Monday, December 31, 2012

Yesterday

"You shall not go out with haste, ... for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" (Isaiah 52:12). Security from Yesterday. "... God requires an account of what is past" (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God's grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present. Security for Tomorrow. "... the LORD will go before you...." This is a gracious revelation- that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our "real guard." And God's hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience. Security for Today. "You shall not go out with haste...." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswlad Chambers]

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

With What Will You Stand Before God?

With what will you stand before God? What are you surrendering to God? Is it your state of evil? Or having been washed clean by the blood of Christ, will you stand before Him in holiness? How will you stand before God? How can you stand before God? Though these are the last days, to each of us our last day is the day we are called to Him. The day we die is our last. What will you take with you on that day as you stand before God? What will be the things that you confess to God as you stand before Him? Will you stand before Him saying that you are nothing more than a sinner and have nothing to offer to Him? There are two choices. When the road divides it is either Heaven or Hell. Where you end up will be decided by the life that you live here on earth. While you were here on earth did you believe in Jesus or did you not? It would be nice to enter Heaven because you attended church. But you will not be able to go. In Revelations it is revealed to us that only a few will enter into Heaven. Yet many people believe that if you speak the name of Jesus that you will enter into Heaven. To put it differently each church believes that all their members will enter into Heaven. How nice it would be if they all did go. But they will not. This is the problem. The number to enter into Heaven will be few. What path do you think that you are on? There are only two choices. It is either a life lived with faith in Jesus in repentance that you will offer to God or a life lived in sin in obedience to the devil. These are your two choices. In each of your lives which path are you living? Are you on God's side or the devil's side? Those who stand on God's side will go enter into Heaven. But there are many of you who say that you want to believe in God but also want to live in this world. You have 1 foot on one path and another foot on the other path. It would be nice to enter into Heaven like this, but you cannot enter into Heaven this way. This leads to hell. For those who do not believe in God their destination is hell. But the problem lies with those who say that they do believe in God. Those who have no desire to know God have no chance. Those who say they believe in God and believe in Jesus but do not live a life of love to God but attend church will also end up in Hell. Ask anyone who goes to church and they all say that they will go to Heaven. What happens if you do not enter into Heaven? You already know inside if you are going to Heaven or if you are not. You may lie to yourself and tell yourself that you will go to Heaven, but many will not enter into Heaven. There are many testimonials about repentance. No you read these testimonials nothing is stirred inside to repent, to change. In your mind you are good. These people share their stories about the years of service to God and in hindsight realizing that they did not truly believe in Jesus, that they did not know God properly. They share that they did not live their lives as a true Christian. Though we hear these testimonials we make no connection with it in our lives. These testimonials or an opportunity for us to reflect on our lives and to see if we are truly living for Christ. But are you choosing to live in deception? Whose heart will be broken? It is our Lord. Why? It is because for each of us He came and died on the cross. For you. For me. To not waste the precious blood, we must be washed in it and stand before God. But by our thoughts, attitudes and actions we give no importance to this. Rather, we desire to enter into Heaven by our works, attending church, giving offering, serving others, going on missions. You do not enter into Heaven because you have dreams, visions, or hear God's voice. If you have been redeemed then you must stay that way until you stand before God. All the things that you have seen and heard, what use will it be? Many have fallen into this trap. Because of this many pastors are now saying that the gifts of the Spirit are not important. This is not so. They are very important. But you cannot enter into Heaven because you have these gifts. Many of us know the Scriptures very well. We even carry our Bibles around with us. But there is no use in carrying around the Bible unless we read it, believe it and live our lives according to it. I have spoken on this before. But you have no sense and understanding. When we sing praises, what is the attitude of your heart? We sing the lyrics "we repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus." Do you really mean what you sing? Do you repent and sing your praises and worship God so that you may draw closer to Him? Or do you sing because it pleases you, or because the person next to you is singing it or because the one leading worship is leading you to do so? Are you truly praising God? When God calls you, what would it take for you to confess to Him that you are filled with joy to now come and see Him? What kind of person must you become? What kind of person will be able to joyfully lay down all the burdens of this world and run to God when they are called? Or in the last days will you fight with whatever strength you have left to live here a little bit longer? Or will you be reminded of your sins and ask God for little bit more time so that you may repent? Or will you ask God to give you a little bit more time to spread His good news for His Kingdom? Where do you stand? Where do you wish to stand? There are those who breathe their last breath in peace. There are those who breathe their last breath in fear. In your last moments how do you wish to pass? My wish is to die peacefully in my sleep. But that is not up to me. We live in a different time where technology is more advanced than in the past. We can die in our cars, in planes, or in boats. But when we live before God, no matter what type of death we may meet, that moment is brief in passing and there is no fear in death for we are prepared to meet it knowing we are going to meet our Father. We are going as a bride to meet Jesus our