Matthew 4:8-11

Matthew 4:8-11, a Scripture we all know well, Jesus has just finished 40 days of fasting and amongst the temptations given to Jesus from the devil this is the last one.

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

The temptations that Jesus faced are the same temptations that we face today.
There are many places that ignore the existence of the devil and demons altogether.
The devil that tempted Jesus, does he consider me as he considered Jesus?
What do you think sir?
Do I have faith that is considered like that of Jesus’?
Do you?
The devil who tempted Jesus, what do you think he thinks of you?
What does the devil think of you?
He may think that you are not even bad food.
He may think of you as not even worth trying for.
We have fallen into the trap, we have eaten the food he has given to us, thinking that we are better than Jesus, and therefore we think that there is no temptation in our lives.
“The devil cannot tempt me!” we say.
We say,”There is no reason for me to fall into that trap!” in pride.
Because we have fallen into the trap we do not see that sin that we are in and have no thought about it.
It is because we do not realize that we have fallen into the trap.
The devil has deceitfully come into us but we refuse to face the truth.
This is hard to understand is it not?
Especially for those who are second generation because the terms I am using are bit difficult.
Many pastors speak about authentic versus fake.
Nowadays there are many fake products that are almost better than the authentic products.
Other times there is an over stock of the material that the company is using so that they make the same products but do not label it with their logo.
Otherwise it is the same.
Likewise, each of us tries to understand the Word of God and apply it into our lives, but the one who believes does so with the strength of the Spirit, for the glory of Jesus, through His blood, in joy for the redemption of their soul, being led by the Spirit and revealing it in their lives.
The devil, also reveals the Word of God, but does so only in knowledge of it, in formality, which makes it hard for even true believers to differentiate between the authentic believers and the fake.
Why?
From a knowing point of view, we know that to follow Jesus we are to surrender ourselves completely and let go of all that we think is the way to do things.
We are to die to ourselves, and accept the Word of God and reveal it through our lives, but the devil teaches us in a manner which fits our way of thinking and it seems more proper to us.
We think “Of course, that is the way the Word of God is to be revealed!” so the devil teaches us in a manner in which it is much more easier for us to accept.
Do you understand what I am saying, if not ask me.
I can explain it again.
For example, if I have fruit like that of the fruit of knowledge and it is poisonous, if you eat of it you will die.
But I am starving, and being led by the Spirit I am told to eat of eat, because if I do not eat it I will die.
If the Lord tells me to eat of eat and says I will not die, then am I to eat of it or not eat of it?
If I have truly received the word from the Lord whom we serve, then I must eat.
But from a knowing standpoint, if I eat it I will die, so I would rather starve and die than eat of it and die.
So we put forth our knowledge before the Spirit.
This is an example of how the devil interferes with the work of the Lord.
I have told you this example before of the time when I was in seminary school.
I met another seminary student who was influenced by the power of the devil and drove his car into the middle of a desert.
Then the devil left him and he came to his senses.
He realized that he had no gas in his car.
There was no way for him to go any further.
He searched his car and in his trunk he had water.
He prayed in faith saying that though he was led by the devil into the desert, he must now live to do God’s work so he was going to put the water in the tank and asked that the water be like fuel.
So he put the water in the gas tank, what happened next?
That car, the one I have ridden in myself, whenever that person would drive around to do God’s work, there was no consumption of fuel.
This is happening in today’s time.
But can you only be doing God’s work all the time?
Whenever he went to school, or to church meetings and worship meetings hardly any fuel was used.
But whenever he would need to run personal errands like shopping, or deal with some personal issues, then the fuel in the car would go down just like any other car.
One person is driving the same car, but depending on what his purpose is for driving the consumption of fuel is different.
I have ridden that car and seen it for myself.
The result of faith is beyond our understanding.
If the path that you are going on, is the path where you decide what you will do, then like the example of the car, you will be uselessly using fuel.
But if you go the path where the Lord is the standard, then you will not be using your fuel.
By whose standard are we to drive?
Whose standard are we to speak and act?
I am saying that it is not to be by our standards.
In today’s Scripture we see that the devil came to Jesus to tempt Him.
He knows who Jesus is.
The devil knows the purpose for which Jesus came.
That same devil, who tried to tempt Jesus with the desires of the flesh, heart and mind, if you think that the devil is not trying to make you fall, then you are standing in the place of pride above the devil himself.
Do you realize this?
You do not.
Often I go out and work on in the garden and my room is by the window and because we are next to a big street I hear the sound of motorcycles even late at night.
I hear it all through the day and especially when they are stopped at the signal and when they take off I imagine in my mind what kind of motorcycle it maybe.
There are some motorcycles that have a nice sound, some sound like they are going fast, and other that sound loud, but do not seem to be going fast.
I am always wondering what kind of motorcycle is passing by.
Yesterday, as I was going through the garden, I heard a loud motorcycle but it did not seem to be going fast, so I looked over the wall.
Do you know what kind of motorcycle it was?
It was very unique sounding.
It was a scooter.
I laughed to myself for a while.
That sound had made me think of motorcycles often but seeing it, it wasn’t even a scooter you sit on, it was one of those which you stand on and a motor was attached.
I listened to it and laughed to myself.
I do not want to talk about scooters, but in our lives as we put our faith in Jesus we make a certain sound.
