Clothed In Grace And Removing The Burden Of Sin

Clothed in grace and removing the burden of sin. What does it mean to be clothed in grace? Are you clothed in grace and has the burden of sin been removed from your life? To have all your burdens of sin removed from your life means that you have been washed clean of your sins. Can you confess that you have been cleansed by the blood of Christ and are now a child of God? Many cannot. They have no faith. They don’t believe that God is with them, yet when they are asked about their own salvation they get upset. Although they know that they have been washed by the blood of Jesus they lack faith and so waiver in their belief. Are you living your life in obedience to the Word of God? Has the burden of sin been removed? You must be sure of this. What is it that we must be sure of? When I put my faith in Jesus, His blood has the power to wash all my sins and in this I must believe with doubt. In our daily lives we make mistakes, we do wrong and we fall down, and it is for this very reason that we are commanded to repent. Many of us do not repent daily. We are taught to repent daily and to stand before God cleansed by the blood of Jesus, but many use this teaching for evil. Some people think that you can lie, cheat, steal and then simply repent and be forgiven their sin by manipulating the teaching. You will not be forgiven for the sins you commit if you are trying to manipulate the scripture to do evil. The reason is that you are purposely going against the Holy Spirit. When you do not mean to sin but sin, you will be forgiven when you repent and turn from that sin. But if you continue to live in sin, but call upon the name of Jesus to be forgiven thinking that He will allow you to live in sin, then you are making a mistake. You are ignoring God. You do not understand who He is. You are trying to use God, but He cannot be made to be used by you. When you are trying not to lie, but you make a mistake and you do, then you can ask God to be forgiven. But some of us lie constantly. And as you lie, you think to yourself that God will forgive you once you ask to be forgiven. So you continue to lie and sin. Is this true repentance? This is not true repentance. This is not what is written in the Bible. It does not say to live in sin and ask to be forgiven. It does not say that you will be washed clean if you do so. People used to say jokingly that on January 1 you would say a prayer and then for the next year you would say “the same prayer as January 1.” Is this right? This is not, but we are acting in the same manner. We say to God that He knows all our sins, that we have been made with dirt, and use all the excuses to explain why we sin. We have no right to speak in this manner to God. Though we are made with dirt, we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and so we must speak to God in reverence. We should not try to excuse our behavior by saying the we are made from dirt, that He has made us weak, that He has put us in our circumstance. We are not to speak this way to God. We speak like this much too often. We blame God and ask Him why did He make us like this? God has put you where you are. He has made you who you are and He desires to use you the way you are in your circumstance. There is no reason to complain. We all know about Nick Vujicic. He has no arms or legs, but why is he able to be happy and travel the world and give glory to God? We have everything. But why is he the way he is? I would think that he would have the right to complain to God. You may think you were ridiculed growing up but how much more do you think that he was? He is traveling the world sharing the gospel with joy. He is very happy, filled with great joy and so grateful. We have everything physically but why are we not grateful? Why do we not have joy? Why are we unable to come before God the way we should? God keeps reminding us that we have been washed clean by the blood in His grace, but we put that to the side and rather try to cleanse ourselves. What power do you have that you try to wash yourself clean of your sins? What power do you have to wash your neighbors sin? You have a difficult time loving your neighbors. You get angry and upset when things do not go your way. Who can you forgive? I have a difficult time forgiving those who are close to me. Many people say that they forgive, but I look at myself and think that I am not forgiving others. It is only because of Jesus Christ who is with me, that I am able to forgive others. But we think that it is us who forgives and we become proud. I think that I am the one who forgave that person, I am the one who overlooked their sin, and I am the one who continues to do so. How forgiving are you? We are really not. This is why we are told to dwell in God. Only when we are in Him can we find true peace, comfort, and joy. He wants us to trust Him with everything. He wants us to lay down everything at His feet. Our problem is letting go of the things that cause us problems. Because we feel like it is being taken from us. We feel like we are losing our free will. We feel like we are losing our individuality. We feel as if we will not be able to do the things we desire. We want to get angry at times, but because we are told not to, we desire to do so even more. We make excuses saying that I am a person and I need to get angry once in a while. Who speaks like that? It is of the devil. Are you really siding with the devil that you desire to get angry at times? This is why you are unable to walk with Jesus in patience, joy and contentment. But we keep making excuses saying that we are weak, that God has made us this way, and that God knows how we are. What do you want Him to know? He knows you all too well. He knows you well enough to tell you not to sin. But you reply that this is how you are and that is why you will continue to do it. What will you continue doing? You want to lie one more time. If I tell my parents they will yell at me. If you know that you are going to get yelled then you should stop lying. We continue the lies. We blame God for making us this way and ask Him to overlook our sins. God did not make you to lie. You lie because you choose to. Because you want to. You have also been deceived by the devil. God desires to cleanse us, and for us to walk with Him as His child, His people and His workers. He desires for us to walk in joy with Him. He desires to be our friend, father, groom, neighbor and confidant. We do not understand Him. If you really think about having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, then we are to be filled with gratitude, joy and contentment. We are sinners worthy of hell, but it is Jesus who came to this earth to wash us with His blood. Many of us still do not believe this. If I truly believe in Jesus, then I must obey the Word of God. It is because I trust Him. I acknowledge Him. I am acknowledging God as my father. I am trusting in Jesus as my groom and I have no choice but to be filled with joy, gratitude, and to walk with Him. When we love someone we try to please them by listening to what they say and doing what they ask. If you love God, if you really are the bride to Christ, then you would have no choice but to listen and obey to what He says to you. It needs to be the condition of your heart. But we complain to God that it is too hard. We ask Him if we really need to go this far. Yes. We must. It is for you. You do not do this for God, but it is all for you. God is doing all this for you so that you can have an eternal life with Him. He has no other choice but to do this. I must believe that the blood of Christ has washed me clean. In the past, I too had trouble standing firm in this belief. It was because I did not understand. Some days I felt like I would be going to heaven and other days I felt like I would not be going to heaven. It is because though I said I believed in the power of God, I did not really completely believe. I was not able to truly digest the Word of God and feed my spirit which caused my unbelief and misunderstanding of the truth. Today, if the Word of God really is inside you, and you believe then you will be able to stand firm in the faith. You must receive the Holy Spirit. Without it, you will not be able to understand God’s Word. The Bible was written in the spirit of God. If you do not have the spirit you cannot understand then that which was written in the spirit. You should pray to receive the Holy Spirit. You should live your life in union with Him. Rather than living in the Spirit we want to do what pleases us. Children want to listen to strange music. They want to watch things that stir our emotions. They send strange messages to each other that becomes truth to them. You may seem popular amongst your peers but are you doing these things believing that Jesus is really with you? If you have done nothing wrong, then why is it I ask you to show me, but you cannot? You already know that you are doing something wrong, and that is why you pretend that you do not know your password to access you accounts. Did you really forget you password? What purpose does it serve to try to fool us? We know that the reason that the children cannot access their accounts is not because they have forgotten their passwords. When they go home they know their password to do what they want. If you are having decent conversations with your friends then there would be nothing to hide from anyone. It is because you already know that in your conversations you are lying and saying things that you should not be saying. Adults are the same way with God. When we are living in sin, we have a hard time approaching God. God has not stopped speaking to us but it is our sins that prevents us from hearing Him. We are unable to be one with God. But we blame God for not listening to us when we pray. God does not turn a deaf ear to us. There was a testimony of someone who had been shown heaven. They say that everything that we do in every moment in our lives is being recorded. The look you give to others are being recorded. They are saying that all these computers and TV are the things of heaven given to us. But we refuse to believe this. We think that there is no way that is possible. We say that we are completely forgiven for our sins, but there is a record of what we have done. When we repent we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus, but people are saying that there are records of the things we have done. Will you continue to sin, lie and act foolishly? If you do then you do not believe God. It is you who chooses to make the blood of Jesus powerless in your own life. Jesus bore the sins of everyone on the cross 2000 years ago. We try to manipulate this. Stop doing so. Jesus has been crucified for your sins once. Stop crucifying Him over again countless times because of your sins. You cry in pain when you get a little splinter. When you get acupuncture you cry in pain. Why do you crucify Jesus daily with nails? Do you know how much He weeps for you? You doubt that He is crying for you. If He is not having to weep for you then that is a good thing. Will you be one who God must turn away from? Do you want to be a child of God? Then do what the Bible says and live in faith. You must put your trust in the power of the blood of Christ and live confidently in it. To live confidently in it means to no longer sin. You must make an effort to stop sinning. You want to sin, but also go to heaven. You cannot have both. If I believe that God has saved me, then I must try my best to not sin, to no longer lie, love my neighbor, help those who are in need, and forgive. I must make the effort to do so. God looks at the focus of our hearts. You can act good outwardly. Let’s say I am angry at my husband but I act loving towards him and tell him I love him. I can fool him. We can fool our husbands, wives, and children. But we cannot fool God. Though we may make mistakes, God desires that our hearts are focused on Him and that we acknowledge the blood of Christ and make an effort to live the proper life in obedience to Him. It does not mean that we won’t ever sin. We will sin. We will make mistakes. But we must make an effort to not do so. Too many people try to explain God’s Word in a way that makes it useful for them. There are too many people being led away from God and His truth. When I believe that God is with me I must make an effort to not sin. I must not hate. I must not judge. Children should not have premarital sex. Adults should not commit adultery. In today’s time, people are living with each other before they get married. And if they like each other then they will get married. They have already committed sin. They try to explain that they are going to get married. No. That is not right. The Bible is clear, if you even look upon someone with lust then you have already committed adultery. It is not only adultery because you do something physical. We must be clean. If you have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, then you who are young, should not do anything to stain yourself with improper acts. But no matter how much this is taught, children argue that the world is not this way. They say that the pastor is strange. It is not so. The Bible teaches differently. To accept gay and lesbian behavior is accepting sin. The Bible says that it is wrong. We are to love and embrace the person but their sin is sin. But this is being misunderstood and many churches are saying that they are embracing these people and allowing them to live in sin. Yes, we are to embrace the people. I embrace them as well. Our state has legalized same sex marriage. The law is wrong. Do not think that because the law allows it that you are allowed to be in a relationship with someone of the same sex. It is sin. Sex before marriage is sin. To live a holy life is to not do these things. You cannot say that I will live my life this way and then later ask God to forgive me. After you have caused trouble you say you will pray to be restored. Do not live like this. We are not told to repent so that we can live in this manner. If you know it is sin then do not do it. If you do you continue to nail Jesus to the cross and crucify Him. We can live a clean and holy life. You ask how is it possible? I am telling you that I am not perfect but I make an effort. I make an effort to not sin. My heart is committed to not sinning. Children say to me that it is because I am older that I can live this way. I too was once your age. I am not here at this age suddenly. I know what is to be in your generation. Please, do not act foolishly. Do not burden the heart of Jesus. He hurts so much for you. God desires so much for us to be with Him in heaven for eternity. That is His wish. Which parent would want to abandon their child? God does not desire to abandon us. He does not want us to go to hell. That is why He sent Jesus to us. But we do not believe Him. I tell my husband that if I were God I would get rid of everything and start over. God truly is God. I am a sinner living here with sin, and still I feel like wiping everything out because what I see is too much to bear. God is patient. How can we keep living the way we do when we see how much He loves us and waits for us to come to Him? We must make a great effort to live according to God’s will. I pray that you are able to live in joy and gratitude knowing that you have been cleansed by the power of the blood of Jesus. I am asking you to please stop sinning.