groom. As believers, when we speak of death, we mean moving from this life to a new life. I think rather than the term death "moving" is a more fitting term. Though our bodies may die our spirits do not, and our spirits continue on to meet Jesus. We are going as brides to meet our groom. We use the term death because our physical bodies are buried here. What are you going to do when you are called? Examine your life today. You get angry when something does not go your way. There is no peace inside of you. If someone says something nice to you then you are pleased and happy. But as followers of Christ how are we to be joyful? Does it mean that everything for us is happiness and joy without pain and suffering? No it is not. For both believers and nonbelievers there is suffering and joy. If there is an earthquake all will be affected. Both believers and nonbelievers experience the same storms. How is it that those who believe in Jesus find peace in the midst of these storms? Why do they have peace? We have peace because we are satisfied in Jesus alone. By being with Jesus, no matter how difficult our circumstance, we are filled with joy. Though we may be lacking, we have faith in a true God. Though we may be sick, in pain, suffering and dying, we have hope. We have a home that we are going to. And we have a hope that we will be going there. Here for both believers and nonbelievers there are difficulties, but the reason that we can be joyful, is because we are satisfied in God alone. When we are not satisfied in God alone, in Jesus alone, our focus is put on this world and we are overcome by our difficulties. Here is momentary, in Heaven it is eternal. This short life if long is but 100 years. Though life here is short you have much difficulty. How will you live in eternity? If you do not enter into Heaven but go to Hell it is a place where you will not be living. In the arms of the Father it is eternal joy and happiness. In the arms of the devil it is eternal suffering. It is not a place for the living. But it is also not a place where you die. Eternity is not only for those who enter into Heaven. Eternity also awaits those who go to Hell. If you were to go to Hell and die, then live how you want here and then move on. But this is not the case. There is no death in either Heaven or Hell. The place you go to be embraced by the Father is a good place. What will be your choice? What side will you choose? The choice is in your hands. You keep asking God to save you. God has sent His Son to die on the cross and carry away all your sins. So who must choose? I have to choose. We have been given free will. We must take this free will and go to the Father. I choose whether I believe or disbelieve. You cannot force someone to believe. I have met a person who has been visited by God many times but they choose not to believe in Him. God continues to knock on that person's heart because He loves him. The issue is not whether God is knocking on your heart or not, though He may knock you still refuse to open the door to meet Him. Do not be comfortable in what faith that you have, with the visions that you are shown but rather continue to hold on to God and do not let go. In this moment the devil is seeking to devour you. He is looking for the smallest opportunity in your anger, in your frustration, when you judge, when you are bound to merit and material treasures, when you do not love, when you hate, the devil will come into your heart and tempt you to sin. Who opens the door? I open the door. Then you go and blame the devil. You say that you did not want to but the devil made you do it. No, you are the one to open the door to him. You open the door and judge others. You are the one to refuse to accept God. There is no scripture from Genesis to Revelations which tells us to disbelieve God and go to Hell. Even in this moment God continues to patiently wait for us to come to Him. He tells us to come to Him. The Israelites continued to rebel against God. You and I are like the Israelites. When you read the Bible about the Israelites you see their stubbornness and rebellion. You also are like them right now. When we read the Bible we make judgments. Why did God put these things in the Bible? It is to show us how we are. When things go our way we throw God away. We think that we have achieved the blessing. We think that we are worthy of the grace that God gives us. We are not worthy of the grace that God gives us. Have you received much grace? Then it is because you are the least worthy. But those of us who receive grace think that it is because we are worthy of it. How lacking and unworthy we must be to need God's grace? But the moment we receive some grace we become stiff necked and think that God only loves us. How foolish to think so. To have had faith in the past, to see visions and to have been shown Heaven has nothing to do with your faith now. Do not live in deceit. God is concerned with your condition now. If in this moment you are living in sin then repent. If you turn to God and believe in Him and follow Him now then God will forgive you. We think because we have met God 10 or 20 years ago that that is sufficient to go to Heaven. Though you may have met God 10 or 20 years ago if you are not following Him today you will not go to Heaven. God promises to forgive us today for our sins that we have been living in until yesterday. And though your sins be as scarlet He will wash them white as snow. We must daily stand before God and repent. If God calls you tonight and you stand before Him where must we end up going? Where should we go? Even thinking about Hell is scary. It is truly a place we must not go. We must not go is Hell. No matter how difficult and painful your life may be here on earth, though you may describe it as Hell, it is nothing compared to the real Hell. Here on earth there are places where you can escape. Once you enter into Hell there is no escape. While you are alive, still here on this planet, you must truly follow Jesus the right way. Every day in the news we are reminded that people are dying constantly. Though there are natural disasters not everyone dies. But once you enter into Hell there is no way to leave. No one can help you. Even Jesus Christ cannot help you there. Before you leave this earth you must repent. Repent now. You may think that you may enjoy your life a little while longer and then repent. That would be nice. But that is not how it happens. Now, when you know, when you have realized, repent and turn to God. Then you will be able to stand before God. You must choose whether to stand before God or the devil. God does not desire to let you go, and neither does the devil. Whose hand will you hold onto? Whose hand to use desire to hold onto? Someone has told me recently after