Without looking at our hearts others may see how we sing, pray and all that we do and think that we are good believers but if we reveal the heart of the person they may have only the engine of a scooter in them.
Do you understand what I am trying to say?
I go around showing others how great a believer I am.
I boast in myself.
Though they make claims about what Jesus has done for them, but when you look at their hearts they are not motorcycles and not even a scooter but they are only a toy with a motor attached to it.
I am saying that the devil may look at us as such kind of believers.
I realized that it was not the first time I had been tricked and thought to myself how many times I must have been tricked and laughed about it.
Recently the weather has been unreliable.
It gets hot and then cold.
Do you know what happens because of the weather difference?
One of the first things I do in the morning is to go around the garden and pollinate the plants that need it.
There are few butterflies and bees these days to have it done on its own.
Without someone doing the work we will not be able to eat of some the vegetables that need to have it done.
I must be diligent.
Normally the flower of the squash open up early and about 11 AM closes and loses strength.
But due to the erratic weather, the flower at times stays open until late in the day or even the next day.
No matter how diligently I pollinate those flowers those flowers eventually die.
Why do I tell you this?
Is it about the flowers?
This past month there have been countless flowers that I have not been able to pollinate that have died.
You can see many of them on the ground even now.
Like these flowers we may have an appearance of beauty calling out to the bees and the butterflies, and though we are bloomed, like the apostle Paul has said, though we have watered the plants, it is the Lord who makes them grow.
But like the flowers if we are unable to receive properly the warmth of the sun, and the temperature fluctuates drastically, we cannot grow.
And though we may grow there will be no fruit.
Like flowers that are pollinated but do not grow, if we put on an appearance of faith and sing praises, and pray, dress in nice clothes, come to church, and do things in the name of the Lord, but if my relationship with the Lord is not right, there will be no fruit.
You are already dead.
No matter what is done to the flower it is already dead.
This is what nature teaches us as we apply the truth of God’s Word to our lives.
Unless my relationship with God is right, all the Bible reading, singing praises, and all the time I spend in prayer, if there is no fruit in my life, then I am dead.
The squash must bear fruit so that there can be seeds for the next season and also to please the owner by being food on the table.
But a dead flower is useless.
Seeing that no matter how diligent I am to the flowers that are already going to die, no matter how I live my life by praying, singing praises and crying out to God, without a right relationship with God and a life of obedience, then I am only wasting my time.
Let us not live this kind of life.
Go see for yourselves.
The pomegranate tree has flowers that bloomed.
It did so a little late this year.
I was diligent in watering it.
There must be at least a thousand flowers on it.
Out of the thousand there are only two that will bear fruit.
The other 998 are useless.
There will only be two pomegranates fruits.
The rest will die off and there will be nothing.
It seems that there are going to be many but in truth it is just a couple.
If our lives of faith are like this, then what will you do?
Yesterday, we attended a funeral for a pastor.
Of all the funerals I have been to, it was by far the largest gathering for someone who had died that I have attended.
In that large chapel, there were more people standing outside who could not come in.
The cars that people drove there were by far much more luxurious than the average person’s car.
All the people who sat in the row with one of our pastors had name brand designer bags on their laps.
People of great position came to pay their respects.
Then did the person who passed away sow good seeds or did she sow bad seeds for all these people to come to her funeral?
What do you think?
This one person had done much for all these people to come say goodbye which is what we were shown by the outcome.
In Korean history, there was conflict between two sides, one side lost and was removed from authority, but the one in authority died and the person who was removed came into power. When they took power they convicted the dead of crimes?
What happened afterwards?
They dug up the dead and punished the body of the dead.
This is history.
Are you aware of this?
Though someone has died, they committed a crime worthy of punishment and even though they are dead they must be punished.
So they dug up the grave and punished the dead.
Though I may live my life as though it seems good but the result is otherwise, then I will be punished in the end.
I am speaking about myself.
If I may have lived a life that helped many people and they would all later come to pay their respects at my funeral, but ultimately I did this all for my gain, then in the end when God calls me to judgment at the resurrection and he raises me up from the dead to punish me, then what will happen to me?
In the end we will all be raised up from the dead.
At that time if I am raised up to receive judgment and sent to Hell, then we must reconsider our lives.
We must consider how to enter in the God’s glory in the resurrection.
Depending on the result of my actions today, if I live a life that is acknowledged by God and the people, then in the end I will be guaranteed eternal life.
But if not, what will happen to me.
Today if I am filled with the Spirit and led by Him, and doing my work diligently.
But who am I as diligent as?
1 Samuel 10:9-11
Samuel has met with Saul and anointed him with oil as king of Israel.
After he was anointed...
9 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10 When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. 11 When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”
God gave Saul a new heart and everything the Lord desired was fulfilled that day.
And in order of the events Saul has now become king of Israel.
Saul had received a new heart.
In today’s term he was redeemed.
He was filled with the Spirit and with a new heart he became the king of Israel and then what happened?
He disobeyed God and then rather than repenting before God, he fell into the trap of the devil, and thinking that he had come into the position of king on his own, he tried to maintain that position by trying to kill David.
1 Samuel 19:23-24