Do I meet The Requirement To Get Into Heaven?

TL.10.14.2012 Do I meet the requirements to get into heaven? The Narrow and Wide Gates 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. True and False Prophets 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. True and False Disciples 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ The Wise and Foolish Builders 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” I recently read a story about a student who went to study at a monastery. Each student was to take a turn and give a message. When it came time for the student to give his sermon before all those other teachers, students and the large number of people that had gathered he drew a blank and could not remember anything that he had prepared to speak about. So he asked the audience, “What is it that I will be speaking on today?” Obviously no one knew what he would speak on so they replied”We do not know.” So then the student replied, “How can I give a sermon on something that you do not know?” And with that he stepped off the stage. The head master thought to himself that this is not how it should be, so he told that student to give a sermon the following week. The following week came and when he stood before the audience he had forgotten everything again so asked, “What sermon do you think that I will give today?” Since last week they answered they did not know this time they answered that they knew what he would be talking about. To which the student replied, “There is no need to give a sermon on which you know everything about” and then walked off the stage. The head master was not amused and ordered the student to give another sermon the following week. So the following week it was the same, but now half the audience replied that they knew and the other half answered that they did not know, to which the student replied, “Those who do not know should ask the ones who know, and the ones who know should teach the ones who do not know” and then he stepped off the stage. Is that not truth? That institution eventually used that teaching as part of their mission. To have those who do not know ask the ones who do know, and for the ones who do know to teach the ones who do not know so that all may live the life of faith. As we see in today’s scripture in Matthew 7, is there anyone here who does not know what is written in it? We all know the words that are written here. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Everyone knows this. But what do you prefer? Is it to go through the narrow gate or through the wide one? Of course we want to go through the wide gate. It is more comfortable. So what would I say to you? You all know the answer. I do not stand here preaching to you because you do not know. You already know but I preach the message to you again. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Does it say that there will be many? It says only a few. Should I be part of the few or the many? You already know the answer, but what we desire is that the path of the many would be the right path. Is this not so? In life, we accept the teachings of the many as truth. 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. He is teaching us to be careful of the false prophets. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. He says that you will be able to see them by the fruit of their lives. This does not only pertain to those who lead but to anyone who says that they are a Christian. How are we to know that someone is a Christian? It is by their fruit. If I say I am a Christian, then I must bear fruit of my faith to show that I am a Christian. You know this. The important question we need to be asking ourselves is “Am I bearing the fruit of following Jesus or am I not?” Head knowledge of what I must do, is not the same as bearing fruit in one’s life. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. We are even shown the result of not bearing the right kind of fruit that I should be as a follower of Jesus. What is that result? We will be thrown into the fires of hell. We know this. Though I do not preach, if we just read the Bible everything is clearly explained. Just as I have said in the beginning, if you do not know, ask the one who does know, and if you know, teach the one who does not know. At your home, the father who knows should communicate with his wife, and together they should lead by example the life of faith to their children. Without doing so, I will be unable to bear good fruit. I will be cut down and thrown into the fires of hell. We should be teaching this way at home, but do we? Do we not teach our children to do as we say and not as we do? Do we teach them to watch us suffer in our lives and end up going to hell so they should follow us and do the same? What difference is it whether we say it this way or not when that is what we are really showing them? We teach them that even though we are living a double life they should live a holy and righteous life. Then at church I pretend to be holy, so that if anyone sees me I act as if holy, but when I go home, I am the owner, I am king so I do whatever I want. Then what do the children learn? They see that when you go to church you are supposed to be one way, and when you come home you are to be different. Then the children come to church, act holy, and when they go into the world they lie to their parents and it means nothing to them. Why? Their parents come to church and lie to God so why would lying to their parents be any more of an issue? What is it that they have seen and learned? Is this not how they think? I am the one who planted the seeds to bear this fruit, but the moment I see the fruit of my actions I am the one to get angry. Who gets angry? I get angry because I feel like I was deceived and I am dissatisfied with the outcome. The parent or the leader, rather than repent of their ways for being a bad example, or think that they are the one who has deceived God, they get upset because they think that they are the one who has been deceived. It is just like going the path that enters the wide gate, but desiring to get into heaven. It is taking the path that everyone else is going on and trying to get everything that you want. We should look at ourselves and see that we are living incorrectly and have mistaken the truth for lies, but we fail to see this. Why? Speaking spiritually, we have fallen into the trap of the devil. We think that the knowledge that we have in our heads is enough to get us to where we desire to go without changing. This is why we are living the double life without even trying. It does not bother us that we do and we accept it as truth. We forget that one day we will stand before the Lord in judgment. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Of those who call out “Lord, Lord,” some will enter into heaven and some will not. Let us talk about those here at True Light Church. Some of you may not like what I have to say, but if all us call upon the Lord today, it would be great if everyone entered into heaven, but what if everyone did not enter and you were part of the group that did not? We must realize that even though I may not enter now, I can be one who does eventually. Many of us do not realize this. Last week I spoke on the requirements of getting into heaven. We spoke about being like children. Today also, the requirement for entering according to Jesus is for the one to do according to do the will of His Father. That is the main point of today. What is the will of our Father in heaven? In Matthew 5:48 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus also teaches us that we are to build our foundation on solid rock, so that even though the world will try to break us with temptation, we will be able to stand firm in the house that has been built on the Word. We must be people who do the will of God so that we may enter into heaven. What is doing the will of God? If we are talking about work, let us look at John 6:28-29 28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Who is the one that God has sent? He is Jesus. He is saying to believe in Him is to do the work of God. So what do we mean when we say we believe? It is abandoning oneself and accepting completely what the other person is saying. That is what it means to believe. If someone tells you that if you eat that you will die, then will you eat it? You do not because you believe that if you eat it you will die, so you do not eat of it. The Bible, Jesus the one who we are to believe, tells us assuredly what we are to do and not to do. If someone is about to die and is told that if you eat of something then you will live, will they not eat of it? We have all heard stories of people having to attain something so precious but that is absolutely necessary to their lives and must do all they can to have it. We have been given the medicine to take off this life of sin that is killing us, but will you eat of it or not? You should eat of it, it is the Word of God, but to eat of it means that you are to live the way it teaches us. But do you live the way it teaches? Do you believe what it is telling us to do? Do you believe? To believe means to do as it says. Are you doing it? You do not. Why? It is because you judge. When you look you think whether you are capable of doing it or not capable. You become the standard for the things that you decide to do. Therefore there is no life of faith or obedience. After Friday night service I was watching a different pastor’s testimony. All he had was a second grade education. He ended up being the owner of a huge after school tutoring program. With the little education he had, he grew up cleaning up other people’s homes, but because of the lesson of tithing he had learned in church, he had applied that lesson to his life. As times got hard, he slacked on his tithing and God had told Him to give the whole tithe. When he began giving the whole tithe, he shares that his life was dramatically transformed. If we say that we are to see the fruit of our faith in our lives, then there needs to be fruit in our lives according to the Words that we hold dear to. This is the true life of a believer. Whether this is possible in my life or not is completely up to me alone. We all know it in our heads, but unless I am able to put it into practice in my life, the knowledge is useless. God sent Jesus to us. Believing in Jesus is to do the work of God. We say that living the life of faith is difficult. Matthew 5:43-48 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. When Jesus taught us, he tells us what the law used to say which was to hate your enemy and love your neighbor. It is easy to keep and do the things that are obvious. But what did Jesus say. He teaches us to love your enemies and to pray for them that persecute you. Is it easier to hate your enemy according to the law or is it easier to love and forgive? What is easier? Jesus teaches us that which is harder to do. There are those of us today who say that we are living the life of faith, and like to say that the Law no longer matters to us. That it has been done away with. We say that Jesus has saved us from the Law. But the truth is it is harder to live according to the new teachings of Jesus than it was to follow the ways of the Law. But we refuse to see this because it bothers us. Because we think it is too difficult to follow. But if we die to ourselves as Christ has died for us, and we have killed our pride, then we can do what it says. It is because we refuse to die, to let go of our pride, and we get stuck in the battle in our minds with knowledge and only accept the teachings that we desire to hear which produces no change in our lives. Jesus says: ’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. Who enters the house of their father? Is it not the child? I must do as Jesus teaches so that I may be the child of God then I will be able to enter into the house of my Father. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. We ignore the truth of God’s grace and assume that He is allowing the evil and unrighteous to be and think that He is accepting of their behavior. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? We know that it is obvious to love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but now Jesus is saying that teaching is now useless. 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. This is what Jesus is teaching us to do. When we speak of living the life that will allow us to be God’s children, and we are taught to love our enemies, he teaches his disciples that those who do the will of the Father is his brother, mother and sister. Why did he say this to the people? In Mark chapter 3, Jesus casts out an evil spirit and what did the people say? They said that Jesus was filled with an evil spirit. The news spread that Jesus was casting out evil spirits because He himself was filled with an evil spirit and His mother and brother were looking for him. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” 30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.” 31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Jesus teaches that those who will live in God’s kingdom, those who are to be called children of God, brother, sister and mother to Jesus are the ones who do God’s will. His mother and brothers did not enter into the place where Jesus was. We are not sure why, but if we are to guess as to why they were not allowed to enter… We can say maybe there were too many people and the place was crowded. But if there is someone famous and someone who is close to them was there, would they not try to get to where that person was? Could it be that maybe His mother and brothers were scared and really thought that Jesus was filled with an evil spirit and that is why rather than going into to see Him they had asked for Him to be called out to them? That is why Jesus asks who is my brother and my mother? He teaches us it is not the one who sits outside calling Him to come out to them, but the ones who He is with that are doing the will of God. What kind of life are you to live to show that you are following Christ? If I am ashamed to show my faith to others, then Jesus will not acknowledge us when we are before Him in judgment, but if we confess Him openly before other, he will also stand for us when we stand in judgment before Him. So what does it mean to deny Christ? Does it mean that I never openly denied Him? No. It means that unless all my speech, thought and actions reveal Christ then it is the same thing as denying Him before others. If someone asks you if you are a Christian then why are you behaving in that manner, then what will you say? If they ask, “Is it right for a Christian to behave that way?” Then how will you respond? I have already denied Jesus by the actions of my life so when I stand before Him in judgment He will deny me just as I have been denying Him with my life. Then it will be all over. We try to make excuses to Jesus and ask Him to overlook our sins while we decide when we will be living according to God’s Word and when we will not. Could the light of Jesus shine through in our lives when we live in this manner? What do you think as you examine your life? How many times do we find ourselves trying to understand an infinite God with our finite minds? The history of all the faithful people of God shows us that they did not try to understand God but they would humble themselves in obedience to Him. That is what the people of faith have left for us to see. If I am to live this life then I will not be able to understand. There are many things that happen today that science and medicine cannot explain. But how do some supposed believers explain these events? They say that it is an evil spirit or something not of God because the Jesus they believe that Jesus no longer manifests himself in miraculous ways. They say the times of the working of the spirit is passed. I have mentioned to you many times before and I ask you again, is the Bible the complete record of who God is and all that He does? There are those who believe that to know God in any manner outside of what is written in scripture is wrong. I disagree with them. It is clearly recorded in the Bible, in the book of Revelations, when John saw and hear dsome of the things in heaven to record it, what happened? He was told not to record it. Why do you think he was told not to write down what he heard or saw? We do not know. Even Paul tells of his vision in the third heavens, but did he write it down? He did not. Then we too, when we have a close relationship to God, can experience and taste the third heavens, but because it is not written in the Bible, and we begin to experience the things of the spirit, should we accept it or deny it? What about those who were dead and raised back to life like Lazarus? What about the centurions daughter? Did Jesus only raise them back to life? Did Jesus not save others as well? Jesus may have not raised them back to life himself, but after he died and was resurrected, what happened? Many of the dead that were buried were raised back to life. Those were buried and had died were raised back to life, so even today they may be raised back to life, but because we do not understand it in our own minds, and science cannot explain it nor medicine explain it, we deny it. We must decide if things are happening as we are being obedient to the Word of God, or if things are happening as I deviate away from the Word of God. If I abandon the Word of God and just seek the things of the spirit it is possible that I may experience certain things. But if in the pursuit of God’s Word, and in trying to live according to His teachings and He shows me things of the Spirit that I may draw closer to Him, I must accept these things. It is for a spiritual growth that God shows us these things. It is not for me to boast about. Let’s say that today I am able to see the hearts of everyone. What do you think will happen? If I saw your heart would I like you? Let us speak honestly. I would think to myself how could I like someone who has a heart like that? We cannot like anyone when we see their hearts. Why? Because I am not Jesus. But when Jesus shows us these things, it is not for us to judge them, but it is so that we can pray for them. We see that the person is having difficulty with a certain problem, he is stuck in his walk, and we are to pray for them. We are to be grateful for the grace given to us and the gift that has been granted to us, but rather than doing so we use the gift to judge others. When we judge and stray from the Word, we are in turn judged by others and persecuted for not being Biblical. When we stray from the path we have no choice but to be judged. But when we are living in obedience and God is showing us things in the hearts of men and told to pray for them, then we must pray. If I am to be an intercessor then I must pray for the one that God tells me to pray for. Let’s say that you are praying for me, but your spiritual eyes have not been open and I have not shared with you any of my problems. The how can you pray for me? How will you know what is in my heart so that you can pray for me? Let say out of pride I say that I am doing well, and pretend that everything is fine, but inside because of my pride I am suffering. When you are shown that I have pride and I am suffering for it, then you are not to judge me for my pride but rather pray for me that I may overcome it. You are not to judge me for my pride. You are to pray that God will have mercy on me and show me what is wrong that I will be freed from my burden and that is why you pray. This is the work of an intercessor. This is the kind of work you are to do as you follow Jesus. It is not about your pride and to see how great you are. If the mother and brothers of Jesus reacted in this way when they heard that Jesus was filled with an evil spirit, then how much more embarrassing would our reactions be? Do you think that for 30 years Jesus only helped his father do carpentry work and then one day decide to get up and go on His ministry? If he had done so, then would Mary have been able to tell the servants to do whatever Jesus commanded and the wedding banquet in Cana? Could she? Would she have told the servants to obey whatever Jesus commanded if all Jesus ever did was work with wood and paint? Think about it logically? Even though there was no more wine, she knew that there would be wine because she had already seen it happen before. Could it not be that the house where Joseph and Mary lived that they never lacked any wine ever? Could it not be that water was turned into wine more than a few times at that home? That is why Mary was able to say what she did. That is what I believe. If that is so, then no matter if the whole world did say that Jesus was filled with an evil spirit, then she should have boldly said no to that thought, but having a bit of doubt, she tried to have Jesus called out to her. If we too, are like this in our lives and unless we are completely transformed by the spirit, we will stumble and fall constantly in the traps of the devil and have no choice but to make mistakes. Why is it that we are happy, but the moment someone says something we immediately become bothered? It is because those words do not meet my standards. Unless I am a true Christian the it is possible that we are like this. I must repent of this and humble myself before God. I must lay myself down before the cross of Jesus. But rather than doing so we get caught in the trap of the words and stumble over our emotions. This is why we fall back down. If we keep running in the hamster’s wheel, then it only gets more difficult to change our lives and the goal of ever doing so gets further from us. If this is true then the blessings that God has desired for me to attain will likewise diminish as time passes on. I must be able to live the life that God desires so that I may attain all the blessings He has for me. It is to live this life that we are discussing these things. What is the point of believing in Jesus? Is it to receive material blessing here on earth? Is it to get a job? Is it for healing? Is it so your children are well, or to have whatever you desire happen the way you want? What is the reason? The life here on earth is brief and passing. In that brief time, we are given an opportunity to receive the things of eternity. If we barter correctly, and use the things of this world and trade it for the things of eternity, then you can reap great rewards when you enter into heaven. This is why you have been given life. But our problem is that we try to use the things of heaven so that we can live well here on earth. We try to persuade God to give us all the things that we ask for, for his kingdom, but in truth we want all that so that we can boast about ourselves. Let us look at out church and call us a body. When we look at a body there are different parts, some are exposed others are hidden, some are honored and others are dirty. Let us say that you are to be the feet of the body. Are feet to be stepped on or lifted upon the head? If feet were at the head then we would have to crawl around. We would not be able to walk. But the feet are to be stepped on, and at times must overcome pain, and then when it does so it can support and strengthen the entire body. It allows the body to work so that the body can do the work of God. You must do your best in the position that you are put in to fulfill your purpose in life. But we refuse to live this way. We tell God to put us in a place where we can be seen because we are believers of Christ. We ask to be changed and put into a different position. For who? It is for me. The Bible asks, “Can all be the mouth or the eyes?” If everyone was the same, is it then one whole body? What happens if you had an extra eye? What if you had two mouths? That is not how it is to be. In your homes there is one head of that home. If there are two, is that a normal home? God does not want us to live in this improper manner. God desires that we do our best in the lives that we are given and bear good fruit. A husband is to be a good husband and a wife a good wife. Together they are to be one and raise the children and bear good fruit. Doing the best in the life that you have been given and by doing so you can bear good fruit. If you fail to live this life not only will you fail personally but you will also ruin your family and not be able to stand before God. A husband must do all he can as a husband and a wife must do all she can as a wife. It is not individually but together as one, showing the life of faith to their children so that they family can bear the fruit of true faith. This is living the life of heaven. This must be evident in our lives. We must be able to throw away the things of this world and hold onto the things of the spirit so that we can raise a family in and of faith. 