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 Sermon > Spirit, soul and body |
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Title |
Spirit, soul and body(4) - The 1st lecture on - Spirit, soul and body(4) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1Th 5:23 |
Date |
2003-10-05 |
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[Scripture]
[1Thesslaonians 5: 23]
"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
[Table of Contents]
[Introduction]
: Spiritual farmer cultivating the heart of men
[Body]
: Heart capacity
* Heart capacity: Each one's heart capacity varies according to the attitude of listening to the Word of God, bearing it in mind and living by it.
(The path, rocky soil, thorny soil, good soil)
[Conclusion]
Wishing you to become a good vessel and have great heart capacity understanding why God created man from the dust of the ground, and to harvest 100 times as many crops as before.
[Introduction]
Dear congregation,
In the last week, we learned about God's choosing and setting apart.
Among innumerable people in the history on earth, God predestined and sets special figures apart or chooses some men passing through a certain criterion in order to fulfill the providence of human cultivation that He planned before time began.
And I preached that the way a seed of plants is sown on the soil and bears fruit later, a human life is conceived when a sperm and an egg are combined and human cultivation for a man begins to bear beautiful fruit of his soul.
The soil spiritually symbolizes the heart of man, which varies according to what he inputs, learns or memorizes into his heart soil, handed on to himself through his parents' life force, during his growth since birth.
In the early sessions of the lecture on spirit soul and body, we have first looked into the body to correctly understand our own spirit soul and body. The better understanding of your spirit soul and body will help you find your inner being and enter the higher level of spirit.
Today I will preach about each one's heart capacity and heart soil. I hope you associate with the heart of farmers, and well understand how to cultivate your heart to do good spiritual farming.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you enjoy the joy over the abundant harvest when your life of this world comes to an end.
[Body]
Dear congregation, members who are attending the service through the satellite all over the country, members of branch churches, branch sanctuaries, Light and Salt mission, Restaurant Mission, members who are attending the service through the Internet all over the world, and the children of Sunday School,
Today's title has relation to farming, so let's look into the soil.
To farmers the soil means a great thing.
Although you sowed the same seeds, watered the same and fertilized the same, the harvest of each field varies greatly in autumn according to the kind of the soil of each field.
The soil makes environment proper for the budding-out of seeds by combining the sunlight, fresh air and water, where the seeds sprout out and grow to produce harvest 100 times, 60 times or 30 times.
It is similar with the heart of men who are created from the dust of the ground.
When the seeds of the Word of God are sown to your heart, some bear much good fruit, others bear no fruit and still others bear empty fruit.
What makes each one bear different fruit?
That's because each of you has different heart soil. In short, each one's fruit varies because each one's heart soil is different.
For the better understanding, let's look into the heart soil of each one.
Dear congregation,
As explained before, each one's heart is formed through the combination of his inborn life force - what is inherited from his parents and memories of what he sees, hears and learns with feeling.
While each heart is being formed, each one stores up good things or evils in his heart. So, it is said in [Luke 6:45], "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Likewise each man stores up goodness or evilness in his heart on his own.
And each of you comes to have your own standard judging what is wrong or right as long as you store up something in your heart.
When you are a little child who inputs little in his heart, you accept something without judging it. But you come to have judgment standard as you grow up.
When you input something, each of you is different in bearing fruit according to what kind of heart soil you have.
For example, each one's attitude of listening to the word of God and accepting it is different. Some accept the word of God, saying "Yes," with the heart open wide, but some others deny or reject the Word of God because it does not agree with their knowledge and thought.
On the one hand, some listen to the Word of God eagerly and try their best to obey it, but others forget the Word of God although they received it with joy and inspiration.
Each one's attitude of listening to the Word of God, bearing it in mind, and acting by it is different according to his own heart soil, and the heart soil decides on each one's heart capacity.
I hope you examine what kind of heart soil and heart capacity you have through today's preaching about the sort of each one's heart. The Bible largely classifies the heart of men into four categories.
It explains how the seed of the Word of God is sown and bears fruit on the path, rocky soil, thorny soil and good soil, with the parable of sowing seeds.
First, the path cannot be actually called as a kind of soil. The path is made when so many people tread or tramp on it and it becomes very hard. You cannot dig up the path however hard you pickaxe it, and it is likely to be impossible that seeds are sown into the path or they sprout out. In brief, the path has nothing to with the work of life. Rather birds sit on it and eat up the seeds fallen to the path.