23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

How powerfully he was filled with the Spirit, that the king lay naked all day and all night prophesying?
Would you too be able to prophesy naked for a day and night while naked and being in the Spirit?
No matter how filled we are with the Spirit, we feel we must wear our clothes, cover the parts we must cover, and this reveals our will.
The king who wants to keep his position and is on his way to kill David his enemy, the one who is anointed by God, but when the Spirit of God came on him, he let go of everything, took off his clothes and prophesied.
He was filled with the Spirit.
But what did he do after he got up?
What did he do?
Until the day he died he was constantly interfering with God’s work.
Is being filled with God’s Spirit and prophesying important?
Yes, it is important.
But to the degree in which I prophesy, if I do not die to Jesus and reveal Him through my life, then it is all pointless.
Luke 10:17:20
The Lord gave authority to cast out demons and to preach the good news about the coming kingdom of God.
This is what they said.
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

They were filled with joy because they were able to cast out demons and that they were doing something, but the Lord replies, “do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
What we are truly joyful about is not about casting out demons or healing the sick, but that our names are written in the book of life.
I thought about this yesterday, whether Judas Iscariot was among the 72, I do not know.
If we consider that the 12 were among the 72 then even Judas Iscariot had his name written in Heaven.
But in the end, because he was unable to live a life of obedience that revealed Jesus that name was erased from heaven.
If we today speak about prophesy, then Judas was not to have done what he did.
Even before this time the disciples had been given power.
They all claimed Him to be the Savior.
The called Him Lord and followed Him.
It is not important that they followed Him around, nor that they did things in His name, and though it is important that my name is written in Heaven, but I must live a life that bears fruit so that my name is not erased from Heaven.
Like Jesus who rebuked the devil with God’s Word and overcome the temptations, if I am unable to live a life that bears fruit, then like the flowers that are pollinated but are dead because there is no proper relationship between it and the sun, it will not bear fruit and die. Likewise a tree that has thousand of flowers but none of it bear fruit then all those flowers are useless. It is all the same.
God and I, Jesus and I, the Holy Spirit and I, unless I offer myself in obedience to the Word, and live my life according to what I think faith is, then our lives will be a life without fruit, no matter how much we pray, how much we read the Bible, no matter how much we sing praises, no matter how much power we display, then like Jesus said in Matthew, if on that day Jesus says that He does not know us, who is He saying that too?
Is it a nonbeliever or a believer?
Who is he telling “I never knew you.”
Lord, Lord, in you name I cast out demons and displayed power.
In your name means I am a believer.
I believe you yet why do you not know me?
I did these things in your name.
Like the 72 who cast out demons and were filled with joy.
They returned and were excited.
When I prayed things happened.
What importance is this?
I have told you repeatedly, these are only signs of God’s existence to you.
The joy of being saved by Jesus, the Spirit shows you these things to reveal God, that is why through your life you are to reveal Jesus by living a life of surrender.
But when I see myself, I realize I still want to live.
When I look at myself, the devil who tempted Jesus tempts me with the same temptation and me not having been victorious, am found fallen down in the trap.
When other see me they may see a pastor who seems to be righteous but when I look at myself in light of the Word, I see one who continues to fall into the trap.
Truly the devil disguises himself as an angel of light and tirelessly attacks us to make us fall.
The one word we speak, the one thought we have, whatever it may be in the brief moment that these things fly past our eyes, the devil throws more things at us in order to tempt us and make us fall.
The devil comes looking for me endlessly.
It will be a sudden thought, a sudden vision, it may seem like it is from the Lord, but when I take it one more step, I am worried, anxious and fearful.
My thoughts have entered and I stumble and fall.
When I fall then I decide how the story will end.
In the circumstance I no longer trust God to lead me, but I decide what I will do and have already fallen into the trap.
It is a cunning trap.
A student is about to take an exam but has not studied.
He starts daydreaming out the things he must do to get a good grade and calculates things in his mind without studying.
He decides how the story will be written out and what the end result will be.
He is not dependent on God.
Another example is a fight between spouses.
The spouse decides how they will resolve the issue in the what manner and what they will do.
Rather than ridding oneself the evil that is within, they try to undo the wrong by using the methods in their heads.
You fail to realize that you have already fallen into the trap of the devil.
You do business.
You get a customer.
Rather than serve them in obedience, you start calculating what you will do when you meet this person and what you will do when you meet that person.
You will make this deal, you will do this, and you have calculated all the scenarios in your head and then met the person, you have already fallen into the trap of the devil.
It is severe.
When we pray during the week as we are faced with trial we pray saying what is it Lord that you desire I do for your glory?
We are asking the wrong question.
Whenever we ask the wrong question we will always get the wrong response.
We think that God has sent us here to do something through us.
So we think we need to ask God what it is the He desires that we do with our lives.
What did we read in the quiet time.
God has already laid out the plans for His will.
If for His will I have been placed here, then we are to ask how do You want to use me?
But we do not ask to reveal God’s will, but we ask to do something for Him for ourselves.
We have fallen into the trap.
We are asking the wrong question.
If the devil tempted Jesus, then we are going to face greater temptations and far more every time we open our eyes, every time we open our ears, every time we think, whenever something arises from with in us, we must realize that the temptations of the devil are right there trying to take us down, and unless we remove them, with the Word of God, we will fall.
We must realize this, so that we can use our strength not to fall.
Unless we examine ourselves we will never be victorious.
When we examine our lives, we must be able to stand before God.
How you will stand in what manner is your decision that you must make.
You must decide for yourself and live that life.
By whose standards?
By the Word given to us by the Lord.
Determined to do so in obedience.
The devil who came to tempt Jesus, tempted Him all the way to the cross.
If you think that the devil is trying to tempt you until the point you die, then what kind of life should you be living, what kind of thoughts should you be thinking?
Re-examine your life and make the decision to do all that pleases God in obedience to His Word and living according to His will.
May this time be the time you decide to do so.

Judges 16:4-21 Overcome Delilah

TL.5.5.2013

4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazarite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her 3lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.

Hymn 88 “I Have Found a Friend in Jesus”
Hymn 428 “There’s Sunshine in My Soul Today”