listening to my sermon that my message is too hard. I also desire to preach a soft message. But if I do so your souls will not enter into heaven. What use is a soft message? If you are listening to this message and are pierced and convicted, then repent. Someone has also told me that I scold a lot in my sermons. Yes, I do. If I could praise you in my sermons and you could enter into heaven then I would do so. What if I praise you in my sermons and you do not change and you do not enter into Heaven? When I stand before God I will be held accountable. I believe that each soul is precious. The power to choose is in your hands. You decide whose hand you will hold onto. Do you truly desire to stand on God's side? You must stand on God's side. In order to do so you must let go of all the things that you are holding onto in this world. The world cannot offer anything that is better than Jesus Christ. There is nothing more you need to have than Jesus Christ. Even your very life is nothing compared to Jesus Christ. Your family is nothing compared to Jesus. Spouses, husbands and wives, they have been given to you by God, and you are to give glory to God through your relationship, but if it becomes a stumbling block before God, then it is a problem. You are to support each other that you may each draw closer to God. Our children are a precious gift given to us by God. But in our greed, if our children are a stumbling block before God, then what use do our children become to of us? The material wealth that you have, if it is a stumbling block, then it is of no value. Your bodies, you are to be healthy. But in your health if you sin, then it is better to be sick. It is better to go to Heaven in suffering. The Bible tells us that if our eyes causes us to sin then to pluck it out. If our hand causes us to sin then to cut it off. Why was this written? Do you think God finds pleasure in you plucking out your eyes or cutting off your hands? God knows it is better that you lose your eye, hand, or a leg and enter into heaven than to sin and go to Hell. Why? It is because He loves you. It is because He truly loves us. Do not sin. You must put effort into sinning no more. Pride precedes a fall. Pride is your stubbornness. It is what you refuse to let go of. Though you hear many sermons you do not change, though you repeat what you have heard well. Please, change. Please, be transformed. Please, stand right before God. What use is it to write your summaries of the sermons if you refuse to change? What use is it to say that you will change and never change? All you do, you do unto God. You are not doing to me. Though our number maybe small, God desires that each of you would all go to Heaven. I desire this for you. How could our Lord who paid for your souls with His very life want any less? God does not want to lose a single soul. Why would God leave 99 sheep and go and search for the one that is lost? You are the one that is lost. But you think you are doing well. You are not. Maybe I also am not. If you truly understand the heart of Christ, even in the slightest, we cannot live like this. Jesus Christ love us enough to sacrifice His life for us on the cross. God loves us enough to send His only Son to die for us. We think that we are worthy. We are unworthy and so pathetic that God needed to send His only Son to save us. We must move according to His love. We must understand this love. When we know this love then we can choose where we will go. Where should we go? Should you live how you desire and end up in Hell? Should you live according to God's will and go to Heaven? Where should we go? Please, do not sadden the heart of our Father. Please, do not waste the blood of Jesus. Please, obey the guiding of the Holy Spirit. If you listen to the guiding of the Holy Spirit and obey, you will enter into Heaven. The Holy Spirit will not lead you to do the work of the devil. The Holy Spirit is one with the Father. The Holy Spirit is guiding us to the Father. We must be one with the Spirit. When God asks you where will you stand, may you decide to stand before God this very moment. Sermon by Pastor Joy Lee Translation by Miguel Park

Friday, December 7, 2012

Luke 12:49-52

Baptized into living a new life and cleaving yourself from sin. Luke 12:49-52 49 "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. Last week we learned about baptism and how it relates to Thanksgiving. Is there anyone that remembers what we had discussed about baptism? We discussed what true baptism was and the life that followed. I ask you to reflect on this past week and see if you lived the life that bore the fruit of baptism. In today's passage we see that our Lord has come to bring fire. Then he says "But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!" Last week I had mentioned that there was a separate baptism of Jesus. "But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!" If the water baptism that we perform at church in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and also the other types of water baptism where we submerge the individual in water is a complete baptism and Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist, then why did Jesus need to go through a separate baptism? Is not the meaning of the water baptism and the baptism that Jesus will go through a different type of baptism? If that is so then is the water baptism that we go through a complete baptism? And if you say it is so then does it signify that you have been saved? Do you go to heaven because you were baptized? Are you complete once you have received your seminary degree? You may think that you have all the necessary tools to save souls, but why would Jesus need to go through a separate baptism? What is the difference? Then he goes on to say "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division." And then he talks about the division within the family. Does this make sense? First he talks about fire then a separate baptism then division. The logic is difficult to understand. Mark 10:35-39 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37 They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." 