It explains to you some people whose heart is as hard as a path and stubborn in God's sight.
For example, the Jewish teachers in Jesus' days rejected Jesus performing powerful miracles and bounced His teaching because they were stubborn in their thought and framework of logic.
As is the same case with today, people whose heart is a hard path do not open the heart and reject the gospel although they witness God's powerful works, because their heart is very stubborn.
It is said in [Mark 4: 15], "Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them." When they hear the Word of God, Satan comes and takes it away because it was not sown in their heart.
In other words, Satan comes to the heart and takes away the word of God from the heart so that the Word cannot be sown and grow in heart. It indicates that they are unwilling to believe the word of God, deny it and judge or condemn the servants of God preaching the word.
In this manner, they harvest no fruit although the seed of the Word of God in their heart, because their heart is very stubborn and they do not open the heart toward the Word. At last, they cannot lead to salvation. So, they should break the hardened heart as soon as possible.
Next, there is the rocky soil. Rocky soil is better than the hardened path.
People having the heart of a path cannot understand the Word of God though they hear it because they do not have the desire to receive it, but people with the heart of rocky soil can understand the Word if they hear it.
As the past farmers know, seeds sprout out intermittently but do not grow well although they are sown to the rocky soil.
It says in [Mark 4: 5-6], "Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root."
Seeds sown onto the rocky soil sprout out quickly, but do not root deeply and wither soon because the rocky places do not have much soil.
Then, what kind of people has the heart of rocky soil? They are the ones who understand the Word but do not believe it from the heart. They say "Amen" when they hear the Word, and make up their mind to act by it, but do not keep the faith when they faced with difficulties.
They are joyful and thankful when they are moved at the Word, but are discouraged and change their heart in the face of hardships, persecutions, or troubles. Their lives are not accompanied with action because they have no assurance in the heart.
By the way, it is said in [MARK 4:17], "But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away."
'Because of the Word" here indicates the commands as follows; "Keep the Sabbath day" "Do not worship idols" "Serve others" "Lower yourself" and so on.
The people with the heart of rocky soil are disheartened and fall away when difficulties or persecutions come because they have not received the Word with faith.
How about your Christian life? You should check yourself if your heart is not changed or your word is not followed by action although you have lived a Christian life for a long time.
The people of Israel witnessed the Ten Plagues being brought onto Egypt and Moses part the Red Sea as they escaped from Egypt. However, they did not show their faith with action but complained against Moses, servant of God when God requested for their faith.
Thus, if you have stones in your heart, you must sort out them and take them away, and have true and unchanging faith accompanied with action.
Third, there is the heart of thorny soil.
People having the heart of thorny soil understand the Word of God and try to act according to it, but do not produce beautiful fruit because they do not act by the Word fully. What make them do so? That's because they have thorny heart.
[Mark 4: 19] divides thorny heart into three categories. It says, "the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful."
The people having this kind of heart soil seem to live according to the Word and live a good Christian lives, but they do not grow well in spirit and troubles and trials follow them. That's because there are the worries of this life, various anxiety, desire for money, and lust for the earthly things in them.
If they have this kind of heart full of worries and worldly desires, they appear to live by the Word temporarily but are liable to fall down when the temptation of money and various trials come.
[James 1: 8] defines those people as double-minded men. Thorns seem to be too trivial things to do harm to crops when they sprout out, but they become different to crops when they have grown.
Similarly, if you leave worldly worries and greed alone, Satan tempts you taking advantage of them shrewdly and causes you not to bear fruit. So, you must cut off thorns from the beginning, though they seem too little, if you find them. In other words, you must root out worldly worries and crucify your greed and sinful desires on the cross, and run your race in faith longing for the spiritual realm.
Lastly, there is the good soil. Good soil is not hard, or rocky or thorny. The soil is made into fertile land when a farmer plows it hard and cultivates it in earnest.
People having this good heart soil bear 100 times, 60 times or 30 times as much fruit as the seeds of the Word of God are sown because there is no obstacle in their hearts.
And upon them the blessings of God come and they receive whatever they ask as soon as possible.
If you say, "Why doesn't the blessings come to me from above although I have lived very faithfully until now?" or "Why have my problems not been solved and why troubles and hardships have stayed with me?" you should look into your heart soil. In other words, if so, you should measure yourself whether you have accomplished the heart of good soil and how much you have accomplished it.