Judges chapter 16.
The story of Samson and Delilah.
It is a story that both believers and nonbelievers know about.
It is a famous story.
Delilah is a famous woman.
Let us look at these two people and their story and see is there any relation to our lives.
If there is, then what are the ways that our lives can relate to this story?
Let us think about this.
Before reading today’s Scripture we sang the hymns “I Have Found a Friend in Jesus” and “There’s Sunshine in My Soul Today.”
When we sing these hymns what is the condition of you heart as you do so?
Joyful?
Glad?
What is your heart’s condition when you sing these hymns?
There is sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright.
It is a 4 over 4 rhythm.
I have found a friend in Jesus, He is everything to me.
We sang this hymn.
I am asking you, though we have sung these hymns, what was the condition of your heart as you did so.
If you sing these hymns by yourself on a regular basis, what is the condition of your heart as you sing?
I am curious to know if you have ever thought about that as you sing these hymns, this is why I am asking.
I wanted to compare that with the Scripture we read today and this is why I ask you.
There is no reply.
I can only say what I see and understand.
Hymn 88.
I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me. He’s the fairest of ten thousand in my soul.
It is very poetic and gives a good feeling.
The Lily of the valley, the bright Morning star.
It describes Jesus in a beautiful way.
But let us take a look at the third verse.
He will never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here, While I live by faith and do His blessed will.
Without giving all of my heart in complete faith I will be forsaken which is what you are also saying when you sing these words.
Do you want to be loved by Jesus?
Then you will be loved not by loving Him, but by following Him.
When you walk the path that Jesus has lived in obedience then you will not be forsaken.
A wall of fire around me, I’ve nothing now to fear, With His manna He my hungry souls shall fill, Then sweeping up in glory, I’ll see His blessed face where rivers of delight shall ever roll.
But what is the requirement in the beginning of verse three?
I must with all my heart follow Jesus in obedience.
I must do this first.
Though 99 percent is a extremely high percentage, in order to see His blessed face we need 100 percent.
The hymn “I Have Found a Friend In Jesus” starts off as a confession of love to Him, but in the end the words you confess are that off obedience in order to continue in His love and to never be forsaken.
The hymn “There’s Sunshine in My Soul Today” is a little different.
It starts off this way “There’s sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright,
Than glow in any earthly sky, for Jesus is my light.
Then it says, “There’s music in my soul today, A carol to my king”
“There’s springtime in my soul today, For when the soul is near”
“There’s gladness in my soul today, And hope and praise and love,
“For blessings which He gives me now, For joys “laid up” above.”
Hymn 428 is about meeting the Lord first and then being filled with joy and song.
After you meet the Lord then there is springtime in your soul, there is gladness and He gives you blessings.
Though the hymns seem similar, in hymn 88 (I Have Found a Friend in Jesus) you look to the Lord and draw near to Him.
You know in your mind about who Jesus is.
And as you knew more about Him, you decide one day to commit and follow Him.
Then you are filled with His love and receive the blessings of your faith.
There are those who have chosen to follow the Lord later though they have known about Him for quite some time.
Like those who have been going to church since their mother’s womb.
Then there are those who the Lord has revealed Himself to, later in their lives and this is where someone may sing the hymn in 428. (There is Sunshine in My Soul Today)
Those whose life are like that of hymn 88 do not understand the ones whose testimony is like that of hymn 428.
And there are also times when someone whose testimony is like that of hymn 428 do not understand the testimony of someone who is like that of hymn 88.
Though we are sitting here together we do not understand each other’s testimony.
The reason is because there are those who have known about Jesus since their birth and others who have been made known of Him later.
There are many different sequence of events that may happen before someone hears about Jesus.
This is possible.
I am saying that there are events that arise in order to bring one to the knowledge of Jesus.
In last weeks quiet time readings one of the topics was about complete abandonment of oneself.
The test of abandonment is refusing to think that “this much is good enough.”
It says to think that you are good enough is evidence that you have not truly surrendered everything.
When our Lord speaks to us and tells us to abandon ourselves, to die to ourselves and to let go of everything, but when we respond “Lord, isn’t this enough?”
This means we have not abandoned it all.
“Lord, what about this?”
This is not abandoning.
What is the reason that one is unable to completely surrender?
Because the truth is you do not believe in God, you are unable to believe in Him.
If you believe in God whole heartedly then why would you not be able to completely follow Him.
The desire and thoughts that you must do something, the feelings of resistance are not of surrender but of unbelief in God.
When you truly surrender to God and put your trust in Him, then even the act of asking God about having to let go is unnecessary.
What point is there in asking?
If God says to do then you do it, if He says do not do it, then you do not need to do it.
When you ask the reason why, then you are only arguing.
When you say why can’t I, you are only arguing.
That is not right.
Since you have surrendered, there is nothing to ask, but only to say yes.
This is complete surrender.
“And once you do get to that point of total surrender to Him, you will be the most surprised and delighted person on earth. God will have you absolutely, without any limitations, and He will have given you your life.”
This is what was written in the quiet time reading.
“If you are not there, it is either because of disobedience in your life or your refusal to be simple enough.”
You have too many thoughts.
We say children are simple.
They are not trying to make excuses.
It is easy to just say “yes” and do.
But us, we say “rather than do it that way it is better to do it this way.”
Or we ask “do we really have to do it that way?”
This means that we are not completely surrendered and living in disobedience.
“The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty.”
We do not receive first and then follow the Lord after.
When He told the Israelites to follow Him, and the priest that carried the Ark of the Covenant put their feet into the Jordan river, then the water stopped flowing.
When you get your feet wet you think that if you continue you will drown.
But God works differently.
Did He tell the Israelites that if they circled Jericho in that manner the walls would fall down?
No.
He simply commanded them to circle them without giving a reason.
Once a day of six days and seven times on the seventh day.
He did not say that He was going to make the walls fall when they did so.
To follow in certainty in the midst of uncertainty is to live in the spirit.
In the world we live in we are accustomed to doing things with certainty. Adding 1 plus 1 which gives us 2. We have made ourselves these habits of making sure of the things that we think that we can control.