38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" 39 "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, When Jesus is asking "can you drink the cup I drink would be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, He is letting us know that we must die. We must die to sin and be born into a new life. This is participating in the baptism. The final baptism of Jesus is death. He is revealing to us that he must die on the cross. There is a path that leads up to the cross. It is the path of suffering. Each moment he suffers He is drinking from the cup of suffering. To say that I participate in the baptism of Jesus is to suffer in my daily walk with him. In the daily life of faith there are many things that do not go to the way we so desire. But if in those moments I try to force my will upon the situation then it is I who lives. But rather than do what I desire and surrender myself and do what Jesus wants this is suffering. Conflict is suffering. Jesus suffered greatly for me. If I to am to suffer for him and participate in the baptism, though I do not suffer physically as he did for me the conflict which arises in me is the suffering to which I must surrender and die to. Only then can I say that I am living a life in participation with the baptism of Jesus. To say that you are participating in the resurrection without the death you are only deceiving yourself. Can there be resurrection without death? No there cannot. There is only glory in the resurrection of Jesus because he had died. This is how he has overcome the power of death. If this is so, then all the desires of this world must die within me in order to have a spiritual resurrection. If this is to be where must we put our focus? It is the cross. We must be at the cross where Jesus has died for me so that we do not lose focus and die with him. But our problem is we do not go to the cross. I use myself as an example. I try and teach you many things. But last week I was scolded many times. Do you know why? I fail to see that God was using the other person to show me my anger. For example my wife and I we were discussing many things. I used the excuse that because it was between a husband and wife that it must be according to my standards. Do you not do this amongst yourselves? The moment I hear what she has to say I get upset. The moment I hear what she says I have already made up my mind. The moment I hear what she says something is already stirring up from within me. Rather than see that God is using her to give me a message I try to appease myself by saying that I am the husband, the head of the household, and what not. By not seeing the whole picture at some point I come to realize that I am fallen behind in my walk. When it is between two people and it slowly accumulates it is possible that you are unaware. But when I had received a phone call from someone else I had made a judgment about them I got angry and realized that I was wrong. We fail to see that God is using someone else to show us the things that we need to change within ourselves in humility but rather than see things this way we react with our own thoughts and judgment. This is a problem. I read this article today. It said to be careful of your thoughts. Why? Because what we think comes out in our speech. What you think does not end with your thoughts eventually it will come out in what you speak. Then it said to be careful of what you speak because it will turn into action. Then it said to be careful in how you act because how you act will become a habit. It said be careful of your habits because it will form your character. Then it goes on to say be careful of your character because it will affect your life. By having one wrong thought it will change your entire life. Do you think so? We do not. We assume that it is okay to think any thought. But if we take what I have just read and reflect on our lives and where we are today we can see that it is our thoughts that have brought us here. If we take the children and instill in them the proper thoughts and attitudes to have dreams and goals to glorify God then when they get to be our age they can live a life that continues to glorify God. If we reflect on our own lives and see that we are not living according to the scripture it is because our thoughts are wrong and have been so since we were young. We do not realize that we have started off with wrong thoughts in our childhood. Then where do these thoughts come from? It comes from our environment. By environment we are talking about the family. If in the family you are not teaching your children and showing them how to live by example then your children will have be learning the wrong way to think. If this is what you are teaching them, then by the time they get to be our age that is where they will end up. Whose responsibility is this? It is the responsibility of the parents. We do not think like so. We must realize how important this teaching is. But we fail to do so. There was a teaching that says when somebody tells you that you are wrong rather than getting upset reflect and look within yourself. If you search within you and fail to find any fault then you may ignore that person. But if you search within yourself and find that there is something that is wrong then all you have to do is change it. You must choose either one or the other. You must not get angry. But how do we react when someone tries to teach us or tell us that we are wrong? Do we not get angry and frustrated? This is wrong. If nonbelievers are teaching us wisdom on how we are to live our lives and we as believers are not living this life then we are wrong. Even if someone were to persecute us point fingers in anger at us we must have the attitude to move beyond that circumstance and to learn and grow from it. The one who can control their emotion no matter what happens in their presence is a wise person. From a Christian standpoint it is one who has died with Jesus. The one who has died cannot be affected by the things that they hear. Though I sit here teaching this to you I catch myself at times hearing things that arouse my anger. I am being shown that I have yet to die completely. When you are ready for it, the words are easy to catch and you are aware that you are being tested. If the devil wore a red suit and had his pitchfork and pronounced to you he was the devil then you can stand, fight, and be victorious. But if he wore the clothes of an angel then it is easy for us to be taken advantage of. Likewise it is the words that are subtle but provoke us to intemperance. This is one of the traps of the devil. This is why we are told to be careful lest we fall into the trap. The moment we decide that we are going to do better and walk out these doors we hear something that bothers us and we immediately get angry. This is showing us that we have not died completely in Christ and are being shown to acknowledge this. But rather than do so we remain stubborn and try to live. What did Jesus mean by baptism? There are many people who are on the verge of dying. Many will do whatever it takes to prolong their lives. Jesus on the other hand knew exactly the time, place, and manner in which he would die and he still continued on that path. He told his disciples exactly what would happen when he went up to Jerusalem. He knew about his death and his resurrection. He knew all about his physical suffering and he still walked