put out smoldering wicks to prevent them from making smoke and soot.They insist on their own opinions and ignore and suppress others to do so.
As you perform your duties, you will come across people who have different personalities. Then, do you choose to give life to them or try to suppress them with your own opinions?
For example, suppose you are having a meeting, and group leaders and cell leaders often oppose the opinion of the district leader. Here, the district leader feels uncomfortable thinking like, 'This cell leader keeps on doing this. She always opposes my opinions. Is it that she is looking down on me just because I'm not in spirit?So, without even hearing about it well, she just rejects her opinion. She stops them from talking by saying, "If you cell leaders oppose everything, our district cannot have unity. Peace will be broken and it will prevent revival. We won't be of any strength to the church or the shepherd."
Also, if you have not cultivated goodness in your heart, you try to suppress others while pretending to be giving life. For example, suppose there are a group leader and a cell leader who have conflicts with each other due to different personalities. One day, the parish pastor asks the cell leader, "How is your group leader doing?"
And the cell leader without hesitation replies:"Pastor, I was actually thinking about talking to you about the group leader.I feel very sorry for her. She misses the prayer meetings and she always dozes off during the prayer time.Perhaps due to those reasons, she always has conflicts with others, and my cell members have a hard time in her presence. We can be patient with her, but it's going to be hard for her, and pastor, please help our group leader to go into spirit."
The fact is that it's just that the cell leader is in conflict with the group leader, but she does not admit it. She just says it's because of the group leader, and others are also suffering because of her. It means she wants the parish pastor to make the group leader bend and change.
But because she does not realize such a desire of hers, she just thinks that she spoke words of goodness, being concerned about the other. I hope you will be able to check your words and actions as to whether they are to give life to others or to make them submit to you.
Dear devotees and other members,
In order to cultivate perfect goodness, secondly, you should check whether you want to take the credit, even though you say you are working for God's glory.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."Those who have faith eat and drink to get the strength to work for God's kingdom, and they rest and sleep to be healthy and give glory to God. If they have this kind of heart, God will accept their aroma even though they are just eating and sleeping.
However, there are some cases where they work hard on the outside, but inside they seek their own glory, and thus they cannot get any heavenly rewards. Your duty of service, helping the needy, preaching, and taking care of the souls is such a precious duty. If the souls are saved and blessed and when there is a revival through your hard work, you will give glory to God and you will receive blessings both in spirit and body.
But in this faithfulness, I urge you to check whether or not you want to take the credit yourself. For example, suppose you have somebody to evangelize in your cell, and you offered prayers and fasting for her. Sometimes you gave her what she needed and served her devotedly. Eventually she opened her mind and was about to come to church. But one day, the district leader brought her to the church and she was registered under her name.
Now, what would you think if you had a good heart?Would you have hard feelings thinking like, 'How can the district leader do this? She knows how hard I tried to bring her to the church, and she just takes the credit. How shameless?Or, would you rejoice thinking like, 'She finally registered in the church! I feel relieved that the district leader will take care of her well until she settles in!"
Let me give you another example. One cell leader does her best in her cell, so there is revival and the faith of the members increases. But one day, there was re-organization. Her cell was divided and a part was takenand put under the charge of another cell leader.
If you only seek the glory of God and care for the souls, what would you think and do?You would help the members get acquainted with the new leader, thinking like, 'I wish the members will try harder in their faith with the new cell leader.'
On the contrary, if you have some kind of resentment thinking like, 'This is my fruit. I raised them with my hard work, and my work was in vain. My cell became smaller,' then it means you are seeking your own glory. If you seek your own glory, your faithfulness can change any time. If you do not have fruits quickly, or if you cannot take the credit for the good fruits borne, then you'd feel that you are tired and your passion will cool down.
I hope you devotees will not seek your own glory at all, and just seek the glory of God alone completely. Only then will all your faithfulness be rewarded as eternal rewards and glory.
Dear devotees,
In order to cultivate perfect goodness, thirdly, you should check whether you are caring for others, or you want others to care for you.
Acts 20:35 says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."As you fulfill your duties, naturally you try to give rather than to receive. You will care for the souls who are weak and who have problems, as you'd care for your own family. Rather than issuesabout your own faith, you feel more urgent to solve the problem of the members and pray for them.
But if the fullness of Spirit goes down for a moment, you could feel the desire to receive. You think like, "I've been trying so hard until now, and how come I am not on the rock or in spirit? How come I do not receive any blessings although I have been working so hard?" Now your fleshly thoughts just keep on increasing such as:"Knowing my faith is stagnated for a long time, how come they are rejoicing so much in front of me because their measure went up?"Or "We don't have many workers in our district so I had to work so much harder. Our district is far from the church and we have less fruit than others even though we try much harder. Despite all these I worked hard quietly but nobody knows it."
Now, you think more about your own problems whereas you used to consider the problems of the souls first. You might think like, 'is the parish pastor praying for me? When others were going through trials, she visited them often and even fasted for them, but she is not really doing anything for me!"You begin to miss certain meetings. So, if others advise you to be more faithful, you just resent the situation thinking like, 'They just try to point out my fault without understanding my situations.'
You have been a leader and heard the messages of goodness for a long time. But if you have not cultivated the goodness in you, eventually your real heart will be revealed. That is, rather than trying to care for others' minds, you'd want others to understand you and serve you.
None of the devotees should be in this category. Jesus was hung on the cross though He was innocent. Even then, He did not lament the pain He was having. He tried to comfort the heart of the Father who was mourning and prayed for the souls who would remain. You can go into whole spirit quickly only when you try to see the pains of others rather than your own. You should understand others' hearts and help them.
[Conclusion]
Dear devotees and other members,
Today's reading passage 1 John 1:5 says, "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."God the Father is the perfect Light that has no evil or shifting shadow.
Also, just as He is perfect, He wants you and me to be perfect as His children. He wants us to cultivate perfect goodness and not the fleshly goodness that comes from the knowledge or self-righteousness.
I talked about three aspects for you to be able to have perfect goodness. First, you should give life to others in all things. Second, you have to seek the glory of the Father alone. Third, you should care for others' heart rather than wanting others to care for your heart. If you can just check these three points, you can see to what extent you have cultivated goodness.
I hope you will check your mind, words, and actions based on this message during the remainder of this year. In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that all you cell, group, and district leaders and many members will go onto the rock, into spirit, and whole spirit riding on this flow of whole spirit in 2015. |
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