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 Sermon > Sunday Evening Service |
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Title |
One in Heart |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Joshua1:6-9 |
Date |
2008-03-30 |
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Passage
Joshua 1:6- 9
"Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has allowed us this 2008 Men's Mission devotional service.
I also give thanks to all the devotees who have prepared for this service with all your heart, mind, and soul. Dear Men's mission members of the main church and all of the branch churches all over the country, it's not an exaggeration to say this is the most important time for our church since its beginning.
Today's passage verse 6 says, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them." In the same way, we also have to be strong and courageous and go into the blessed land of Canaan as God commanded us.
For this, not only pastors and Levites but also all the members have to prepare the proper vessel to build Canaan Sanctuary.
We have to be united as one in heart and will to fulfill this duty.
The meaning contained in the construction of Canaan Sanctuary is not just the building itself. First, Canaan Sanctuary is closely related with the construction of the Grand Sanctuary.
Through this Canaan Sanctuary, God is training and refining us to be capable of constructing the Grand Sanctuary as well.
Also, as the word 'Canaan' suggests, once we go into the Canaan Sanctuary, it will be the time of blessings in full scale.
The things that have been promised to us by God since the opening of the church will be revealed very soon.
God will let this church shine above all the earth, and let the kings of the nations turn their attention toward us and come to us.
Also, for you personally, as you have been sowing and acting, God will let you reap abundant blessings.
In this sense, the Canaan Sanctuary is not a job given to just few of the workers. There is not just the matter of building it, either, but there is a job given to both you and me. That is the responsibility to accomplish the sanctuary of our heart.
Therefore, you should not be wasting any time.
Just as workers prepare to lay the foundation and put up the pillars of the sanctuary, you have to prepare yourself in spirit and body.
When each of God's promises is fulfilled one by one, you must gain the capabilities to perform your duty at the highest level.
Especially, the Men's Mission has to be like the backbone among the many mission groups in accomplishing the ministry of this church.
It is true when we consider your positions in the home, your social status, age, experience, and in every aspect as men. Do you agree to this point?
Of course, even now, many of you members of the Men's Mission are playing crucial roles in accomplishing God's kingdom. But until the Lord comes back again, we need more workers who are like pillars in fulfilling the ministry of our church completely.
Those workers of God who are used preciously must have their souls in a condition of prosperity. They must be receiving blessings in their families and workplaces.
Through this devotional service, I hope all of you will become spiritual warriors who can be used for noble purposes.
Body
Dear devotees, let us repeat the title of today's message.
"In One Heart". What God asks of you today is this.
It means our heart has to be one.
When the heart is one, the intention of the "one heart" will be the same, and the purpose and methods to accomplish a certain work will be the same. When ten people work very hard, but each on one's own work, the fruit cannot be compared with when all of them work together as one.
Then, how can you have one heart? First, you must have the same viewpoint.
To have the same viewpoint is to look at everything with the eyes of faith and to look up toward New Jerusalem.
What is it to look at everything with the eyes of faith? We can understand this from the case of the twelve spies.
After they spied the land of Canaan, Joshua and Caleb looked at the situation with faith, but the other ten could not.
Two of them had the eyes of faith and the other ten looked at the reality of what they saw. Seeing differently, they could not be united as one.
But when they crossed the Jordan River and conquered the city of Jericho, everyone looked at it with the eyes of faith as one. When the priests were told to step in the flooding Jordan River, they were not afraid of death.
They did not look at the rapid flow of the river but expected the work of God and took their step. When they stepped on the river with one heart, the flow of the Jordan River stopped at that moment.
When we accomplish God's works, if just a couple of people look at a matter through eyes of doubt, it affects the whole group negatively.
That is why when the Israelites were marching around the city of Jericho, they all kept silent. They did not complain saying, "What is just marching around the city going to accomplish? What if they begin to shoot arrows and we get hit? This is dangerous to just march around like this!"
They didn't even think those things.
They only looked up to God who would accomplish everything and obeyed with one heart. When they did that, something impossible from the viewpoint of reality took place. The strong walls collapsed by themselves.
Brothers and sisters, since the opening of this church, all the things of this church have been accomplished with the eyes of faith. No matter what it was, when God commanded something I never said it was difficult or impossible.
I only discerned what God wanted, saw it with the eyes of faith, and obeyed.