that path. Imagine how difficult this must have been. As you live your life have you ever considered what Jesus must have felt knowing what he knew and still going through it? If you understood this even to the slightest degree and choose to be like Jesus then no matter who stands before you in your presence trying to make you stumble with their words, should you fall into that trap or should you stand up and overcome? You must decide for yourself. If I do not fall into the trap and stand up and overcome then I become victorious in my life of faith. But if I fall into the trap then I am the one to fall. It is not the other person who falls but it is me. It is my hope that you would understand this. If the other person beat me with a rod or prick me with a needle if I stumble and fall then I am the one to fall. In this world there is the victim and that the perpetrator. But in the spiritual world there is no perpetrator who stands between the Lord and I. The perpetrator will stand before the Lord for his sins. And if by the actions of the perpetrator I commit sin, then I will stand before the Lord for my sins. No matter what someone else does to me I will stand before the Lord for my actions. You must understand that how I react to someone else's words and actions will be what I am judged for. Then I will be able to stand firm and not stumble over someone else's words and actions. You must have this heart and be able to open your eyes. There are many wise teachings about how to live our lives here but these teachings are also applicable to our spiritual lives. To live like Jesus means that we are to live lives that reflect Jesus and not ourselves. Do I live the life where Jesus is reflected through me? If I do then I must control myself but if I am unable then are we truly living a life that has been baptized in Jesus? Why did Jesus come to bring division to the family? Why? Is a family in Christ truly divided? Should not the family that is in Christ be united? In the family that Christ is not the center there are many rulers. The husband wants to be king and the wife wants to be queen and the children want to be princes and princesses. Has any king ever been satisfied with one queen? They eventually get second and third wives. It is a life that seeks to satisfy oneself. If one can be satisfied with whatever he has, in satisfaction there is peace but when satisfaction is desired there is always trouble. This is the worldly family. Though there may seem to be peace the moment trouble happens there is chaos. Each lives to satisfy oneself. There is no hope without Jesus. In life there are always problems. If you live for Christ, and no longer to live your life to satisfy your desires, then the life you live the new life, the life of Resurrection, is not to live to be satisfied by your spouse, but it is to live in hope of eternity. If your spouse is no longer your treasure but Jesus is your treasure, then will your spouse whom you once lived for appreciate this change? There will be conflict. Is it any different for the wife who gives up her husband for Jesus? Will the husband be pleased? Rather than live for the flesh our Lord desires that we live in the spirit with the hope of eternity. And in order for us to have this life there will be much struggle. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit. And this is why Jesus came to this world. In order to break down the family and to build it back up in him. This is why the conflicts that arise within the family is granted. The division that arises because of Jesus is the separation from the hope of this world and all the selfish desires. If I have attained Jesus and my wife has attained Jesus and all my children have attained Jesus, would he divide us? No, he would unite us. Examine your life. All your problems stem from your perspective. You are dissatisfied because everyone does not meet your standards. Just like each finger is individual, how can someone else meet your standards when living their lives? Have you thought about this? I am over 60 years old now. If my children have children, then do I lower my standards to meet the child at his level or do I scold the child for not living up to my standards? What do you think? How can you scold your children for not meeting your standards as an adult when they are only children? Are you raising the five year old to be the five year old or are you destroying them? If you take a 10-year-old child and raise them as a 40-year-old what happens to the 30 years of childhood experiences that you have taken away from them? The lessons that God had desired to teach that child you have now stolen from them. How can God teach that child, guide that child and use him for his work? You fail to see that you are hindering God's work. If the child walks the path of this world, then we are to pray. God uses evil for his glory. We think as we are taught at whatever seminary, that we must go and do something. The Bible tells us that God has put those people in place. We are to pray to God and let him know what our circumstance is. We are to obey and pray to God. If your child does not please you, pray to God and let him know your situation. Ask him to show you what it is with in you that you must change. To be wise we must first be able to see ourselves before we judge others. What is it that God desires me to see within me that has caused my children to stray from the path? If God has put me in my situation today then I must be able to examine myself. This is a step towards the baptism of Jesus. I must be able to confess that I have been baptized in Jesus, only then can I say that I am a true Christian. We sang many hymns today before worship. We sang that we wanted to be a Christian, to have a loving heart, to be holy, and to be like Jesus. This can only be done if I die. "Are you able" said the Master, "to be crucified with me?" "Yea" the sturdy saints answered "to the death we follow thee." Are you a saint? Then as a saint you sang that you would follow Jesus to death. But if you are easily upset over a word that someone else speaks then your confession that you sing is wrong. Who will serve the Lord? He is not the one who seeks the world or its glory. He is the one who only seeks the Lord. We say he is the one who does not seek his glory but how do we pray? We ask God to solve our problems, to help our children be well, to have all our desires become reality. To ask for all my desires to be answered is seeking glory for myself. Who is proud when their child is well educated succeeds in life, marries well and has attained all that life has to offer? You are proud. Why do you become proud? In Christ, if my child does well then it is their blessing that they have received. I must surrender my child over to