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 Sermon > Sunday Evening Service |
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Title |
Sincere Heart - District, Group, Cell Leaders'' Devotional Service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Hebrews 10:22 |
Date |
2017-04-09 |
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[Passage]
[Hebrews 10:22]
"let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has blessed us to have the 2017 district, group, and cell leaders' devotional service. I also give thanks to all the devotees who have prepared for this dedication service with all your heart.
Dear devotees, I believe you've prepared for this devotional service with special efforts such as vowed-prayers, fasting, and offerings. It's because you long for special blessing from this service. Now, what kind of wish have you come to this service with?
You could have many wishes such as financial blessings, health, and family evangelization, but the most important of all is the prosperity of your soul. 3 John 1:2 says, "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers." As said, physical blessings will follow if you become holy as your soul prospers.
In other words, as in today's message title, you can just cultivate sincere heart. Hebrews 10:22 says, "let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
For those on whom the blood of Jesus is sprinkled, they can realize the evil that they couldn't realize in their own conscience. Also, if we wash ourselves with the pure water, namely the word of the truth, we can cultivate sincere hearts and true faith.
We can go into spirit and whole spirit and diseases or infirmities will be healed. Even though the economy is in recession, God will protect you and give you wisdom of goodness to bless your businesses and workplaces. Your families and relatives will be evangelized, and you will produce good fruits in church duties. Above all, you will understand the heart of God the Father and have deep communication every day.
You devotees are working hard for the kingdom of God, spending your time and money to take care of the souls. As for me, as your shepherd, I have such an earnest desire to pay you back for your hard work. And how much more precious would you be in the eyes of the Lord and the Father? And so, God desperately waits for your souls to become prosperous.
It's because that's the only way for Him to bless you to the fullest degree for your dedication. I hope you devotees will change quickly through this service and cultivate sincere heart and perfect faith. In so doing, may you have many various testimonies and come forth as spiritual workers so that you will be able to supply life to numerous souls, I pray this in the name of the Lord.
[Main]
Dear devotees,
In order to cultivate sincere heart, first, you must not have falsehood.
Colossians 3:9-10 says, "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." God's children must not lie, cheat, or hide certain things.
The unbelievers tell lies whether it is knowingly or unknowingly. If you confront them asking why they lied, they might even get angry saying they didn't lie. Because they are stained by the darkness, they don't even realize they are lying. For example, they exaggerate or reduce some things when they deliver a message. Or they omit something they must convey.
Even though they didn't check it personally, they speak or make a report as if they did. Some talk like something is a fact, even though it's just their speculation. Just to avoid a situation, they say they'll do something later but they forget what they said.
For example, because your children ask you to buy a toy, you say you'll buy them one next time but forget about it very soon. All these things are falsehood. Also, you give irrelevant answers as often as you lack truth in you.
Let me give you a little more specific example. Suppose the district leader asked one of the cell leaders to check the number of cell members who attended the Sunday service. But the cell leader did not check everyone. She just thought those who come regularly attended the service and made a report accordingly. The cell leader already isn't truthful.
But later she checked that one of those who come regularly attended only Sunday evening service and not the Sunday morning service. Now she needs to change the number in the report, and she feels embarrassed to confess that she didn't check the attendance properly. She just ignores it thinking to herself, "It's all in the past." Or, she might justify herself thinking the member attended Evening service, so it is OK.
Then, she might avoid getting embarrassed, but she can't circumcise her heart this way. She becomes insensitive to sins and lives a complacent life.
Let me give you another allegory.
The district leader asked the group leaders to give her the weekly reports before Sunday. And there is one group leader who sometimes submits the report on Monday for various reasons. The district leader feels awkward to repeatedly mention this, and she also remembers many other situations where the group leader doesn't follow her instructions. So, she even thinks she wishes another person to replace this particular group leader.
Here, a pastor asks her if that particular group leader is doing her duty well, and immediately she speaks out what's in her mind. "Other group leaders are doing well, but this particular group leader misses the deadline all the time. I think she feels her duties are burdensome to do." In this short answer are many lies.
The group leader doesn't always miss the deadline but only sometimes, so it was exaggerated. She said all others are doing well, but she hasn't checked on every single person personally. Also, it's just that the group leader sometimes missed the deadline, but she added this group leader feels burdened to fulfill her duties. And yet, she thinks she is telling the truth.
So, we should be on the alert and check whether or not we had such falsehoods in our words and actions in our everyday lives. If you are always praying to become truthful, the Holy Spirit will remind you of the falsehood you committed, even if you don't realize it the moment you committed it. If you realize even a little falsehood in you, you should cast it away through fervent prayers.