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. When Jesus says that you will recognize them by their fruit he is saying that if I am living a true Christian life and am bearing the fruit of it others will see it and know that I am a Christian. They will see that my family follows Christ. I will be recognized as a believer. We are told that when we plant seeds of good then there will be good in us and if we plant evil then there will be evil in us. If I do good then I will reap the things of good. I will reveal the good that has been planted by the Word in me. In the end we will be judged by the very words that we have spoken. It means I am living the life that will eventually give me judgment or reward. It all starts with the words that we speak. If we do things that we will be judged for, then can we also receive His blessings? If I am convicted of being a criminal will anyone believe the words I speak? If God judges me as a sinner then I cannot receive His blessing. If I am unable to receive God’s blessings then the path I am going is already set before me. Do you want end up going there? You know. If you do not want to go there then what must you do? It starts with being careful of the words that you speak. The Lord tells us that we will be judged by the words that we have spoken, so what does that mean? That means I will be judged by the fruit of what I have lived out from the words I have spoken. If I am still living my life the way I want according to how I feel, as if I am my own master, then will I be living the life that meets the requirements to get into heaven? You already know that it is not the life that the Lord desires. Just like the story I shared with you about the monastery, do you not know? You already know what you are to do and not do. Then that means you are to be teachers of what to do and not to do. Then that further means that you are to live the life by example. The decision to do so is yours. To teach or not is up to you individually. If you do then you will have lived a good life and be rewarded for living so. But if you do know, and your actions are contrary to your words, then you will be judged for what you have spoken and you will have no one else to blame but yourself. Do your best to enter in through the narrow gate. Be a part of the few who will enter through it. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Then everything I must do in this life must be to do the will of God. This is the life of Jesus. The life of Jesus must become my life so that I can be given entry into heaven. If this is something that you know then live this life. Make the decision to live this life, to be blessed in this life, to be recognized by our Lord and receive the crown of glory. May this be the time you decide to live for the Lord. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translation by Miguel Park

Living In Gratitude To God

Living in gratitude to God. How are we to live in gratitude and joy in our life of faith? We know that we are to be grateful and live in joy, but rather than doing so we get discouraged, complain and argue. True gratitude is not based upon circumstance. There are many situations that arise in life in trials, difficulties and struggles. We may be lacking finances and go hungry. We may get into accidents. We may suffer heartache. We may suffer a terrible disease that may overtake us. However, in the midst of it all, when I stay in Christ and Christ is in me, there is gratitude and joy and this is victory. There are certain events that we are being exposed to. No matter what event or circumstance happens to you are you able to be victorious? You are experiencing this in your lives right now. Though you are blessed but do not know how to be joyful and give thanks, then you will feel like you are in hell. You will be depressed, lonely and sad. You end up comparing your life to others and fall into the trap of thinking that you are less than others. You cannot be grateful when you live like this. To be joyful in the Lord means to be one with Him. Children are most content and happy when they are with their parents. Though war breaks out and there is no food to eat just being with their parents they do not really know hardship. They may cry because they are hungry. They do not know the reason for why they have no food. They do not know why war happens. We too, when we are with the Lord, even though the world collapses and we suffer many natural disasters, and even though unemployment is high, what is important is the heart I have towards God. Even in the face of recent events I am filled with joy and gratitude. There are many things that are happening that we are not prepared for. Watching the events unfold it is easy to see that without God all these things could not be unfolding the way they are. Unless you realize that it is God in control, you will fall into the trap of thinking that it was a coincidence, a random event, or something that you caused which is a viewpoint absent of God and where you are the focus. In this manner, then when things go your way or you get things that you want you are happy and then the next day because you desire more you will be without joy. There will never be anything that completely satisfies you. When we are in God, even when we suffer hardships we can be grateful and be filled with joy. When good things happen we can be even more grateful and be filled with even more joy. We will be able to endure any event or circumstance. We cannot live this life of gratitude and joy without first being in union with God. When I am sad, though my neighbor is happy, I begin to question and blame the other person for my sadness. When we are sad, we should let down our sadness and share in the joy of the one who is happy. When there is someone who is sad we can share in their sadness and therefore find joy together. If we only think about ourselves and our emotions then we are not keeping the command of loving our neighbors. To live in union with God means that our lives must be centered around God. It is the life that actively seeks God and His will. From a worldly view the life centered around God may seem common. But it is in this common person’s life that God is present. It is a special and precious life. Why? It is because the ultimate purpose of one’s life is to dwell with God. The first commandment is to have not other gods other than God. This means that we can have nothing and no one above us other than God. God desires that we are one with Him. We are to have no other gods and serve no idols. In the past we thought that having other gods meant believing in buddha or some other deity, but today we know that anything that we enjoy more than God is an idol. We can live in joy with God as long as there is nothing that we desire more than God Himself. But many of us say that we are one with God but hold onto to many idols. We bags and bags of idols. The things we enjoy, desire, and things we covet. We build rooms for these things in our hearts and continue to fill these rooms with the desires of them. You cannot find true joy and gratitude with God when these things are in your heart. If you truly desire to live in joy and gratitude, then no matter what circumstance or situation you may encounter, you are to know that you are living under God’s grace. After I received the call late last night, I was grateful. I was grateful that the situation was not any worse, that no one was shot, and that nothing more serious happened. I was grateful for the way the events turned out. Do not misunderstand and think that I am enjoying your suffering or take pleasure in it, I am just grateful that things were not any worse. I also believe that the person that experienced the event was able to handle the crisis and that is why it happened to them. I was filled with joy and slept well. I know that it was God who was with you all. I am grateful and therefore am able to move forward. I tried calling but was told that the phones were taken as well. I normally do not call you anyhow, or have reason to. I show concern for you when I take time to pray for you. This is not only my work but this is how I love and protect you. A phone call is not what is important and this is why I do not call much. After I was told of the incident I actually laughed. I am sorry but I really did laugh. The reason is even though something did happen it was resolved well. I saw that the faith of our church has grown. When I see how you acted in the situation I am grateful. Had someone been shot would we still be able to laugh? Even if someone were to get shot, we should be grateful. We do not know how God’s grace will unfold in our lives. We cannot only look at our circumstance as we live our lives. I told my husband that this was a good thing that happened. It was a reason to sing hallelujah. God is most pleased when we live our lives in Him. Even tonight, someone got into a car accident on the way here to church. Though they were involved in the accident, God protected them and spared there lives and there was no serious injury. We are grateful to the God who has granted us this protection. I believe that God sent His angels and protected them. What is it that you are grateful for? God desires that we walk with Him. We do not know what lies ahead. God just asks that we take one step at a time with Him. Neither I nor the pastor are sure of exactly where we are going, but we go forth trusting Him. Obedience is the best. If God tells us to take one step forward today, then that is all you need to do. But our problem is, we look towards the future and ask God how is He going to use someone like us for His work? If He revealed that to you, you may end up being proud and will be of no use for God. You will not understand how He will use you. Before service, I prayed for you but I do not know why that was the prayer. But I am sure that we have taken the step to the next level. You have now pushed off from one foot and have started to take a new step. If you miss this opportunity, then we will have to walk aimlessly around the desert as did the Israelites. We are not to walk around in the desert anymore, but we are called to enter the promised land and start a new work. I am asking that you will participate in this new endeavor together. Sermon by Pastor Joy Y.S. Lee Translation by Miguel Park .