God. If I live to be proud of my child's success then I am living for the glory of this world. We sing that we do not bend knees to God without meaning. If the baptism of Jesus encompasses all the steps taken up to his death then our lives also encompass all the steps that we encounter towards our own death. What is it that you desire to attain when you come here before our Lord in worship? Our ultimate goal is eternal life in our Lord. Is this not so? Is it to be healed from our diseases, to make money. To live well? Is this why we believe in Jesus? If this is so that we must examine ourselves. If we truly desire a new life in Christ and this is why we believe in him and we desire to live a life in union with him, then just as Christ died and resurrected, I too must die and be resurrected. Romans 6:4 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. I must die to have new life. It is not a physical death it is a spiritual death to sin. We must cut all sin out of our lives at once. Mark 16:16-18 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." The one who has been baptized will be shown through their lives. If you have been baptized without having this life, then either you were baptized without having faith or you were baptized and still did not die to have a new life with Jesus. True baptism is confessing that Jesus is your Lord and living a life that reflects this belief. Examine to see if you are living the life wearing the clothes of Jesus. In first Corinthians chapter 10 it talks about how Moses and the Israelites passed through the sea and had received the baptism. Had they gone through the sea they would all have died. But after having gone through the sea they had forgotten that they had left their old lives in the past, and what did they do? They built a golden calf and worshiped an idol. If like the Israelites I confess that I follow Christ but upon examination I am worshiping idols and living in sin, what will our Lord say to me? Will he commend us? There will be nothing but suffering that will follow us. If I examine myself and see that there is no new life me in Christ then I must question if I have truly been baptized into the life of Jesus. If Christ has died for my sins on the cross and I do believe that I have died on the cross then the result must be a separation from sin. We must have this resolve. We must cleave ourselves from our habits of sin. We must repent and live a new life. If I could make a request to our True Light church members. It is because of Jesus' death on the cross for which God loves us. God does not love us because we are worthy. By putting my faith in Jesus who has died for me and participating in that death and living life as a new creation God embraces me with his love. If you truly desire to live the life of a Christian, then you must die with Christ so that you can participate in the Resurrection and receive the love of God. Please remember this. If you forget this and believe that God loves you, that he is love, that you are forgiven because Jesus died for you two thousand years ago, you must remember that God only forgives you because of the suffering that Jesus had endured for you. He does not forgive you for love. We can see this in the quiet time devotional that we do. If God expresses his love by forgiving us because of the suffering that his Son had endured, without our resolve to also live a life to participate in this suffering and think that we can receive God's love, then can we really receive God's true love? The baptism of Jesus was death on the cross. And if it is a baptism that the disciples could also participate in and drink from the same cup, then we to must also be able to make this confession in our lives. I too must drink from the cup of suffering. I must confess that I will participate in the baptism of Jesus. What is this baptism? It is killing all that arises in me that desire to live and to live a life that reflects Jesus. It is having the resolve to participate in the baptism of Jesus. Then you can be victorious in your life of faith. With this resolve no matter where you may go, what you may do, whether it is today, or the week, or the year, or your entire life, may you give an abundant offering to God through the fruit of your life. Give God glory through your life. Make your life be a witness and testimony of Jesus to others. Let us pray. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translation by Miguel Park

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Philippians 4:8-9

Philippians 4:8-9 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. This is a passage that we know very well. But many of us though learning, receiving, hearing and seeing have a hard time applying it into our individual lives. It is not because we do not understand what we learn, receive, hear and see it is because we dislike the teaching. It conflicts with our thoughts. It is contrary to our own life experiences. And though we read it and meditate on it we pull out verses from the Bible that we do not agree with. We retain the scriptures that we can use and that we agree with. If you read a chapter today the scripture that remains with you is dependent on how you feel that day. If you are living in sin than the words pierce your heart are what remains with you. And if you are joyful and happy then only those words are what you choose to hold onto. Rather than understand the whole of God's word there are many times that we do not understand it properly. The purpose of the church and leaders and teachers is to help you understand the word of God properly and to apply it into your lives. It is to come together and understanding of God's teaching and to live our lives in accordance to this scripture. But when we dislike a certain teaching we refuse to accept it. Though we may be present in body we are not one with the church. If we are in a good mood we may say that we have been blessed by the pastor's sermon. And if we are in a bad mood no matter how true the pastor's sermon may be we do not accept it nor do we even pay attention to what was given to us. And if the words pierce our heart we complain that there is a problem with the pastors sermon. There are times when the pastor may not completely fill our spirits, but more often it is our inability to accept that which has been given to us. How often do you think that the pastor is teaching something incorrectly which would cause us to be unable to accept the teaching? If I have a stumbling block in my life whether in my thoughts or in my heart it does not matter how great the teaching is I will not be able to accept it. Many years ago when we lived in the East Coast we were invited to a church. We were not members of the church but only visiting. We had a hard time accepting