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 Sermon > Sunday Evening Service |
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Title |
The Lord's Love |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
John 6:53-55 |
Date |
2017-07-02 |
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Passage
[John 6:53-55]
"So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink."
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The night before He was crucified, Jesus had the Last Supper with His disciples. He broke the bread and gave them wine. He looked at them with the eyes of compassion more than any other time, for they would remain on this earth. Even under the pressure of having to take the cross soon, He thought of the souls that would remain on this earth.
And He promised in Matthew 26:29, "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." Fruit of the vine does not just refer to wine. It refers to all things that are created by Jesus who is the true vine. It means He would eat and drink the new fruit with us when the kingdom of heaven comes and all things are recovered.
As said, even at this moment in heaven, the Lord without eating anything intercedes for the souls who are suffering on this earth. He will enjoy the banquet of joy with us only after we finish all our good fights in faith, go into heaven, and enjoy the joy of victory.
The title of today's message is The Lord's Love. We will have the Holy Communion in the 2nd part of the service. Through this service and Holy Communion, I'd like you think about how thankful you are to the Father God and the Lord and how deeply you are feeling His love. In doing so, may you realize deep in your heart the love of the Lord who shed all His water and blood on the cross and gave His life, and who is praying for us with tears even today.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters,
Through the Holy Communion, first of all, we have to give thanks to God the Father and the Lord with all our heart.
It is human nature to forget the grace or favor we received as time passes. Because Jesus knows this human nature very well, He established Holy Communion to remember Him. It means we should remember the grace and love of the Lord who shed His blood to redeem us from sins and to give us life.
How well do you remember Him? Do you have overwhelming emotions when you meditate on the cross of the Lord? Do you live a life in which you give thanks everyday thinking of the grace of salvation? When I read the Four Gospels in the Bible, I can't go on reading. It's because when I read about Jesus' sufferings, heavy weeping and mourning stop me from reading.
Sometimes, I can't even read my own testimonial book. Just by remembering the moment I received healing of all my diseases by the power of God, my heart bursts and hot tears gush out from my eyes. I'm moved every time I think of the salvation of the cross. My gratitude is renewed every time I think of the grace of God the Father.
You've all received this grace of salvation. Furthermore, in this church, God is pouring down on you new grace every day so that you will prosper in all things and be in good health just as your soul prospers. You can see this point if you just think of the period of time between accepting the Lord for the first time and now.
I hear many testimonies from church members. "Sr. pastor, if I hadn't come to this church, I'd have already killed myself." "If I hadn't heard the holiness gospel through the shepherd, my family would have been broken already." They say these with tears.
Moreover, you have numerous testimonies of receiving divine healing and solutions in disastrous situations. Without the grace of God the Father, how many dangerous situations would we have faced? We'd have lived in pain due to natural disasters, various accidents, and minor sicknesses as well as serious diseases.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says, "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." When you kept the word of God, without fail He gave you blessings. To those who joyfully gave for the kingdom of God, He blessed them 30, 60, or 100 times more.
In addition, as days went by He gave you power and strength increasingly more so that you could come into spirit and whole spirit. This way, many of you are bearing the fruits of light, truth, and goodness, as well as receiving financial blessings. I urge you to offer up at every moment the aroma of thanksgiving to the Lord who saved us and to the Father God who always takes care of us.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Through the Holy Communion, secondly, we have to feel the love of the Father God, the Lord and the shepherd deep in our heart.
Some people say the following: "If there had been just one person who truly believed and loved me, my life would have been completely different." There might be a family, friends, or a lover who can give you some of their time and money, but it's very difficult to find anybody who can sacrifice everything. If one can give his life, how great is this love?
The Bible also says in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." And thankfully, you've already received this great love. And you are receiving that love even now.
The One who gave you this love couldn't see that you were suffering and going the way of death. For this reason He chose to die for us, to give us life by giving His life. It is our Lord Jesus Christ who gave us the greatest love that cannot be compared with anything else in the whole world.
Do you feel this love every day of your life? We should not just know this love with knowledge. We so often hear that God is love and the Lord loves us. And because we hear it too often, we might become insensitive.
Each person has different feelings when they confess their love saying, "The Father, the Lord, I love You." Some say it without so much emotion. Some others say it feeling sorry because they feel they lack many things. The others already have overwhelming emotions even before they say it. Their eyes are already filled with tears.
The level of feeling the love of God is different from person to person depending on the extent to which they cultivated spirit. The more deeply you feel His love, the more deeply you can understand the Father's heart. Furthermore, you will love God the Father and the Lord foremost. As Mark 12:30 says, "and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength," you will love God with all your heart.
Because you realize the love given to you is so great, you don't feel wasteful even if you have to give all your life. The apostle Paul said in Romans 8:35. "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" In the continuing verses 38-39, he said "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Paul didn't care about any kind of hardship because the love of the Lord and the love of the Father were much greater than the difficulties he faced. I hope you will feel the love of God and the Lord in this way. Also, I hope you will believe that the love of the shepherd in wanting to lead you to New Jerusalem is also love for you personally.
If you feel all this love in your heart, it will be easy to cut off the world and cast away evil that used to be difficult to cast away. You will be able to march toward New Jerusalem without hesitation on account of the love that holds you until the end. I hope your lives will be filled with the love of the Father and the Lord.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Holy Communion has deep love of the Lord in it. What kind of love is it? It is the love to give eternal life to us even by dying on the cross and giving all His flesh and blood.
Today's reading passage John 6:53 says, "…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves." Namely, in order for us to maintain our spiritual life and furthermore grow up in spirit, we have to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man.
It's because, as John 6:55 says, "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink." In order to eat the flesh of the Son of Man, we have to make the words of God our spiritual bread. In order to drink His blood, we have to practice the words of truth with faith. Then, the truth will replace the untruths in our heart.
As love fills, hatred will leave. As humbleness comes in, arrogance will go out; as gentleness enters, bad-temper will depart from us. In order to have true life in us, as we learn the word of God, we must have the following deeds of practicing the words with faith.
Those who act in this way will enjoy eternal glory with the Lord later. Namely, they will eat and drink at the Lord's table having parties day after day in heaven that is prepared for us. Even now, the Lord is praying for us and looking forward to such a day. When we share this bread and wine today, I hope you will once again imprint the Lord's love on your heart. In so doing, may you love the Lord more and enjoy overflowing blessings in every aspect of your lives, I pray this in the name of the Lord! |
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