This is the reasoning we use when it comes to our faith.
“Certainty is the common place life.”
Did we get the signature?
Did we get the receipt?
Did we receive the payment?
Is it in our hands?
We make sure that we have things that give us certainty.
But before God, our lives are about uncertainty.
Have you seen God?
Many people say they believe God.
We say we believe Jesus.
We say we believe and put our trust in Him.
When we desire to have the Word of God be applicable in our lives, then my life is a life of uncertainty.
When you open your business doors, you do not know how many customers will be coming or not come today.
Is there anyone who knows?
There are doctors that have scheduled appointments, but even those who are scheduled may not come, and also there may be emergency cases who need to be seen immediately.
You can never be for certain.
To truly follow God is to live a life of uncertainty.
But when we live by our standards of thinking then we kill off the faith we have in God.
We do that which we desire to do.
We do what we think is important then faith in God diminishes.
“But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.”
This is what was in one of last weeks quiet time studies.
I say to myself that this is the life that I should be living, but truthfully, I who raise my voice to you, stumble at times.
Why?
It is my thoughts, my calculations, all the things that don’t add up in my head, that cause me to stumble.
When I stumble, it would be a blessing if I found clarity, but when I am bound by it...
Yesterday, all day, no matter how much I desired to overcome, because I could not find peace, and having gone to bed without resolution I could not sleep.
I spent all night suffering.
I knew it would happen and prepared by going to bed early.
I thought I had found the reason for my troubles yesterday, narrowed it down to 99 percent and then let it go.
But there was 1 percent that I did not resolve.
As we sang hymns I continued to stumble because of it.
I keep falling and getting up.
The things of the spirit are powerful, once they grab a hold of you, they do not go away easily.
We say 100 percent.
If I truly put faith in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit 100 percent, then I should be clean.
But it was not 100 percent but 99 and the 1 percent is what keeps me stumbling as I stand here before you.
When I look at myself, the more I try to lay things down in my life, if the life I live is not more cleanly, then it only becomes more difficult.
Everyone is dressed in a different color.
Whose clothes would you be able to see the slightest blemish?
The one wearing white.
Then should the one who wears white be more cautious then others?
When you wear dark clothing, then whether you sit on the ground or get a little dirty, you are not aware of it easily.
So when you act without worry you do not know that you are staining yourself.
But if you dressed clean in white, like Tara, then will she eat in whatever manner spilling food on herself?
Would she just sit on the ground anywhere?
She would take extra care to wipe the place before she sits.
You would naturally take more care to prevent yourself from getting dirty.
As you behavior changes depending on the clothing you wear, then as you lay down yourself before the Lord, more and more each day, more today than yesterday,
then because you are being cleansed and being sanctified, you must be more righteous.
Your thoughts, your speech, if it is the same today as it was yesterday, today your clothes will only become more dirty.
Our spirit will be in the midst of suffering.
Why in more suffering? Because the Lord desires that you are more clean today than yesterday, and to the degree to which He is making you clean, He will through your suffering bring you to repentance, so that you can be holy.
These are levels that we pass through in the walk of our spiritual lives as we go toward eternity.
I spoke about hymn 88 and 428.
The Lord today wants to give you abundant grace and power.
But more importantly if you grab a hold of Jesus, and if you serve Jesus, and you are filled with the Holy Spirit...
Who owns grace?
Who holds power?
Who is it?
Let us say you desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you want the power of the Holy Spirit.
You ask the Holy Spirit to give you the power to love, the power to heal sickness.
People pray.
If that is the case...
The Bible speaks of the nine gifts of the Spirit.
To attain the nine gifts then you must pray nine different prayers.
Is that right?
Is it wrong?
Right or wrong?
If there are nine things that my child needs and I have all nine of them, then they can ask me for it one by one for all nine of them, as we can also do in prayer.
But the nine items are in a bag.
Then what is the only thing that you need ask for?
You just need to ask for the bag.
Then you can take all the items in the bag at once.
Then when we pray is it better to ask for the nine gifts of the Spirit or better to ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit Himself?
To be filled with the Holy Spirit covers it all.
All is taken care of.
We think that God gives to us one by one.
When God works through us by the Holy Spirit, we have already been given everything.
But we, the one who receive, use the gifts improperly, and that is why we are only capable of revealing one, two or three of the gifts.
Maybe we heal sickness, maybe have the gift of prayer...
But we have been given everything through the Holy Spirit so that we may live the lives that bear the fruit of Jesus.
But we only use the gift that we want when we need it and this is why we do not bear abundant fruit.
To look at this is another way, let us say I have all nine of the gift.
When we lose the gifts it would be nice to lose it one at a time, but what happens when you lose the bag that holds all nine items.
Then you have lost everything.
If I have been living in the Spirit but later troubled Him and the Lord and cause them to be quiet in my life, and then leave, after I have caused them to leave me, what do you think would happen if I call out to Him because I need Him now?
Jesus has already left me.
The Spirit has already left me because I have troubled Him.
Then will the answer that I receive for my prayer be an accurate answer?
Think about it.
You have already lost everything.
Let us see through the example of Samson and Delilah how important it is to hold onto the bag that contains the gifts that you have been given.
Samson was born as a Nazirite and given the power over Philistines.
It was through a promise given to him by God.
He lived as a judge that would save Israel with his incredible strength.
Samson was a man that ruined his life because of women.
When we look at the story of Samson, we see that through the promise of not cutting his hair, God gave him everything.
But the enemy, by simply cutting his hair, would cause him to be separated from God.
Adam and Eve ate the fruit of knowledge and were separated from God.
In our lives today, through some circumstance, if I do something which is like eating of the fruit in disobedience, we forget that we are separating ourselves from God.
Whatever it may be, we get tempted by the bait, and the moment we take a bite of it, all that we did for the Lord, healing the sick, the prophesying, all that we did diligently for God, but we take bite of the fruit and sin, then what do you think will happen as a consequence.
There are many servants of God who are famous.
We have seen with our own eyes what happens to them when they fall after having taken bite if the bait that was before them.