the message that we heard. An elder of the church asked us what we thought of the pastors sermon. We replied that it was okay. Then the elder replied that no pastor can preach a sermon that pleases everyone. But within each sermon there is at least one thing to be learned. During the week I take that one lesson and try it to apply it in my life. The pastor of the church at that time had not been spiritually awakened yet. And because of the distance we could not attend that church. About 2 to 3 years later the pastor had gone to Korea and had been filled with the Holy Spirit. On his return he ended up pastoring one of the largest churches in the area. We saw how patience and support from the elders helped raise up a church and pastor. What the elder had taught us has remained with my husband and I. Whenever we go to a different church and hear a pastor’s sermon we never judge it as good or bad. We listen to see what is truth and to take it into our lives. There is always at least one thing that we can take away from a sermon. I counsel many people. I have heard many people complain about their pastor. They blame the pastor for their inability to grow spiritually. I have listened to many pastors and their teachings. At times people bring their pastors sermon to me so I listen to it. There is always a point to their message and a lesson in their message. But it is not to the liking of the one who listens to it and therefore they blame their pastor for preaching poorly. Yes, there may be pastors who preach without power but there is always at least one lesson that you can learn and apply it into your life. So I tell the people that I counsel that the true reason that you find a problem with the pastor's teaching is that you do not want to hear what the pastor is preaching to you. It is not because that there is fault with their teaching. I also tell them that if you are having a serious problem with the pastor then to leave the church but do not stay there and gossip. I tell them that if the gossip about the servant of God that there will be nothing good that comes out of it for them. Having been called to be a servant of God I have come to learn that we can neither blame the church members easily. The servants of God people called into pastorship should pray abundantly, live a mature spiritual life fulfill the duty of feeding the spirit of their church members. But when I look at myself I realize there are times when I have not prayed enough or done everything according to the Word. During these times the church members know exactly what is going on. If I pretend not to know the reality then as a servant of God I am being a fool. Though it may seem as though the church members do not know, they know everything. When I was a lay church member I knew. So how are we to live in the Word? Where are we to keep our focus? Our lives should be centered around the Scripture. Many people say that they live according to the scripture but rather than live truly according to the scripture they live their lives according to their own thoughts. If you interpret the Scripture the way you want then it is not living according to the Scripture. Your life must be truly centered around the Word of God. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. We must truly put these things into practice in our lives. Only then will the Word of God come to life in us. For many of us there is no life in the Word of God. There is no use in just carrying around the Bible. For the Word of God to have power in your life you must read it, meditate on it, digest and apply it to your life. If you are hungry and you have food but you do not eat the food then the food is useless. You may have a banquet prepared before you but you must pick up the food put it in your mouth chew and swallow and allow your body to digest it. Unless you eat of it the food will do nothing for you. You will starve to death. It is the same with the Word of God. What use is it to carry around the Bible if I never read it? There is no point in opening the Bible if I don't read it. What use is it to read the Bible and not understand it? If I read the Bible I must process it and digest it and make it mine. I must take the Word of God eat of it and allow it to feed my spirit. I must understand it and then live my life according to it. When I live this life then it becomes power and strength. Many of us believe that just having the Bible is enough. Many think that reading one verse is sufficient. Likewise many think that just because they have seen with their eyes that they are now transformed. You have not been able to digest the Word. What happens when you eat too fast? You get indigestion. Sometimes you take medicine sometimes you have to go to the hospital. When you interpret the Bible in your own way this leads to problems. You did not understand the Scripture according to the will of God and now you have problems. Many times we misunderstand the true meaning of the Scripture and we become frustrated and complain. What path do you desire to take in your life? Do you want the Word of God to have power in your life, to cherish it, to have your life completely submerged in his grace? Or will you stand at the shore and not even get your feet wet? If you go deep into the ocean it is beautiful and there is peace. When there is a great storm and waves are crashing, deep in the ocean it is peaceful. What kind of grace do you desire to receive? Do you complain about the smallest problems in your life? Do you distance yourself away from God? Is God dwelling in your heart? You say you are a Christian that you believe in Jesus but is Jesus in your heart? If I say that Jesus is not in your heart you would be disappointed. Is that not so? You say that you prayed today, read the Bible, but if in any moment you let go of God then God is not in you. The Bible is clearly black and white. You are either the child of the devil or the child of God. Though you may say you believe in Jesus and think that you are guaranteed salvation forever but this is not so. In any moment you can lose to the devil and fall. You will become food for the devil. At these times evil spirits will come and attack you. You will get angry, you will get frustrated, you will be disappointed. You will be depressed and you will find yourself deep in despair because you have opened up the path for the devil to come in and attack you. God dwells in light he does not dwell in darkness. We know that light pierces darkness but if we refuse to accept the light then the light cannot come in. I cannot complain to God when it is I who refuses to accept the light. Then what must we do? Who delights when you get angry? Is it God or the devil? When you judge and persecute others who delights in this? Is it God or