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Sermon > Theme Words of Life |
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Title |
2013 Prayer Titles(1) - Providence for the End Time |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 Timothy 2:4 |
Date |
2012-12-23 |
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Scripture
1 Timothy 2:4 [4] (God) who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Today, I will tell you about the 'Providence for the End Time' which is the 1st prayer title of the year 2013. Obeying the word of God, after the kick-off meeting of the new year, I will go to mountain to pray for weeks. Therefore, I will deliver messages on the Prayer Titles of the New Year earlier than previous years. I will talk about the 2nd Prayer Title during the upcoming Friday All-Night Service, the 3rd Prayer Title in the following Sunday Morning Service, and the 4th during the New Year Day Service. Dear brothers and sisters. The 1st prayer title for the Year 2013 is the 'Providence for the End Time.' 1 Timothy 2:4 says, "[God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Our Father God is the God of love who truly desires all men to be saved. Yet, not everyone can be saved. But God the Father set up this church to save as many souls as possible in the end time. As I talk about the providence for the end time I hope you can understand the duty of this church as well as your own respective role. Therefore, in the name of the Lord I implore all of you to participate to fully accomplish God the Father's Providence for the End Time. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. God the Father has the providence that He wants to accomplish through this church. That is, God the Father wants to reveal His heart to save 'Manmin' meaning 'all nations' or 'all the people' through this church. That's why He named this church 'Manmin Church.' Since I went to seminary college at the age of 37, I prepared to open a church even from the time I was a freshman. I especially prayed to God for my church to be named by God Himself. 3 years later, not long before I started this church, God gave me the answer. God said, "Name the church 'Manmin Church.'" When God called me as a servant of God, He said, "You will cross the mountains, rivers, and seas...to show to all nations by signs and wonders, that I am the living God." And He told me to become a 'big vessel' to preach the gospel to 'all nations.'" He also said, "When the time comes and you go on a pilgrimage, you will understand why I gave you this name 'Manmin.' " On my first pilgrimage in 1989, as I went to Gethsemane, I came to know why He said so. At Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to fulfill the providence of the cross and save all peoples and nations until His sweat became drops of blood falling to the ground. On the very place, I saw 'the Church of All Nations.' How touching and amazing it was! God the Father sent His one and only Son, Jesus, as an atoning sacrifice to save all nations and all people. And to fulfill His providence during the end time, He set up this church and named it 'Manmin Church.' At the beginning of the church, we named the church 'Manmin Church' but since we expected to have many branch churches, we renamed it 'Manmin Central Church.' And now, this church has over 10,000 branch and associating churches. As you can see, the providence that Father God would accomplish through this church was already contained in the name of this church. The great providence to save not only Mamin members, but all peoples of the world, was already in the Father's heart. Dear brothers and sisters. God the Father says that it is now the time to earnestly unfold the providence for the end time which has been kept in His heart. In a sense, God was making pre-preparations so far. To earnestly unfold the providence to save all peoples is to begin extensive spiritual warfare. A competent general makes thorough preparations before a battle. No matter how brave you are, you cannot win victories in war with only bravery. You must prepare good weapons first. In addition, your soldiers should be well trained. They should be able to handle the weapons skillfully, and they should be able to understand the strategy as well. Moreover, they should be ready to obey at the command of their officers. That is, military discipline should be well established. On top of these, they should be confident to surely win a victory. The same applies to spiritual warfare. To the extent you have a great desire to save souls, you should prepare yourself thoroughly. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." And the next verse 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." How has God the Father prepared us to accomplish the providence for the end time through this church? First, He equipped us with the highest level of tools for saving souls. To save souls, what is the most necessary tool? It is the Word of Life. Ephesians 6:17 says, "...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." The offensive weapon that penetrates the wicked scheme of the enemy devil and Satan is the 'Word of God.' As a spiritual warrior going out onto the spiritual battlefield, you must arm yourself with the word of God in spirit. That is, you not only must understand the word, but you must also live by the word. Only then can you be spiritually confident and go to fight without fear. Even in a fleshly sense, it is said that a master swordsman must be one with his sword. A spiritual warrior should be also one with the Sword of the Word. By the way, 'the word of God' is 'the bread of life' which we feed to the souls that we should save. Then, Amos 8:11 says, there will be "...a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD" in the end time. And Amos 8:12-13 says, "People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it. In that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint from thirst." I gave countless fasting and prayers to God, and God the Father gave to this church the 'Fivefold Gospel of Sanctification.' He has abundantly given this church the words to restore dying souls, the words to bless your soul to prosper, and the words to make all things go well with you on earth as well as to reach the highest glory in Heaven. In addition, He also gave the 'Power' to prove that the Fivefold Gospel of Sanctification is truly the word of God. As God gave me the power that belongs to God, I've been able to manifest countless signs and wonders. Additionally, this church has fervent prayers and gracious praises that enable the saved souls to maintain their fullness of the Holy Spirit and to increase their faith. Moreover, this church already found an initial way to go out for world mission through 12 Overseas Crusades and the 3-year-long Ministry in Israel. And we found the possibility for the worldwide parish through the broadcasting and publishing ministries. Dear brothers and sisters. God the Father allowed this church to be equipped in these ways with the best instruments to save souls. Comparing this with preparations for war, it is just as you are being armed with various state of the art weapons. However, what if soldiers cannot handle these weapons well, or they are physically weak? What if soldiers fall into disorder and what if they don't move systematically? Such an army cannot win victory in a warfare. It is the same with spiritual warfare. That's why, secondly, God the Father helped you grow up spiritually to completely accomplish the providence of the end time. Since God the Father knew how important it is, He has allowed this church to ride on a rapid flow of spirit since 2010. The flow of spirit came in like a