It is one incident that separates us from God so the devil will do anything in his power without rest to tempt us and make us fall.
Through our children, the ones we love, husband, wife, money, status, the habits we have in our lives, our stubbornness, we can’t count the number of ways in which he is trying to make us fall.
When I look at myself and the things that cause me to stumble, it is my pride, my stubbornness, my face, all the things I use to protect myself, which are the things that allow me to stumble the most.
If my neighbor, children or my wife falls, then I can see it and tell them.
But when someone speaks words that seems to bother my pride, then though it be something that shouldn’t be a stumbling point, you may end up suffering the night without any sleep because you have allowed to be one.
Look at Samson.
How foolishly he behaves.
It is understandable when someone suddenly falls without warning.
But three times.
The woman tied him up once.
Then when he awoke he should have been aware that after listening to what he had said she was trying to take away his strength.
He should have waken up and not continued further.
Let us say that it happened a second time.
Let us say then it happens a third time.
It said that she nagged him until he was tired until the point of death.
Is she the only woman that he must be with?
Is there no one else?
Today we are told to let go of our pride and our will, should we not throw it away?
Why?
It is because of one thing that we are caused to fall.
You are not attacked on every front, but in this example, it is through one woman, Delilah, through which other temptations come in.
Let us say that your health suffers, or you lack financially, or you are having problems with pride.
It is through that one problem, through which we are constantly attacked from here and there, until we fall, which ultimately separates us from God.
Samson was constantly being tempted by Delilah until he confessed the truth.
If I too were in Samson’s position would I be doing the same thing?
Do not get lost and think about being in love with a woman but look at the spiritual truth.
Look at this and apply it in our lives.
As Samson held Delilah lovingly in his arms we too hold dearly onto our stubbornness, pride, and face, like Delilah, embracing and holding these in love in our own arms daily.
If someone comes to me and tells me that I have issues concerning pride and stubbornness then without knowing it I stumble.
These are the things which we must bring before the Word and kill and throw away.
Because I serve the Lord in my heart, I must not reveal myself, but humble myself to reveal the Lord.
I must surrender in death to the cross, and stay on it.
But we come running off of the cross.
Like Samson who spills the truth to Delilah, we vent our anger and cut ourselves off from God.
This foolishness is within us.
Though I too suffer from this, I only do so less often and in less duration, because the Lord is leading me to do His work and making me more sensitive to His teaching and guidance.
As I go through this path, what I want to share with you who also go this path, is the easy way is to let it all down.
Death is not committing suicide by taking away your breath, but it is the death of your pride, death of your will.
You hold onto it thinking that you need and therefore cannot get rid of it.
When you kill the desire that you are the one who must do, then the Lord will do what He will through you.
We sang “There is sunshine in my soul today”, Samson lived a life where God was present and worked through him.
But what is important is that through one incident, he was tempted into giving away the truth, and had his eyes gouged and sent to work in prison grinding.
When I look at Samson and look at myself, what is important is not that I have met the Lord and that there is sunshine in my soul, but I must live a life that no matter what temptation may come, I would not separate myself from the Lord.
I must live this life continually in order to receive the abundant blessings that God desires for me.
Hymn 428, when I live a life that reflects God’s glory and do so continually, then in my soul I will continue to sing praises, I will be glad, there will be hope, praise and love.
When I live continually seeking to give glory to God, then He will continue to give me blessings.
If I have seen the Lord and met Him but do not have these blessings in my life then...
There is a story where the sun and wind wagered to see who could make the man who was passing by remove his clothes.
What can we learn from this story?
There are many things we can learn from stories and this is why we have them.
What did the wind do?
The stronger he blew the person covered himself more.
He could not make the person remove their clothes.
The sun.
As the sun grew hotter, the person removed his clothes.
Right?
Today there is sunshine in my soul.
Today I have met the Lord.
Then daily as the sunshines within me, I am not to cover up my pride and stubbornness but rather I must daily remove those things that the sun is exposing.
If the sunshine within but I cover myself up more and refuse to rid myself of the pride and sin, then will I be able to receive God’s blessings?
You will not be able to.
If you truly desire to receive the blessings of God, then you must daily remove the sin nature from within you. Then you will be blessed.
Then though you be tempted like Samson, and all the things of this world tries to tempt you, you will not fall into sin and live a focused life of faith.
How beautiful was this woman that even though she tried to steal away his strength, he would lay his head on her lap and go to sleep?
When I see myself, though I see sunshine in my soul today, the refusal to throw away my pride, may be because I am in embraced by the arms of Delilah.
This is possible.
But I am not saying this because it is to be, but if this so, then what are we to do?
If this is so, then my spiritual eyes will be gouged out and I will be bound as a slave because of my sin.
Is this what you want your life to be?
Nobody wants this.
In the time you have been given, with the ability that you have been given, the work that God desires to do through you, do you not humble yourself before God in order to be completely used by Him?
Then as you receive the sunshine in your soul, then daily remove the sin in your life.
The more you remove the more sensitive you will be to the spiritual trials that come to you.
Because you will be more sensitive today than yesterday, as you remove your old self, at times it will be embarrassing, you will feel ashamed, your pride will be hurt, but when it is time to remove those things, you must be the person who is capable of doing so bravely.
Then you will be able to receive the blessings God has for you.
As you become this person, then as in hymn 88, you will be the one who gives their whole heart to follow Jesus until the end.
And when you decide to follow and do so with all your heart, He will never ever forsake you, and there will be nothing for you to fear for He will be the wall of fire around you and sweeping up to glory, and you will see His blessed face as you enter into His kingdom.
Shouldn’t we be the kind of Christian that lives completely in God’s will?
In order to do so, when the Lord persuades us so that we can be formed into His image, may we listen to His Word the way He means it to be, and may we understand its truth, live in obedience, and please the Lord.
When I live my life in union with the Lord, it is not I who is revealed, but it is Jesus who is revealed.
May this be the life that you choose to live.