Matthew 18:1-10

Faith to meet the conditions that can enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:1-10 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Do you remember the topic of last week’s sermon? What kind of person did I say that we must be? Since no one answers... Last week we looked at the one God loves and hates. Who did He love? He loved Jacob. He hated Esau. What is important is not that God loved or hated the person. Both Jacob and Esau are descended from Abraham. We too are the descendants in faith of Abraham. This is according to what the scripture says. We are told that we are loved and known before the creation. One acted in the way God would love the other did not. One acted in a way that made him to be hated. Did you live this week in the manner to receive God’s love? Did you live like Jacob to receive God’s love or did you live like Esau to receive God’s hate. If you were not able to live to receive the love of God then what must you do? You must repent. Not just with lip service saying that you are sorry. There must be a total conviction to turn from that old way or else the roots of sin will run so deep that we will be complacent in the path of sin and not realize how far we have strayed. Just because you did not receive punishment does not mean you can keep living in sin. Which of the two brothers had more wealth? Although Esau was hated by God he had more wealth. He had more wealth than Jacob who was loved by God. He had so much wealth that the land could not support him and he had to leave. Of course we know that God is the one who allows these things to happen and the Bible records that his wealth was abundant. There is no guarantee that you will attain heaven because you have become wealthy here on earth. We are mistaken and have been deceived to believe that by succeeding here on earth that this will allow us to get to heaven. This is a trap. Many times Jesus never replies directly but may answer with a question or with parable. In today’s passage we see that the disciples are seeking to find who is the greatest in heaven. The disciples are assuming that they are already going to heaven and are trying to figure out how to be the greatest. Did all of them go to heaven? This is when Judas Iscariot was among them. There was a disciple who would not go to heaven but because they were disciples of Christ they were assuming that they were getting into heaven. They had assumed heaven was theirs and now seeking greatness in it. Why are they fighting for position in heaven when amongst them is one who not even get into heaven? They are asking the wrong question. We must look at ourselves and think that amongst us there will be those who not get into heaven and humble ourselves. But to assume that because we are here at church, and to think that everything will turn out our way and to be deceived is following the disciples and missing the truth and asking for great reward in heaven when heaven itself may not even be ours. How can we seek the rewards and position in heaven when we do not even know if we will even be allowed into heaven? Have you lived your life in a manner worthy of entrance into heaven? Do you really have that much faith in Jesus? When I look at myself and see that I am lacking, then how is it that we look to be great in heaven? What would our Lord say to us? Did Jesus say that Peter is greatest or that John was the greatest? In other passage we are told that John the Baptist is the greatest but in heaven the children are even greater. We are told that unless we become like children we will not get into heaven. Before we argue amongst ourselves about who is great we must be like that of little children or else we will not even enter into heaven. We must first enter heaven then see who is greatest. If we have not attained heaven, then first we must live the life that would allow us entry into heaven, humble ourselves before God and ask for His blessing. How do we ask for the things of heaven when we have not even lived our lives in a manner to receive the blessings? What are blessings? Are they not the things we ask God to help us resolve? We are not to ask God to fix our problems but the faith to live the life that is pleasing to God so that He will be pleased to help us with our problems. If we are not living the life that pleases God but seek His help, then how are we any different than the disciples and their question of greatness? If God did resolve your problems then can you guarantee entry into heaven for yourself? We are told that in the end not everyone who calls me Lord will enter into heaven. Meaning though you prayed in His name and had your prayers answered and your problems resolved, received your blessing and have been healed, but in judgement when all is laid out, and you did not live the life that would allow you entry into heaven, then you are missing the key that will allow entry into heaven and holding onto answered prayers and blessings and the things that have no influence for entry into heaven. The prerequisite for getting into heaven is not having your prayers answered. Are you living the life that will allow you to get into heaven? If you are not then we should re-examine our lives. If you eyes are open to the things of the spirit and you can cast out demons in the name of Jesus what does that have do to get you getting into heaven? What does Jesus say? He says “Away from me you evildoer, I never knew you!” It is not important to see the realm of the spirits, but to attain the things of the spirit, by tossing away the desires of the flesh, and pursuing a life of following Jesus. Without doing so, everything else will be useless. The requirement to enter heaven is to be like a child. It is not to be childlike in action but to be childlike in humility. We may say that children today are different because of the impact of society but God is looking for humility. God uses the humble. God raises up the one that lowers himself before God. What did Jesus teach His disciples? When Jesus washed His disciples feet he told us to do the same. Let’s be honest. Has anyone ever washed their spouses feet in service to them? We have events at church. Are you truly serving in the church with a heart of humility and service? If you do nothing of this with sincerity yet seek greatness in heaven you will not even be able to enter heaven. Do you have a heart of true humility? The humility that the Lord desires to see in each of us. If you do not, then in comparison to the Word we cannot enter into heaven. Humility may seem like we are just lowering ourselves to others but humility is obedience. We are not speaking about obedience between husband and wives, but in light of the Word, we are speaking about being like a child and accepting the Word and living it out. If Jesus says “I am the way, truth and life and no one can come to the Father except through me” then I must live that life. This is obedience. This is the life of humility. You do not argue. God has laid out the perfect plan for us and has given us everything through His Son Jesus. Through His life and teachings we are shown perfection from which we are to listen, see and do in obedience. But rather than obey we use our minds to judge. We calculate the cost of obedience and think it too high, so we deceive ourselves by doing contrary to what is written and has been shown to us. If we feel like we will lose something we do not do it. We do that which would allow us to be recognized by people and attain the things we desire. We are lying. How could God acknowledge us if we do these things? God will not acknowledge us. If we welcome a child we welcome Jesus. If we lead a child in the way of sin it is better to tie a millstone to our necks and drown. Do we consider it sin to lead a child in the path of sin? What is the consequence of sin? It is hell. Yet, we think nothing of children. You have been blessed by God to have your own children. What happens if you cause your child to sin? You can say that they are a trap that could lead you to hell. Have you ever thought about this as you raise your children? You don’t. You try to raise your child to the standards that please you and when they do please you, you give them allowances and gifts. As long as you are satisfied, and they say the right things to you, you get excited and open up your wallet. This is wrong. This is not the way. You are to raise a child according to the Word and do so by being an example of that life. Rather than be an example of what God wants, you lead a double life, pretending to be holy on Sundays and then the moment you leave, you live a different lifestyle. Who knows this? Speaking from a man’s point, my wife knows me the best, and then it is my children. Your children are the one watching you and saying “at church or when others are looking he acts as though....” If your children are seeing that you are living a double life, then you have already lead them down a path of sin. They start thinking this is how I am supposed to believe in Jesus, how to act at church and then outside of church. They may start thinking that they too can live a life like this. This becomes the fault of the parent who has led the child to sin and you will receive the consequence of punishment, but we never think about this. This is a terrible and fearful truth but we choose not to see it. We do not want to see the depths of things. We are not perfect and we do make mistakes, but when we do make mistakes there are consequences. We are told that if our hand causes us to sin that we are to cut it off and throw it away. It is better to enter heaven crippled than to go to hell whole. How am I to speak to my spouse and children to avoid making a mistake of angering them and putting myself in the path of hell? I must decide. Will I do what is required to go to heaven or will I do that which requires me to go to hell? What use is it if I tell you to do something? When I ask you a question, you must decide the answer. You must decide if something is serious enough for you to not do or do. You must decide. If I tell you you must not do it, you may reply “well, that is what the pastor thinks.” It is difficult to make a change in your life without making a decision of what you will do. If there is poison in the food and I tell you there is, you must trust me and not eat it then you will live, but if you want to taste it and eat it and get sick and die, then it is your responsibility. All I can do is give you a warning that there is poison in the food. I hope that you are able to understand the message and do what is necessary to live. The Bible tells us that each little child is important. We learn to be humble like children to lower ourselves like them. Jesus has given many examples of heaven. He tells us it is like a field, or a pearl, or like a net and fish. Is heaven really like these things? If I own these things then do I really have a piece of heaven? These are examples of what I must do to attain heaven. To give up everything to attain it. When Jesus teaches about heaven he only gave examples of what heaven is like. He only spoke of heaven in speaking about Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus was held in the arms of Abraham. He had suffered on earth and was being comforted in heaven. It is only for us to imagine but he did speak about how we are to enter. He always spoke about the requirements to get into heaven. Unless we are like children we cannot enter into heaven. He talks about the righteousness of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Our righteousness must surpass theirs or else we cannot enter into heaven. The Pharisees and Sadducees live strictly adhering to every letter of the law so that they may enter heaven. They have so many regulations about how to keep the Sabbath. They have so many customs and acts that they follow to observe the commands perfectly, but unless we are more righteous than them, we cannot enter into heaven. How righteous must our lives be? Not only must we be righteous in the sight of men but we must be found righteous in the eyes of God. Without being found so, we cannot enter into heaven. We are stuck on legalism. When the true love for God flows out of me, we will have no choice but to do the things that will please God and that is through obedience of His commands. How do I show that I love God? There must be a standard. When I say that I lay down my life for God, then is it to go and kill myself? It is not. The standard for everything is through the Law, through the Word of God. The true confession of loving God is to live perfect lives just as Christ lived perfectly in obedience to the Law. This is how we get into heaven. It is difficult. If Jesus teaches us that our righteousness must surpass that of the teachers of the Law to enter into heaven, then how are we to live? Lip service will not get us into heaven. I have lived here for many years. Do I know all of America? I do not. Those who have been born and raised here. Do they know all of America? They do not. You do not know all of America because you speak the language or that you have lived here for a long time. In Korea there are many people who have lived in America and speak the language, but do I know more bout America than they? I saw an interview about a gentleman 80 years old who reads English better than the students at university. He reads it well and understands. He can write and people who see this are shocked. There is nothing he does not know. He is teaching his grandson. His grandson is doing extremely well in school. But with all his knowledge does this make him an US citizen? No, he is a Korean citizen on the streets sharpening knives. Are you a citizen of heaven because you have read about it in the Bible? Are you? I may not speak the English language but I am a US citizen. I have a US