But having the eyes of faith does not mean that you do not know how the things are going on in this world. It is not just gazing up into the sky and not doing what you are supposed to do.
If such a thing were faith, why would God send twelve spies to check out the land of Canaan?
Also, when they conquered the city of Jericho, Joshua sent the spies to scout the situation of the city. They knew about every situation in reality, and they knew very well that it was impossible to accomplish by men's power.
But because it was commanded by God, they believed in God and sought His will.
At the same time, they tried to find something they could do and lay the foundation of faith.
Such was my case, too.
I know the nature of this world. I also know that, as evil people seek their own benefit, they can act with incredible evil.
I know how much money it costs to accomplish great works, and I know that we cannot acquire such a great amount of money by our own strength.
Nevertheless, I just obeyed when God commanded something.
By believing, I did not just think it would be done and rested and slept in peace and comfort.
2 Corinthians 11:28 says, "Apart from such external things (namely all the sufferings of being beaten, hungry, and so on), there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches."
As said, I always have many kinds of burdens on my heart to reveal the glory of God.
When I am so anxious about accomplishing great works, I cannot get any sleep for several days, and I also run out of energy.
Sometimes, figuratively, I 'step into the flowing Jordan River', but the river doesn't stop, and the reality of the situation floods even more.
But I keep on accomplishing God's work without being shaken, but only with confessions and deeds of faith. Now, God wants this kind of faith not only from me but also from all of you.
Each of your steps has to stop the flow of Jordan River, and the walls of the city of Jericho have to fall. Next, to have the same viewpoint, we have to look up to New Jerusalem. All the works of God that you do are not for glory or praise on this earth.
Of course, when we work faithfully for the kingdom of God, He blesses us even on this earth.
But even though we may not have any rewards on this earth, we look forward to the rewards in heaven. Then we can do all things with joy.
Also, to have one heart, we must all look toward New Jerusalem from all the different heavenly dwelling places.
Sometimes, when the leaders are trying to gather the heart of the members, some members think in a different way from the beginning.
They think, "Those leaders have the faith to go into New Jerusalem, so they are urging us more. But I don't have the faith to go into New Jerusalem. Maybe I can go to only First Kingdom or Second Kingdom of heaven, so I will do only this much."
But God wants all of you to come into spirit and whole spirit. He wants everyone to enter into New Jerusalem.
This is the greatest hope of the Father God. It is also the true meaning of 'recovering the price of the blood of the Lord'.
In order to guide you to New Jerusalem, God does not give up even up to the very last moment of human cultivation.
Also, as a shepherd, I do not give up on any of you.
But are there any of you who give up on yourselves thinking you don't measure up and so you don't need to do anymore than you do?
Hebrews 10:38 says, "But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him." I ask all of you, not only some leaders among you, to look up to New Jerusalem.
We have to unite in heart as one with that hope for New Jerusalem!
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. When you try the best looking up to New Jerusalem, you will soon find that your heart is changed.
You will not only have the hope, but New Jerusalem will actually be realized in your heart.
I earnestly hope that I will be able to see each of you in New Jerusalem.
Dear devotees and members, to have one heart, secondly, we have to input good things into our hearts and minds.
This is necessary not only for the men's mission members, but for all the church members. Especially, those leaders of the church and the leaders of the different parts of the Church must keep this in mind.
Even though we have the same purpose, we can truly be united as one only when each of us has goodness in the heart.
According to how much our hearts are united in goodness, the things may go easily or they may not.
In the process of conquering the Land of Canaan, there was one person who caused great difficulty for Israel. It was Achan.
On the outside, Achan fought in the dangerous battle as if he had one heart with all.
But Achan did not have goodness in his heart. Instead he had disobedience and a desire for money.
He participated in the battle risking his life, but because he did not harbor goodness in heart, his heart could not be united as one with all Israel. As a result, he himself was destroyed, and he caused the defeat of Israel at the city of Ai.
When we do God's works all of us should harbor goodness in heart.
According to whether we have goodness and desire for God's glory or whether we have the desire for personal fame, the hearts can be united as one or they may be separated.
When the workers do the work of God, they all say that they are working for the kingdom of God and they love the church and the shepherd.
But no matter how passionately they work, if they do not put goodness in their hearts, they cannot be recognized by God.