Sermon by Pastor Howard Park
Translation by Miguel Park

Dwuteronomy 20:16-18 Kill Sin and Receive Your Inheritance

Deuteronomy 20:16-18

16 However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Completely destroy[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.


Generally speaking, all people want to succeed and live to try and do so.
There are countless examples of people in this world who have succeeded.
They tell us what they did to succeed and the things they did that have caused them also to fail.
On Friday night, pastor Ko spoke about Adam and Eve.
When God asked Adam where he was, did God do so because He did not know?
What do you think?
He knew but He asked.
Why?
It is because He wanted to see our hearts.
If my heart is focused on God, then I know that I am a sinner and must bring myself out before God and confess.
If we look at Adam and see that God is asking us to see our hearts, though we think we can hide from Him, then this day God is also asking me,”Howard Park, what are you doing right now?”
“Where are you right now?”
He is asking me ,”What are you doing right now?”
He is looking for me.
But do I see God with my eyes?
If I do not see Him, then what am I doing?
I am covering myself with a fig leaf and thinking that because I do not see God, He does not know what I am doing.
We continue in our sin.
We have not even the slightest bit of shame.
We have no remorse.
We do what we want and get angry, frustrated, bitter, and live exactly like those who do not believe in God.
This is our condition.
Why?
Because we have covered ourselves with fig leaves, so we think that God and also people will not see us as we are.
We think that people will not know if I am a Christian, a church member, and even if they did, because people make mistakes in life, I can do as I want and afterwards say I am sorry and everything will be fine.
This is why I do what I want much of the time.
Does God not know this as He seeks me by asking me,”Howard, where are you, what are you doing?”
I act as though I do not hear Him and live my life boldly in sin.
Is not the problem being able to admit it and to change our lives?
I said in the beginning that generally all people want to succeed.
We look at those who have attained success and desire to live a life like theirs, but when you hear the stories of those who have succeeded do you decide to change your life and live as they have done?
Do you change your actions to those that need to be done?
We do not.
We look at those who have succeeded as having lives that are different than ours.
If someone turns to Jesus and is blessed we say that it is good for them, but we do not think that it is also for us.
Why?
Why do we consider ourselves any different before God?
It says that God so loved all the world.
That means that we can all equally attain the same glorious blessings.
But in my mind I think they are them and I am me.
I do not look at myself as anything special so that I may live a life that I choose to live.
I saw an article about Bill Gates yesterday that I thought I would share with you.
He is one of today’s most successful persons as we all know.
Of all the things that he did to become successful the one thing he says that allowed to to be so is that he adopted the good habits of others.
He would look at someone and look for the one thing that they did well and decide to also do that himself.
He put great effort into doing this.
Because he filled himself with good things that others were good at he had no choice but to be successful.
But if someone close to us tells us to change something about ourselves so that we can be better, do we accept such criticism?
Rather, we get angry, frustrated and bitter at them because our pride has been aroused.
We do not succeed because we refuse to change to be better than we are.
To see someone study hard, then he would study hard. If he someone read many books, then he would read many books. If he saw someone get up early, then he would get up early.
His greatest asset was to do the things that he considered that others were doing good.
He made great effort to think differently and to learn how to communicate and do things that he considered were good behaviors to have.
He became the person that we know as Bill Gates because of his hard work at becoming the best person he could be.
We also know of Warren Buffet.
What is it about him that allows him to be such a great person in the field of stocks?
He read five times more than the average person.
He read a lot.
By the time he turned 16 he had read hundreds of books on business and economics.
The first thing he did when he went into his office was read a book. After reading, he worked diligently for the next 8 hours doing business.
After finishing his work, then he would gather what he would read next, and bring that home. He read so much more than any other person that he is far ahead of anyone in the field. Many people describe him as having the Midas touch.
If we are told to put this much effort into studying to be great at something, do we do so?
We do not.
We think that in today’s era, having the internet we have all the information at our fingertips, but that is not enough for we lack the depth and understanding without reading the information and knowing it for ourselves. Mr. Buffett tells us to read a lot.
The one who chooses to accept and behave in a way that he sees as good in others, and the one who studies diligently to be ahead of everyone else, these are the ones who have succeeded.
There is also a story of someone in the faith who many have not heard of.
He was a professor at Emory College and his name was James Rainey.
He was a scholar, pastor, and also ambassador from 1994-1997.
After working as an ambassador, he settled down in Atlanta, Georgia as a professor at Emory College.
Every morning, for his health, he would walk to and fro from work.
One day he noticed an older gentleman sitting alone in front of his home and he drew near to him to befriend him. He became a friend to that older gentleman and they shared stories with each other.
Whenever he had time he would go search out this gentleman, cut his lawn, have coffee and conversation with him.
He did this for two years but one day on his way to work, the older gentleman was no longer there.
He found out that the day prior, he had passed away.
He later found out that the older gentleman was the president of the Coca-Cola company.
After the funeral, the president had left him a will.
In it was letter that said...
For the past two years you have passed by my home and have become my friend.
You spent time listening to me. You mowed my lawn. We drank coffee.
Thank you for being a friend to me.
So he left him with something.
What do you think it was?
How much do you think it was worth?
He left him 250 million dollars and 5 percent of Coca-Cola’s stock.
If you had this much wealth what would you do?
Overnight he became wealthy.
Professor Rainey learned three things from this event.
First, he never knew that one of the wealthiest persons in the world could live in such modesty.
Second, though that person was the president of Coca-Cola company he never once boasted about his position.
Had he known it may have been a different type of relationship and he could have tried to get on his good side due to the position of the other.
It was because he did not know who he was, he was able to be more open and humble to him.
Third, he was completely surprised that someone could be given such a vast sum of money even though he was not related to him.
He received this for only being a friend who listened to him for a brief two years.
But also just as important as these three things that professor Rainey had learned was what he did.
He saw no need for this vast sum of money so he donated all of it to Emory University for the future development of the school.
The school in response made him the president of the college.