passport and have confidence in my status here. I am protected by the US government. I must live the life according to the standards of the place that I represent. As a citizen of heaven I must live a life that reflects Jesus. Knowledge is useless. All the education and knowledge, theology, and every other study means nothing. Unless I am like a child I cannot enter into heaven. Without a change in my life, and unless I humble myself before our Lord, then like one of the twelve who did not enter into heaven, we also will not enter into heaven. I must be able to see this and realize this about myself. I must live my life to reflect the faith that I have. Without this my life has nothing to do with heaven. There are many things that we do not understand about children. But Jesus is not looking at anything else but their humility. We too must humble ourselves before our Lord. Humility means we do not judge others. Humility does not think about whether that person pleases or displeases you. We judge the moment we see or hear anything. We cannot enter heaven with this kind of attitude. A great quality of children is that they are adorable. They act in a manner to be loved. Their childish behavior melts your heart. No matter how upset they are when you say something nice they forget. We too must be like this to let go things easily and move on in simplicity. They do not hold a grudge. This is why children are loved. This is how we can enter into heaven. We are commanded to not let our anger go beyond the day but we stay angry overnight, for days, weeks and months. This is not the heart of a child. With this attitude, not only will I get sick, but if by some accident, I have harbored this anger and God calls me to Him, what is in my heart? How can I enter into heaven? It says these people will not enter into heaven, so I must realize that I must do something. You must listen and then decide what you will do. Last week I spoke of the one who receives God’s love. This person knows that even though today all their problems are not resolved, that they stand in the path of receiving even greater blessings eventually. They hold the key to life, which is receiving the love of God. If that is your attitude, to receive the love of God, then it is not to be like the disciples seeking greatness, but to do as Jesus teaches which is to humble yourself like a child. It is to do what I must to receive the love of God. I must meet the requirements of getting into heaven. If I do so, then will not also all the problems of this world be resolved by God as well? We are going through a period of restoration in this church. Unless I meet the requirements of receiving the restoration, then I will not be able to receive the blessings that will come from it as well. If I desire the blessings of restoration, then I must either live the life to receive God’s love, or humble myself before God like a child, or completely repent and turn from my life of sin. What is our purpose? It is to give glory to God through our lives by being called by Him and being used for His purpose in joy and thanksgiving. It is to live a life that is led by the Spirit. It is to give God glory and honor. This must be my life. Then you can live a life that is blessed. May you live this life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translation by Miguel Park

Romans 9:11-13

Jacob or Esau Romans 9:11-13 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Romans 9 is a passage that we are all familiar with. Each of us has a goal in life. Is there anyone without a goal? There is something we each want to be, want to do, and want to attain. If that is so, and if you have become that someone, done what you wanted and attained what you desired, are you then blessed? Is that right? If you have done all you have wanted to do, then are you able to say definitively that you have achieved all your goals? Are you certain you have done everything? Today being a millionaire does not seem that unique. In the past, if you were a millionaire you were part of an elite group, but today there are billionaires. But, let us say that you decided to be a millionaire and did so. Would you say then that you have been blessed? Or let us say that you desire some merit, and you did so, would say then that you are blessed? Or if you have lived your life in good health, are you then able to say that you have lived a blessed life? Or let us say you have many children and all of them do well, grow up without any problems, then would you say that you are blessed? What would you have so that you would say that you are blessed and what kind of life are you living so that you can attain the blessings? If you are living to achieve a goal, then we can say that that goal is the blessing that you are trying to attain. If what you desire is merit, status, money, health, or your children’s well being, if you have something that you desire and attain it, then people will look and say that you are blessed. Is that not so? Then, in order to attain these blessings, there are things that we do. What are these things? A nonbeliever, one who does not believe in Jesus and serves any other god, goes and worships their own gods. The ask for their desires to be granted. They are begging to have their desires granted. We have all seen this. Is there anyone who hasn’t seen this? Either at a temple, or a fortune teller, there are various ways that people seek to have their desires granted. What this means, is that there is a method to having their desires granted and they are going to do those things to make it so. Is that not so? Someone may have prayed to a big boulder and their child passed an exam. Someone who was unable to have child was able to become pregnant, or some other news of this type is heard from others. Someone had a problem and when they prayed to something somewhere all there problems were resolved. So then that boulder, tree, or location is now seen as having a spiritual power and so people go and pray to these things. How do they pray? They do so with all their might. Someone had written, that when these people go to pray to what we see as an idol with no power, they do so with such an intensity and focus that it surpasses that of our giving and posture of worship to a degree that cannot be measured. When we compare the posture of worship of those who believe in a lifeless idol and that of us who believe in the living God, the difference in our worship is like day and night. What is our attitude of worship as we worship a living God? Are we truly worshipping with a heart of reverence? Do we recognize who God really is when we come to worship Him? If there is one seeking a blessing, then that means that there is one who is able to give it. What is your reason for coming to worship God? Do you worship so that you may receive a blessing? Do you worship and praise Him so that you can receive merit, a job, health or money? Are you coming to worship so that you can get something? Is that so? Are you coming before God believing that He is the Creator of all things and the giver of life and that by being able to be with you then you will be able to attain something that you desire? If that is so, then we must examine ourselves. When the youth speak, they say that they will take what they want. For example when they are in love, and they see someone who is beautiful and who they like, they will do all that they can so that they can posses the one they desire. They will take the one they want and make them their own. Then is it over? They gave all within themselves to posses the one that they have desired and done so. Then what do they do? They try to take back all that they have invested into that person. That is how people are. Is this true love? This person only tried to posses the other for the sake of possessing them, they did not do so out of love. They saw something that was pleasing to them in beauty and form, but the moment they come to posses them, they start demanding that the person return all that was invested into them. It is not love to desire to have returned that which was invested. I speak as a man. If I see a woman that I love, that I am willing to sacrifice everything in my life for, then after I have made her my wife, then I must give more. I must die more. I must cherish her and hold her and love her and so that she will not break or be hurt and so want to leave me. This is putting in the effort to maintain that which you have attained. But if we are mistaken in our thoughts then we are not loving the way we should. If we have forgotten the essence of love and tried to love then we have missed the mark. In the world, there are two sides to every story. If one is good there is also bad. When I desired to have someone, I have a standard to which I desire that the person be and then later, after having been married I realize that the person is different from when we used to date. It is rare to find someone that has not changed. Everyone changes. If I have done everything to make this woman my wife, then what comes next? I must make sacrifices to keep her happy. We fail to do this just like we fail to understand the true essence of love. Just like there is good and bad, I must persevere to the end and make sacrifices for the one I love. This is the way it is in life. What about our spiritual life, the life of being God’s child? We say that we love God. We come before Him singing praises and worship saying that we will sacrifice ourselves to God. Then what are the two sides? First we must forgo all that we thought we knew about love. Our standard of love up to this point has been the way of the world. We must rid ourselves the standard in which the world loves when we come before God. We are to come before Him and confess our love and continuous sacrifice for Him. But we do not get rid of the world. Rather we confess our love for the world and ask God to give us the things of this world which are merit, money, health, and employment. We tell Him that if He answers our prayers, then we will use those things and love God more. We are trying to have both. Is this the right way? If we are trying to attain all things through God, and we believe that God is the one who provides all things, and therefore we come and worship Him, then should we be seeking blessings from God or His love? I am asking you. “God I need money because I have put myself into debt because of all the finances I have needed to live life so please give me money.” Is this how we should ask God? “God I have eaten and drank how I wanted and now I am sick, please make me well. I am seeking the blessing of health.” Is this how we are to pray? “I have lived all my life being numb to the Spirit, and have been entangled by the world, I am asking that you free me from all my burdens and heal me.” If I seek in prayer the blessings to all my worldly attachments from God, is this the right way to pray? It is not. If I have sacrificed everything to attain all the love that I have desired, then I must sacrifice so that the love does not depart from me. If I see later that the person is not as perfect as I have perceived, then I must realize that I too am not perfect and also a disappointment to the other person as well. We think that we are the only to make a sacrifice and not get what we want. What about the other person who was deceived into thinking that they were going to be with someone who was going to love and sacrifice for them forever? Who is really being deceived? We do not think of the person who was deceived by my false acts of sacrifice. Our thoughts are wrong in the way we seek satisfaction and our desire to seek a return in what we have sacrificed. We have a misunderstanding of love. When we come before God and seek the things to love Him back, then we are wrong in our worship and the way we pray. When we try to posses the love of God in our lives, we must come before Him first having let go of everything in this world. When we seek His love and posses it then our prayers will be answered. If we are not seeking His love, but are seeking the things of this world so that we can do what we desire then the prayers we pray are wrong and our life and faith are also all wrong. Let us look at the love of a parent and child. Which child does a parent love the most? Is it not the child that captures the parent’s heart? Of course the parents love all their children equally and uniquely but the child that pleases the parent and captures their heart is naturally won over by that child. There is a difference of focusing on a child out of love and focusing on a child because they might do something wrong. We are just speaking generally. That is why people give more to those who they can trust and love. If you come before God seeking His blessings, then what must you do so that you can have all that you want? You must find the key. Without the key all your efforts are useless. Everything else is secondary to you finding the secret to your confession of love for God and receiving all of His love for you. All things can be resolved once you figure this out. But we have a hard time understanding this. The one who receives much of God’s love can also receive all the blessings in this world. Rather than seek God’s love, we put a requirement on giving God love by first asking Him for the things we desire. If you give us that which we ask for we will love you more is our attitude. If you allow us this or give us that then we will love you more, but that is wrong. I may have nothing of this world but to be made in the image of God and to know Him means that we possess all the things that He possesses in our spirit. God is love. That means we too have that love. What kind of love? It is the love that sacrificed His one and only Son for us. We too for the sake of love, for our children and the ones we love, can sacrifice all