the devil? When you are lost in your depression and living your life in worry and anxiety without God, who delights in this? Is it God or the devil? When you lie and deceive others are you the child of God or the child of the devil? If you are living in sin but you say you are a child of God then you are wrong. If you are fighting with your siblings are you a child of God or the child of the devil? If you tell me that one moment you are a child of God then the next moment the child of the devil and then the following moment the child of God and then the following moment a child of the devil, is this right? If you die suddenly when you are as the child of the devil where will you go? Forget all else, in this very moment, don't think of anything else. You will end up being food for the devil. You do not get to heaven just by believing in heaven in that moment. There must be repentance to go to heaven. At any moment you can be taken by the devil. The people of God must stand apart. The people of God must be clean. When Jesus came he preached repentance saying the kingdom of God was near. He did not preach the kingdom of God without repentance. This is what Jesus spoke. John the Baptist preached repentance. Jesus also first preached repentance. We must repent in order to go to heaven. Repentance does not mean I repent today commit the same sin and then repent tomorrow and commit the same sin again. What did Jesus say to the woman caught in adultery? He said go and sin no more. But we refuse to accept this teaching. If you are a liar you must no longer lie. If you deceive others you must no longer deceive. If you know it is wrong to judge and persecute others then you must no longer do it. You must no longer get angry, frustrated, and irritable. If I have wronged someone then I must go and apologize. You cannot use the excuse that you have confessed to God. What does the Bible say? It says when you come to bring your offering to God and you remember that you have wronged someone to go make that situation right and then to come give your offerings to God. We do not take this teaching seriously. How are you living your life? Just like in today's Scripture do we truly desire to live our lives the way we have learned, When you hear the word you think to yourself that yes you must do it. But when you leave the church you complain that trying to live according to God's Word is too difficult. That you cannot make money this way. That you have no friends. You complain that it is too hard to do it God's way. It is not so. If you truly live according to God's way and you have no friends then live with no friends. You do not need to have friends that will lead you to eternal death. Get rid of those friends. If you must lie to make money, then you don't make money. You will not starve to death. You may not make as much money as you desire but you will not starve to death. And if you do starve to death then die. It is better to be without sin and go to heaven than to live with sin and go to hell. You may think that by lying you will progress, but you see with your own eyes that the world today is falling apart. Whenever there is a new president we dig up everything in their past. What happens when we go before the King of kings? Will our sins be hidden? Even on Earth we know that we cannot lie until the end. Eventually the truth will be known. In Heaven when we go to meet the Father it says that all things will be revealed. But do we truly believe this? We know that God knows the number of hairs on our heads but do we truly believe this? Even now we are losing hair and growing hair but this is something that you cannot calculate. Though it is written in the Bible you question its validity. Do you not question it? If so then we do not understand God. It says... And the God of peace will be with you. whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. If we do all these things then the God of peace will be with you. It is written in the Scripture. It is not easy to do what is written. It will hurt to the bone to do so. To live according to God's Word does not mean everything will be easy. The Scripture is a summary of the fundamentals needed to be embraced by God. But we think that it is too difficult to obey. It is difficult to live according to the Word without the Holy Spirit. The easy path is to be with Jesus. To walk with the Holy Spirit is easy. I was surprised this week to learn that at a seminary they did not teach about the Holy Spirit. They only taught the Word. The student had only knowledge that he was educated with. What will happen to the souls of those that he goes to shepherd later? Faith is being changed. If you do not stay awake it will also happen to you. Will you enter into heaven? It is written that we cannot understand the scripture without the Spirit. Though they do speak of the spirit the spirit they speak of and the Spirit that we speak of is different. The Spirit must be the Holy Spirit of God. It is not a spirit that you think of in your own mind. The true Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that guides us and reveals the Word to us. It is through the Holy Spirit that we apply the Word to our lives. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We must rid ourselves of our own thoughts so that the Spirit may work in us. I must rid myself of all evil behavior. We must rid ourselves of all the things we lust after. We must rid ourselves of the things that are wrong. You throw away things that you once purchased that are of value whether it be treasure clothes or belongings, because they are of no more use to you. But what if God also has no use for you? You must please God. You must please the Master. You must please Jesus our groom to be embraced by him. If he does not embrace us it is over for us. He will not embrace us when we have not pleased him. You may stay in a marriage on earth because of your children, for money, or because of your pride but you cannot be this way with God. You cannot enter heaven in this manner. You are mistaken to believe that because you live this way on earth, that God will accept you in heaven. If you want to be found in the presence of God and then you must be separate from the world. You must be clean. You must please the Father. Jesus our groom must be pleased with you. The true servant is one whom the Master is pleased with. Where will you stand? Will you stand with the devil and go against God's teachings? Or will you stand with God and be joyful and give thanks in all circumstances and live in his will? You must decide. May you decide that in all that you do whether you eat, drink, listen and receive, that you will do it to the glory of God and live a life that please him. Sermon by Pastor Joy Lee translated by Miguel Park