If you wish to measure how much you have completed your heart into good soil, you have only to estimate how much you have obeyed the Word of GOD. It is easier for you to obey it as much as you have made your heart into good soil.
Some people do not act by the Word of God even though they hear and understand it because of tiredness, laziness or greed.
But the people having the heart of good soil begin to act by the Word as soon as they listen to and understand it because they have no obstacle in heart. Thus, people having the heart of good soil instantly act, if they understand that this is the will of God and that is pleasing to Him.
Although it were not easy for you to obey some commands of God, it has become easier for you to obey them as much as you cultivated your heart into good soil, hasn't it?
For example, you hated someone before but you came to love him. You did not pardon someone before, but you can forgive him now. Your heart was full of envy and judging others, but was changed into the one full of love and mercy. Your arrogance was demolished and conversely you became humble and serve others.
In this manner, when get rid of every kind of evil and circumcise your heart by the Holy Spirit, you are cultivating your heart into good soil.
What will happen if the seeds of the Word of God fall to the good soil? They sprout out, grow vigorously and finally bear abundant fruit like the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit.
In addition, when you have made your heart good soil, you can pray powerfully and fervently enough to call down the power of God from above because God-generated comes upon you. And you can live according to the will of God listening clearly to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
If you make the heart of good soil, and listen to and obey the word of God, it proves that your heart capacity is great. The Bible classifies each one's heart capacity into a few vessels made of gold, silver, wood or clay.
God knows what the heart vessel of each one is like. He sees the heart of each one and sets apart proper men to use them for God's plan because He foreknows about their heart vessel that they would struggle against their selves and change their heart into good soil.
For example, God already set apart the apostle Paul when he was in a womb and refined him to use him greatly because He foreknew that he would become a very precious vessel if his nature and life force were demolished through trials.
The Lord Jesus Himself met Paul because he used to live by the Law of God before then and love God more than anything else, so Paul was faithful for the Lord to the point of death without changing his heart at all.
In this manner God selects and appoints His servants and workers. He selects and uses proper men seeing their heart vessels because He knows who will lead more people to the way of salvation and who will be more faithful to the kingdom of God.
Then, what kind of heart vessel do you have in the sight of God?
In fact, some are inspired, other are changed, but still others do not so much experience spiritual change as fall into temptation even when they all listen to the same word at the same time and at the same place.
That's because the seeds of the Word of God bear different fruit according to the kind of heart soil. Accordingly, it is important for you to sow the seeds of the Word of God as diligently as possible, but more important for you to change your heart into good soil.
The way it is said in [Psalm 103: 14], "for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust," we men are made from dust. For this reason, our heart becomes unplowed and wasted soil and is filled with weeds if we leave it alone.
You should be a diligent farmer to plow the heart soil and cultivate it hard. In other words, you should listen carefully to the word of God, bear it in mind and acy according to it. Your heart capacity and vessel depends on how much you act by the Word.
The seeds of the Word of God are differently sown onto each one's heart according to whether you listen carefully to the Word, or whether you listen to it thinking useless things or whether you listen to it in drowse or unconsciousness. However may times you may listen to the Word, keeping it in inner heart is one thing but hearing it superficially is another.
It says in [Acts 17: 11], "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." And it is said in [Hebrews 2: 1], "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away."
Therefore, you should first listen to the Word correctly and bear it in your inner heart to make your heart good soil and capacity.
Just as it is said in [Luke 2:19], "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart," Mary was a good heart vessel considering the Word of God very precious and storing up it in her heart.
Thus, you can become a good vessel and get proper for God's use when you act by the Word you understand.
[Conclusion]
Dear congregation,
We all are the field God cultivates just as it is said in [1 Corinthians 3: 9], "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."
Men of the good field act according to the Word they understand and become good vessel like gold ones.
This case is the same applied when they listen to the message on spirit soul and body.
Some forget the Word after they hear it, others concentrate on listening to the Word and put it in mind trying not to miss a single word, and still others find themselves when listening to the Word and act by it. That is the difference of heart vessel.
Our lives on earth are the process where we cultivate our heart into good soil. It is said in [Proverbs 28: 19], "He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty."
Therefore I hope in the name of the Lord that you completely make this message your spiritual food this week, apply it to your own life and accomplish the heart of good soil that harvest 100 times crops. |
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