that we have for them, and there are those that do. When you truly love, you can sacrifice any part of your body for someone even your very life for your child. Why? Because, that is love. The relationship between parent and child must be that can give and receive so that all can be overcome. There are many things in our lives that we do with a wrong understanding. When I ask you if you love your wife, husband, children or parent you can answer “yes” but the question is by what standard are you loving them? God sent His one and only Son to die on the cross for us. Do we love like this? Can we answer “we cannot love like that, but we still love”? There is a video on our website about a story of a little child who was blind so when he was too young to remember his mother gave him her eyes. He never knew that he could not see. As he grew up he ignored her, his entire life. Later he found out his eyes belonged to his mother. What use it is to confess your love for a mother who is dead? A parent can make sacrifices. God, our Father, sacrificed His Son, for us so that there would be a way for us to be His children. We have received this love. Do I really understand His love and what it really means before I tell Him that I love Him? If I love God for my satisfaction and according to my standards, then I do not understand the love of God. There is a story of an 86 year old man name Mr.Chu. He gets up early in the morning and prepares a measure of soup and then walks 20 kilometers to a hill with a bamboo violin. What does he do there? For 30 years he has visited his wife’s grave with a bowl of soup and the violin which he plays for her. Why? When he was engaged to her, he had promised that he would daily prepare her soup and play her a song that she enjoyed until he died. She has died, but because he still has life and because of his promise, he goes in the morning with the soup and plays a song for her though no one listens and then comes home. What is this? This is his way of keeping his promise of his love. He is 86 years old but he has not given up on his love. The editor of this story asks at the end, how are you caring for the ones that you love? This old man is keeping his promise to a wife who has died. How are you caring for the ones that you love that are living? Examine yourself. The editor tells us to ask ourselves, “What kind of person am I?” If there is someone who can love and respect someone who has died, then am I loving all those family members around me and loving me spouse the way that truly defines love? Through all trial and adversity am I loving those the way that true love is to be? If not, and I am unable to even love the spouse who I see that is before me, then can I say that I love God? What kind of life of faith am I living? If we are unable to do so, then I am asking that we examine ourselves. Are you really in love? The time that you spend together is important. Don’t you want to spend as much time together when you are in love? You do not try to avoid each other. After work, you want to come right home and talk to the one you love. When you have a moment at work, you try to call her and talk to her. When you are young before you are married, you are always calling each other letting each other know where you are and what you are doing. But once you get married you stop. It is because you did not do it for love but rather you tried to posses the other person. When you love the other, you listen to what the other person is saying, you are trying to understand their heart. Having deep conversation is a sign of love. How much time have I spent before God in prayer to receive His love and to know His heart? Are we living our life of faith drawing closer to God listening to the things that He is saying to us? Are you doing so? Do you read the Bible often? Are you praying often? Just as you try to make time for someone you love and send a message often, whether I sit or stand am I offering to God the true life of one who worships Him? In this way I can confess my love I have for Him. In this way I can understand the essence of what love is. If I am unable to receive God’s love, then what must I do? It is written that “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated.” Compare the descendants of those of Jacob and then of Esau. Jacob who was loved by God. Esau who was hated by God. Should I receive God’s love or His hate? What then must I do so that I can receive His love? You must do as you have heard, seen and learned from the Bible. Abraham is the father of our faith. Abraham communicated with God, listened to Him and obeyed Him in faith and God made him the father of our faith. The seed of our faith comes down and separated between Jacob and Esau. Even from the descendant of the seed of faith we can see that there is one who is loved and one who is not loved. Esau is from Abraham. Jacob is from Abraham. They are both descendants of Abraham. You are all descendants of the family of faith from Abraham. If you are descended from the family of faith, should you stand in the line of Jacob or in the line of Esau? Where should you stand? Without a doubt you must stand in line with Jacob. But if you are to stand in line with him, what kind of life must you live? You are the one who must live it. God showed us what to do by example, and because He has shown us, when we do the things He tells us, then He is in us and we are in Him. We are His children. We can know then we receive His love. If I do not love then I do not know God. I have no relationship with God. If I have no relationship with Him then can I receive His blessings? I wouldn’t be able to. The answer is simple. To receive God’s love there must be a connection between Him and me. If that is the case, then should I not receive all of His love? In order to receive His love completely should I stand behind Him, beside Him or be found in front of Him? Where do you find the child that you love the most? Do you love the child that does not live at home or do you love the child that is at home and captures your heart? Do you love the child that is in the next room or the child that is found in front of you? God has shown you the way. He does not take into account your age. He does not favor between boy nor girl. If a parent is pleased by a child’s speech and action, then what are the things that please God? It is doing the things that please God in front of Him. Meaning God is watching me at all times. Am I then able to sin? I am not. Because God is watching me, then when I speak today, I will speak so that God will be glorified. My speech will have to be righteous. I must open my mouth in a manner that would be pleasing to God. If I am to do business with someone today, then knowing that God is watching I must conduct my business in a manner that would glorify God and when I do He will be pleased with me. I must follow and obey Him. When God is pleased with me He will open the door for the business to succeed. But what do we do? We ponder and stress about the finances and bring what little that we make to God and then ask Him to give us more. This is not the way. God has given the students an opportunity to study. When a student asks God to bless them so that they can do well and make lots of money and achieve a high status so that they can do God’s will and please Him they are doing it wrong. You should pray that you are grateful for the opportunity to study and that by studying you are doing God’s will, and you do so in obedience to Him so you ask Him for wisdom to overcome the evil in the world. Then when you study with the wisdom that God grants you, from the place God has placed you, you are to please God by the life you live and the words you speak. When you live this life, when you pray in this manner, because God chooses to love you, He will bless you with the things you need. From that place you can be a witness of God’s love and blessing to others. This is the life of faith. You must be able to attain this love to be able to confess that you are blessed. If you are seeking blessings by your standards then there is no one who has ever attained the blessings they have desired. Do you prefer a million or two million? Two. Two million or three million? Three. Let say you set your goals to make 50 million but you see that your friend has made 100 million. Now what you set as a standard has been crushed and now you are found wanting more. Even if we had the whole world we would still want. The woman you were once was crazy in love for is now getting older and there are many younger more beautiful women around. Your standard of love has changed. Anyone who looks at anything according to their standard may be satisfied in the moment, but the moment they turn their head and see something else that standard is now changed. If to be blessed means to satisfy oneself, then your life will never be blessed. When I let go of my standards and if I believe that my life in God is the best the way it is, then whether He blesses me or does not, I am satisfied in God alone. This is the blessed life and in this life there is joy and this life is a life keeps flowing forth from God through me. This is the life of victory. God is glorified through the one who lives this life. Just as we see in Romans as God loved Jacob and hated Esau, I must decide to confess to God that because He loves me I will live my life for Him. To live a life of victory. To live the blessed life. To be able to say that I have done it all for God. To receive God’s love and to also love. Who’s love is it? It is God’s love that you must receive and understand. Pray that you may. Focus all your strength on attaining God’s love. Love yourself and throw away everything inside you that is contrary to it. Be one in God’s love in your family and with the overflowing abundance from the love of Jesus may it be evident to all those around you. May you all receive the blessing of God’s love. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translation by Miguel Park

Standing in Faith

Standing in faith What kind of life does one live in faith? What does it mean to stand in faith? How do we know that we are standing in faith? Standing in means to get up and be in a position to walk. In my case, I am unable to walk. I am unable to stand. The world describes me as having a sickness. They would call me a cripple. When I go out I am seen as a cripple because I am unable to walk. In your spiritual life, you may think that you are standing and walking around, but your spirits are crippled. You may think that you are well and doing the things of God, but I want us to really take a look within ourselves to see if we are really allowing the will of God to manifest in our lives. Examine yourselves. Are you crippled like I am or are you standing? Raise your hand if you think you are standing in faith? Are you really standing in faith? You may see someone and call them cripple because of their body, but have you looked within yourself to see that you are crippled, lame, and foolish in your spirits? You do not. There are many Christians but many of them are crippled. Yet they are so proud. They memorize scripture. They speak well, and explain the Word to others. But are they really living the life, standing in faith, so that others will see and take notice and believe? Does anyone see you and want to be a believer? No they don’t, but yet we are so proud. We take what little we know and boast about being a Christian to the people around us, but behind our backs we are being ridiculed. “That person is a believer? I will never believe in Jesus because of them.” We don’t think that we are these people, but instead we shout loudly to them that they will go to hell if they don’t believe in Jesus, but the real problem is that we am in danger of going to hell. You have been reminded of this time and again but you do not wrestle with it nor are you upset by it. A true Christian is one who is standing in faith, one who is free to walk, and shares the fragrance of Christ, to give glory to God. His life is one that others will see and believe that there is a God. This is the life of a Christian. Is this happening in your life? Just because you have learned a little bit, that you have changed a little bit, you look at others and hate the sight of them. Do you think that Jesus loved the sight of you that He died for you? Why are you so proud? What makes you so proud? The Bible teaches us to beware that we may fall when we think that we are on the right path. We are to truly stand in faith, but when the Bible teaches us to beware it is speaking of our pride. Rather than stand firm, we use this teaching as a excuse so that we won’t fail. We prefer to be crippled. We would rather crawl than walk. We prefer to lie down. You have misunderstood the scripture. We must stand completely in faith. To walk boldly in our faith means that our flesh must be killed. We must be crucified on the cross and become humble. We try to stand but fall. Are you truly standing and walking in faith? When we stand in faith and know the will of God we are humbled, become servants, and love our neighbors. But we have a hard time loving our own families. When something displeases us we get angry. We hate. How many murders do we commit each day? Forget everyone else, within your own families how many murders are you committing? If you husband upsets you, you hate him. When you are unhappy with your wife or children and you hate them. You are murdering them. But still we say that we are Christians. We cover ourselves up and make ourselves presentable to the world. Where is the fragrance of Christ? We don’t even need to talk about your neighbors. Am I living my life to give God glory and to lift Him up? We must think deeply about this matter. We are told over and again that the end is near. God is patiently waiting that one