In Korea's history, when different factions were fighting against one another, each of the divisions said they were standing up for the country, for people, and the king. But in fact, under that pretext, they sought their own righteousness, selfish desires, and their personal authority.
They were not working with forgiveness, service, sacrifice, and goodness of heart.
All of the different factions said that they loved the country, but there was so much bloodshed, struggle, and hardships that they caused for the country and the people.
When you do something for God's kingdom, you have to put goodness in your heart.
You have to have the foundations of concession, forgiveness, peace, service, sacrifice, and endurance.
Let me give you an example. Suppose that the United Mission Leader is trying to prepare for an event, what should the mission leaders and small group leaders think about it?
They should think, "I am grateful that the United Mission is trying to add to the strength of the church through this event, I will cooperate as best as I can." But some may have different thoughts.
"Even if this is done well, only those leaders who are initiating this work will be acknowledged and praised. So what use is it for me to work so hard?"
Also, from the standpoint of a leader, he may feel some other workers are not really cooperating in working with the whole group.
Are you still thankful and joyful?
Do you think, "I will have to pray more and receive more power; I should understand them with the heart of the Father and heart of the shepherd."?
Or, do you think, "This is for the whole church so why don't they all care more about it? They should obviously obey according to the order, so why don't they?" Do you have discomfort or even become angry with them?
I sincerely hope that you won't have any kind of discomfort and have thoughts like, "Workers only care for their own work. They seek their own. It's so difficult for me because there is nobody to help me. I won't try this hard again next time. I'll just let them be as they are."
Of course, the system of order must be maintained in spirit and in flesh. But before we insist on the order, it is goodness to think from the other's viewpoint first.
Also, when we express our opinion before many people, please look back on yourself as to what kind of attitude and heart you have.
If you have a better idea, you can certainly let others know about it.
But if the leaders or other workers do not accept it, what should you do?
If you always try to follow goodness, you will humbly accept the decision of the majority. Even though your opinion may actually be better and even though you have to be self-sacrificing when you follow the opinion of the majority, you should follow it. You should obey unless it is absolutely untruth.
Also, to bear the best fruit concerning what has been decided, you should sacrifice and devote yourself to one heart.
But, when some people express their opinions, some of them become aggressive towards other opinions.
Also, after insisting many times that others should accept their personal opinion, some people will withdraw if their opinions are not accepted.
This is not letting go of their own opinion and allowing their heart to become as one with others. On the outside, it may seem that they no longer insist on themselves and follow the majority, but in fact, they close their heart completely.
They don't want to hear that they are breaking peace, so they just do what they have to do. They have the ability to help make things better, or to stop something from going wrong, but they just ignore the situation.
It's because they don't want something that they opposed to go well.
Or, it's because even though they work hard, they will not receive any praise or recognition for it. When the fruit does not bear well, they somehow express that they were right.
In accomplishing God's works, the most important thing that God considers is the aroma of goodness.
The point is not who is right or who is wrong and who bears more fruit and who does not.
God wants all of you to respect, understand, serve, and forgive one another. When the children of God resemble the Father and become one with good hearts, the fruit will be taken care of by God.
God will give you the voice of the Holy Spirit to change impossible into possible and possible into better.
Because Satan cannot bring any accusations, God can give us fruits of blessings as much as He wants.
Therefore, I urge you to always put goodness in the heart, discern with goodness, and be united as one in goodness.
Conclusion
Dear devotees and members, God's work will be accomplished by God. It's not done by men's power or ability. It's done only by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Men are merely used as instruments. It's all the same for the Canaan Sanctuary, the Grand Sanctuary, revival, and world mission, and your personal blessings.
Even the things that cannot be done by human power can be done by God. While men sow one and then reap one, God can make us sow one and reap 30, 60, or 100 times what is sown.
But to reap like that, we have to sow in spirit. To sow in spirit means that we all members and leaders have to be united as one.
It is to look everything with the eyes of faith and hope, and gather our hearts in goodness.
I hope not only the men's mission members but also all the members and leaders will keep this message in heart.
Leaders of the consolidated united missions, united missions, missions, and small groups, and all the members have to be united as one in heart, without any separation of heart.
By doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will all accomplish God's kingdom greatly and reap spiritual and material blessings abundantly.
Amen |
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