Dear devotees,
In order to cultivate sincere heart, secondly, you must not have a changing mind.
1 Samuel 15:29 says, "Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind." The truthful God wants His children to have upright heart, too.
If you once learn that something is right and true, your belief in it must not be shaken. If you make up your mind to do something, you have to keep it without changing your attitude according to situations.
In Leviticus chapter 27, if you decide to give a certain animal as a sacrifice, and if there is a better one that you want to give to God, God says not to change. If you really want to give the better one to God, you must not change the sacrifice but just give them both.
Changing mind is the representative attribute of men of flesh. At one moment their tears pour down feeling the love of the Father and the Lord, but at another moment they look at the world and commit sins. There are also so many people who left God even after being saved from terminal diseases or great disasters. They say with tears they will go into spirit giving thanks for the sacrifice of the shepherd, but after some time their tears dry up.
They say they tried hard but they get disheartened because it seems they are not producing any result. Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." The less changing mind you have, the more certainly you can trust the fact that the love of the Father and the Lord and the shepherd never changes.
That is why you can keep on practicing the truth without getting disheartened and come forth as fruit of spirit. I never forget the grace that God has given me. Even today, I burst into tears when I think of the day I met God first. I can so vividly remember when I was repenting thoroughly in revival meetings.
I cannot remember the exact date or the exact person, but I remember all the emotions and inspiration contained in the powerful works that have taken place in this church for the past 35 years. This way, my gratitude and love for God only get increasingly deeper.
If you a have changing attitude, you can just try to make it a habit to stick to your decisions and determinations. For example, for the special Daniel prayer meeting, you decide to attend them until the end, but if you have changing mind, you sometimes come late or even miss it all together.
If you realize you are doing that, you can just make up your mind once again. After making up your mind to attend all of them, if you miss it once, you shouldn't give up there. You can just attend all of the rest.
Is there any New Year's resolution that you've given up after trying for several days? Then, you can start again from now. You can begin again the moment you realize that you've changed your mind. If you realize it again later, you can start again, so you will be able to keep your mind.
Perhaps you decide to attend a certain meeting, but when the time comes you might change your mind. You think like, "Do I have to go there? I don't have any duty there, and I have many other things to do." In this kind of situation, you can just go to the meeting just for the sake of keeping your decision.
You might decide to give a certain amount of thanksgiving offering, or you decide to help a certain person. But as you are about to make the offering or donation, you become reluctant. In this case, too, you can just do what you decided to do in order not to change your mind. As you keep on casting away cunningness and changing mind this way, you can more quickly cultivate sincere heart.
Dear devotees,
In order to cultivate sincere heart, thirdly, you must not seek your own benefit.
Many crimes of the world are committed as a result of seeking one's own benefit. If only something is beneficial for them they discard their beliefs or values and commit anti-humanitarian crimes. But God's children must never do such things.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Also, 1 Corinthians 10:24 says, "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." We can cultivate sincere heart when we seek God's glory and the benefit of others.
How is it with you devotees? Do you seek the glory of God first in all things? Do you sacrifice yourself for the souls and for the benefit of others rather than that of your own?
The apostle Paul was put in jail, beaten, and was almost killed many times while preaching the gospel. He was shipwrecked and he suffered perils of his brothers, Gentiles, and false brothers. He was sleepless, hungry, and thirsty, and he suffered from cold and exposure. And yet, in 2 Corinthians 11:28 he said, "Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches."
He thought about accomplishing God's kingdom ahead of his own comfort and safety. He rejoiced to deliver the gospel to the souls even though it meant he was hungry and thirsty. And, he said in 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."
If you cast away self-seeking mind, you don't have to make plans with falsehood or change your mind many times. You can just follow the righteous way in peace. You can just go the way that pleases God. For such people, God guarantees their ways and blesses them even though they don't seek their own benefit.
[Conclusion]
Dear devotees and other members,
In order to cultivate sincere heart, first of all, you must not have falsehood. Secondly, you must cast away changing mind. Third, you must seek the glory of God and others' benefit and not seek your own benefit.
But even though you try to do these things, one cannot cultivate sincere heart by his own effort. You have to try to practice the truth with fervent prayers and fasting, but in addition to this, there must be the grace and strength of God and the help of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit will burn the deep sinful natures to make you holy.
For the past 3 months in 2017, there has been a rapid flow of the grace of God that makes you holy. You cannot miss this flow. I hope that through the spirit festivity, the leadership conference, and the summer retreat you will give spur to your fervent prayers and your efforts for your change. In so doing, may all of you devotees and other members quickly cultivate sincere heart and perfect faith to be able to go before the throne of the Father God, I pray this in the name of the Lord! |
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