huge wave and it has flowed like a strong current. Those who faithfully kept their faith were able to ride on the rapid flow of spirit well to make quick spiritual growth. On the hand, there were members who were overturned, broken, and smashed when they faced the rapid flow of spirit. They were those, unlike their outward appearance, who committed so many sins and act in unrighteousness. By that time, I felt deeply responsible for them as the shepherd, and gave intercessory prayers by staking my life as security for the members who wanted to repent. Then, God the Father had great mercy of forgiveness on them. He also gave you the longing heart for spirit. So in 2011, you voluntarily armed yourself with the Word, and you came to have a heart that enjoys prayer. It was the evidence that you truly longed for sanctification, As recorded in 1 Timothy 4:5 it says, "for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." As a result, this church made a splendid achievement to have a total of 34 men of spirit and of whole spirit in 2011. In addition, so many have passed 'the Rock of Faith' and have come close to Spirit. Even this year 2012, your faith made great growth. There are more numbers who passed the Rock of Faith, and 8 more members came into spirit to make it a total now of 42. The flow of spirit in 2012 was somewhat different from that of the year 2011. Your faith grew up sharply in 2011, but it grew up slowly in 2012. Some of you made a great progress, but the general growth in faith was less rapid than in 2011. It was because God the Father led the flow of spirit so that you could strengthen your faith in 2012. As He said to me when it is close to the year's end that He tested how truthful your trust and love for your shepherd really was. Once again in this year 2012, this church faced a real world difficulty. It seemed that the God the Father's word of promise was slow to be fulfilled. In such a situation, God the Father watched you whether you believed the shepherd's word as the word of God, or doubted it. Romans 4:19-22 says, "Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." God called Abraham at the age of 75, and promised him an amazing blessing. Therefore, Abraham could get his son Isaac, the seed of promise, at the age of 100. Yet, the word of blessing that God gave to Abraham at the age of 75 was true. It was never an exaggeration or a wrong promise. God could have kept the promise when Abraham was 76 or 77. But why did He keep it at his age of 100? The blessing that God would give to Abraham was not just receiving offspring. In Genesis 12:2-3, God said to Abram, "And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." From the moment God called Abram, God already had such a grand plan as this for him. It was to make Abraham become a blessing so that all the families of the earth could be blessed through Abraham. Since Abraham understood such a providence of God, he obeyed as God guided him. After passing the test of offering his only son Isaac as a burnt offering, he eventually was recognized as righteous by God and became the Father of Faith. The promise that God made with Abraham was fulfilled. God the Father wants you to have such faith as this. This is the faith that you believe in hope against hope; the faith that you never doubt the word of promise in any given situation. Especially, God wants you to trust the shepherd so that you can believe and obey the shepherd's word as the word of God. At the same time, God wants you to become one with the shepherd in love. The love is true only when you show your love in deeds and truthfulness, not just with your lips alone. Those who truly love God and truly love the shepherd will naturally want to share the burden of the shepherd together with him. They don't care about their interest, but they try to become strength with all their heart and mind. Father God said that there has been no other year than year 2012 for the last 30 years when your hearts were gathered so. There were so many of you gathered your hearts and minds to become strength to your shepherd. Then, the shepherd and members were bound by the cord of love that no one can break. Year 2012 was such a year of blessing like this. God the Father measured each individual's trust and love, and according to the measure, He gave you the spiritual faith from above. Especially those workers of faith could receive many capabilities in the flow of spirit in 2012. As they gathered their hearts and wisdom, and passed the difficulties, they are now equipped with capabilities to lead the era of Canaan Sanctuary. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. The more men of spirit we have in this church, the more completely we can accomplish the providence for the end time. In this end time, sin and evil are so rampant in the whole world that it is so dark. In this time, this church should arise and shine the light. This church should be able to shine the light of life and of truth to many souls who are wandering in the darkness. The brighter the light, the weaker the darkness. The more men of spirit we have in this church, the brighter our spiritual light. Therefore, we should have more men of spirit. When the time comes, the men of spirit will shine the light fully with the shepherd in their center. As a result, those who live in sin and evil will get more opportunities to receive salvation. Please remember that, to the extent you become spirit and whole spirit, the greater the number will be of souls that will have the opportunity to be saved. This is the calculation of the spiritual realm. Therefore, not only for your own glory, but even to meet the justice for the salvation of many souls, you should come into spirit. Even by my sacrifice and devotion as your shepherd, many members could get the chance of salvation and the grace of riding on the flow of spirit. Now it is time for you to take the role. It doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice and devote yourself as I did. All you have to do is do your job and have the devotion to come into spirit and whole spirit. And as a member of this church, fully shine the spiritual light. Then, those dying souls in the dark sin and evil can find the light and come out. As a result, you can also accomplish the providence of God who wishes to save as many souls as possible in the end time. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. In Mark 16:15, our Lord commanded His disciples to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." The reason God named this church 'Manmin' is to accomplish the providence for the end time. It is to shine the spiritual light on this generation that is under such deep darkness of sin and evil. For this, God the Father has prepared many things for this church. He gave us state of the art weapons for the spiritual warfare, and He let many spiritual warriors be born. In the new year 2013, many people will come into spirit and whole spirit in the flow of spirit. Just as Isaiah 60:1 says, "Arise, shine," you and I will shine the light and defeat the darkness. The result is well written in Isaiah 60:3. It says, "Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising." Imagine the moment when this word is fulfilled. What a glory it will be to God, and what joy will fill us! It will be the moment when God the Father's providence for the end time is completely accomplished through this church. Therefore, I wish you will come into spirit and whole spirit with a sense of duty. May you together accomplish the providence of God the Father and stand together in the line of glory, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray! |
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