more soul will be saved. I am supposed to be a witness to others and bring them into the arms of our Father, and to do so I must die to myself, be humble, and live to glorify God. I must do this by surrendering my pride, greed, stubbornness and my way of thinking. Are you surrendering to God? We know that we are to be satisfied in Jesus Christ alone. But there is no personal connection with us. We think pastors are to be. The elders of the church are to be. You say that you are just a member of the church. You do not get into heaven by the position you hold in church. This is just what they do. Faith of a church member, elder or pastor is all the same. I must keep the faith and do so properly. As a pastor, if I cause you to stumble, then I will be punished for doing so. If you judge, you too will be punished. If I am wrong, I can tell you to not do what I do and do what you know is right because you will be punished for your own actions. Will you live the right life? We must all do our very best to make sure that no one stumbles because of us and receive punishment for our behaviors. We look at pastors and say this, but we fail to see and apply this in our own lives as we cause others around us to stumble and cause them to go to hell. How are you behaving in your own lives? Are there more people who are stumbling because of me or going to heaven because of me? Am I saving the souls of people or am I sending them to hell? What do you think? If I am a Christian, if I am a believer, then I am to be an example to them. If they do not believe, and if they do wrong, I must show them right. If they do not know God then I must show them the way to God. If they do evil, then I must show them good and bring them to God. What about our youth? They take pleasure in the evil and go and participate with them. They are so consumed by the music of this world that they go crazy so that they may listen to it. They are willing to spend day and night learning the new dances. How much time have you put into praising God and getting to know Him? Do you spend time in prayer and tears trying to bring your friend who is a nonbeliever to Christ? How much time do you spend in prayer for the souls of those that you meet at work so that they may be saved? Do you pray for the souls of the people that you work with it, or do you despise the ones you hate and treat the ones that you like more favorably? What kind of faith are you living with in your life? What kind of faith gives glory to God? God has turned our church and now we are being led to a different path. You think that because we have done a church fast, that God will now bless us. Blessing? How many of you have prayed for blessings and received it? From the world view you are going to fail. You will truly fail. You must get rid of everything and that is the path of failure. When you pray for blessings you start off by receiving training so that God dwells with you. I saw a missionary give a testimony about the blessings of God. She says to be one with God means that you surrender all that you have to Him. She says that too many people give testimonies about the blessings of God and only focus on that part, but that is only a small part. They are not mentioning that part where they have surrendered everything and then speak only the part of the restoration which is the blessing. They are not speaking about how they had to humble themselves, in prayer and repentance and all the difficulties that they had endured. This is why many people are still focused on the prosperity gospel. You will first fail. But we refuse to let go of the things that we are holding onto. We can’t let go of our children. We can’t let go of our wife. We think God will take her away. Is it because we don’t know? We know. We refuse to let go of our husbands. We think that God will take them and throw them away. Do not be mistaken, but know that they will be taken away from you. They will be taken away from you, you must surrender them. Then will God’s blessing be upon you. We do not see this. You seem to be standing but you are not. I am disabled and cannot move without this wheelchair, but I tell my husband how grateful I am for this because without it I would be confined to my bed and unable to go anywhere. All of you may seem to walk around and be well, but when you look at your spirit you are crippled, fallen and dead. But you think that you are such great believers. You think you know everything. If you really knew God you could not live this way. You cannot keep living this way. You cannot be this stubborn until the end. You cannot be proud. God is not trying to steal from us. When we give up what we are holding onto, He is wanting to put there something better. But we are foolish and unable to receive any of the blessings that God has for us. The greater problem is that you are not aware that this is how you are I think of myself as having discomfort. Being unable to move. . Thinking that you are healthy is a problem. When I pray for people, and tell them that they have a physical problem somewhere they say that they do not. They do not know. Then they will call later and blame me for the pain they have now become aware of. They live without even knowing that their physical bodies are sick. The are mistaken and believe that they are healthy. They will only know that they are sick when they collapse and are taken to the hospital. They are foolish. When I meet these people I tell them that even though I may seem like someone who is sick, they are the ones who are truly sick. My body has discomfort and disability, but they are sick in spirit. It is difficult. But when I think that my spirit is awake I feel alive and well. If I were to be physically healthy and spiritually healthy then that would be great. But if your spirit is in my physical condition then you have a serious problem. Physically I am disabled and sit here, but if I go to heaven I will have a new body where I will fly. If my spirit were disabled and unable to get into heaven there would be nothing more pitiful. If I were physically disabled and spiritually disabled that would be truly pitiful. The best is to be physically and spiritually well. The second best would be to be spiritually well even though you are not physically well. What about those who are physically and spiritually not well? What path do you wish to choose? Do you want to follow the world? Your friends? The world you desire is nothing new. When God told me to listen and see the things of the world, I noticed that it was all the same. The lyrics are all the same, the dances are all the same, they may have changed some things but it was all the same. When God moves you to dance it a a beautiful dance and when God moves you to sing the songs are truly beautiful. You are unaware of this joy and that is why you seek after the things of this world. That is the path of destruction. When I first listened to the music of this world my head hurt and I could not sleep. But why do the youth enjoy it so much? Because they are seeking to be satisfied. They have no idea what they are singing or what the lyrics mean, but because they feel good they get lost in it. That music is being used by the devil to kill your soul. Much of the music today contain lyrics that clearly praise the devil. Much of Korea’s music for the youth today clearly state that they worship and serve the devil. I ask my husband if they really understand the words that they are singing? If they really understood what they were saying could they sing those songs? Are we living the life of faith? We come to church on Sundays and may do so here but what about during the week where you spend most of your time? Are you living in God? Where does you stand in your faith? We think we have faith but we do not. We think we are standing firm. We think we are going so well in our faith. We are living in a lie. Parents have no idea what their children are thinking. You think that being good to your children is giving them an allowance, or telling them that they are good, even when they are wrong you tell them they are doing good. You have no idea how to correct the wrong that the children are doing. You treat your children according to how you feel. If you are feeling bad you scold your children. If you are feeling good and if your children are misbehaving you have no idea how to discipline them. You have no idea if how your children are behaving well or not. Parents have no clue about the thoughts that their children are having. But children tell their parents to trust them. We have to trust them. But there are things that we can trust them with and things that we cannot. Parents at times do not know, or may have to act as if they do not know what their children do. But this does not show the child how to live the right life of faith. This is just living without proper faith. To live in Jesus, if the parent really believes in Jesus, they must communicate with their children to be one. We lack this communication. Parents refuse to listen to their children when they are tired. They snap at them. We tell them to go figure it out on their own. We think by giving them an allowance that we are doing good to them. Or when we try and talk to them all we really do is speak what we want to say. What does your life have anything to do with your children? If you are teaching the same mistakes in your life to them then you are wrong. You should be teaching them the mistakes you have made and teaching them not to do it. But we tell them that because we suffered we tell them to suffer the same. Are you blessing your children? You are not. If you really want to advise them and guide them, we must do so with the Word. Do it with faith. In prayer. We are to communicate with our children in God. But when we speak amongst ourselves in the family is God present in our speech? Is He there? It may seem as though God is there in the beginning but soon when your emotions get involved, you dislike something, you get angry and then God is no longer present in the things you say. Then it is simply speaking to each other without God. If you are angry who is there with you? The devil is there and that is why you get angrier and your emotions get more hurt and then later you are no longer with God. You are with the devil. Do not be deceived. The devil cannot give you eternal life. The devil cannot give you joy. He cannot give you peace. He can give you nothing. God alone can give you everything. Do not forget this. The things of this world can be given to you by the devil. But not for eternity. He will give you the things to manipulate you for a time being and then take it away. When God gives you something He will not steal it from you. You are deceived in thinking that God will steal from you while the devil will give you everything you desire. Do not sit in the seat of fools. If you are truly standing in faith then you must not be food for the devil. You must walk with God. The life of being one with our Lord Jesus. To be one with God my Father, and with Jesus my groom. I must listen to and be led by the Spirit who has allowed me to know God and guided me to this day. Then will I be able to stand in faith. You must decide which path you will take. God has given us free will to choose. You ask then why won’t He just make me do it? If God did then the Word of God would be a lie. God will never force us to do what He desires. The choice must be made by you. No one can do it for you, you must do it. If your neighbor goes down the wrong path you must go down the right path. Spouses are to be one but rather than go the right path you end up going down the wrong path. You think it is easier. Because doing what you want is easier. But when you stand firm in the faith, then you can lead your spouse into that life of faith. When you concede to your spouse thinking that will get them to follow you, it will not be so. You will continue to concede until you are completely fallen to the devil. You will get to the point where you will give up. When there is a disagreement in the home, use the Word to find the solution and correct the problem. The one who is right must lead the way and the one who does not know must follow. You do not lead because you are the husband or because you are the wife. It is not so in the faith. But the Bible is clear. The husband in the leader of the home. Do not be the husband who misuses this scripture to do as they please. You will only end up killing yourself, your spouse and your children. If the husband is not standing in the faith and your wife is, then follow your wife. This is how you help each other. Then the wife, the women, must stand right in the faith. Then you can lead the family in the right way. If the wife does not stand in faith, nor the husband stand in faith then the children will be broken. Then how will we be embraced by the arms of the Father? Do you think that God will welcome you? You will not. You will not get to the heaven you desire. You must really practice the things of heaven within your family. You must practice heaven to go to heaven. If you practice hell you will go to hell. How will you get to heaven when your family argues and fights all the time? If you are joyful in the Lord and dwell in Him then you will get into heaven. Do not think it too difficult to get into heaven. This is all a trap by the devil. If you live by the Word you will go to heaven. You may be worried that you will live by the Word and not go, but if you live by the Word you will go to heaven. The Bible is clear that if you obey the Word and live by it, then you will eat and drink with Him for eternity. The path is easy, but I must first repent. Today, stand in your faith and give God glory. Be one with Him and worship and praise Him. This is our end. Do not forget this. Sermon by Pastor Joy Lee Translation by Miguel Park