We can see from a worldly view that if we had received such a vast sum of money, we could have donated even 10 million dollars and try to negotiate a position of status.
But he gave away 250 million dollars without seeking anything in return.
The lives of these people, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, professor Rainey, if you want to live like these people, then I want to ask you how must you live your life?
Like Bill Gates, I must get rid of my bad behaviors and use all my strength to adopt good ones or else I will never be successful.
If I live my life for my pleasure and comfort, I will never be ready to find the information that is going to help me succeed, especially in these days where information passes rapidly.
What is more, is if I attain great wealth and my heart is consumed by it, then I will never be able to receive the true reward in the end.
I am not saying that we are not to have wealth, but be able to give it up for the future of the school and the students. He was able to be placed in a great position.
If I am presented such an opportunity where does my heart stand and what will I choose to do?
When God asks me, “Howard, where is your heart?” Will I be able to respond to Him and say, “Yes, Lord my heart and my life belong to you.”
Without this we can never be successful.
These are simple examples of these people.
Let us look at examples from everyday life.
In Korea, due to the increase in population there are many people who are retiring in their 40s and 50s.
So they take their retirement money and open up a business to stay busy.
Are there many people who succeed or fail when they open up a new business?
Fail.
Why are there many people who fail?
Because it is not their field.
What else?
They have no idea how to do business.
Then they shouldn’t do business.
The reason they fail is because they run their business stubbornly.
They open up a business and remember the days where they were sitting in a position of authority in their old company, but now in their business venture, the customer is king, they are to give service to their customers to bring in business, but they only remember where they had others do for them and still have that mind-set though they opened up a business, why would customers come to their place.
They will not come.
They think that since they were once a person who was in high position that now people will come find them.
They will not.
They must go out on their feet and let people know what they have done, what kind of business it is, and offer them great service.
They need to advertise themselves, humble themselves, and find customers.
But rather than finding customers they assume they will just come.
Will they come?
Why would they come to your place when they are already going to a place they have been going to?
Your business is going to fail.
But then there are those who do succeed.
When we hear their stories, today as we have about Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and professor Rainey, they were willing to do that which others were not willing to do and put great effort into doing so, so that when they put their effort into doing something they succeeded.
You have put your faith in Jesus, been redeemed and are now a part of the church.
Like I have mentioned in the beginning, if I know that God knows all of my sins, then I cannot continue to sin.
But like Adam, who covered himself with a fig leaf, if I think that God does not know my sin because I try to hide it, but demand that God provide everything that I ask for so that I may live in abundance, then it is like a student who refuses to do their homework, to listen to their teacher or study, can this student do well in school?
They can never do well.
If you have opened a business but do not go out and advertise yourself to others telling them that you are going to give them the best service possible, but you sit there and pray asking God to bless you, then will you be blessed?
Can you tell God that you have faith because God has saved you and given you life, and no longer a sinner but righteous, and though you live in the same manner as before that you are still to receive His blessings?
Will you be blessed?
Can you be blessed in that condition?
Can you?
If not, then though you may have opened up a new business today, because it is a business that God has given you to serve His purpose, by serving others from which you are to give your best to God.
Then God will be with you, He will change the hearts of those you work with, and God will change there path that they may start coming to your place of business rather than where they have already been going.
You do not advertise.
You do nothing to show that you are there.
You have no evidence of a life that follows Jesus.
With what evidence will people see that you are a Christian?
How will they know the fragrance of Christ from you?
There is nothing.
The vision is not important.
But what is important is the work that you must do in order for that vision to be.
Your work.
It is certain.
God desires that I reveal to others that I am His child.
We desire to do great things and use the great blessings for God’s glory, but the requirement is that we must live a life that is in accordance with the Word of God which is what we are being shown today.
God created everything from nothing.
From His spoken word we know and believe that God created the entire universe.
When God saved Israel from Egypt, why did He do so by bringing such destruction to that land?
Was God bored and decided to play games with them?
Could He not have just killed all the first born in the beginning and brought the Israelites out?
Was there no other choice but to bring the ten plagues without which He could not bring the Israelites out?
We know that if God wanted He could have just spoken the Word and placed all of the 2 million Israelites into Canaan.
But these are things that are beyond our thoughts.
The Israelites that were saved from Egypt, had many times rebelled against God and turned away from Him until they came to the entrance of Canaan.
Moses has now died and now through Joshua, God could have done the same thing and created plagues to the Canaanites, but He did not do so.
What did He do?
He allowed them to choose to live in obedience and by doing so God gave His promise to dwell amongst them. But what did they need to do?
They needed to go and wage war.
They needed to go and kill their enemies.
If you go and fight believing in Him, then God would give them the victory.
Though the people they were to go against were giants and you seem as small as locusts to them, if you believe in me and go out and fight, I will give you strength and victory, but it depends on your faith and how you choose to fight.
Who must choose to have faith and fight?
The Israelites.
If this message is for me, then God has sent His Son to die on the cross for me, and by believing in Him, I am made His child.
God has even promised to give us all that we ask for in Jesus name.
But who must fight against the world?
The fight is mine. I must go and fight.
If all that you seek from Me you have faith that it will be, then the fight against the world, that fight, I must put my faith in God and fight.
God will not destroy the enemies for the Israelites so that they may inhabit the promised land, but the Israelites, in faith, are to fight.
They are to kill everything that has the breath of life in it.
100 percent of it.
Child, elder, man, woman, it does not matter, all is to be killed.
The reason?
Because they may make the Israelites turn from the Lord and worship their gods and to prevent this they are commanded to kill all.
To apply this in my life, God is giving the Israelites the land as an inheritance.
What is God giving me as an inheritance?
It is my soul.
We are told that the body is a temple of the Spirit.
The life that I had lived previously, with the breath of life from the things of this world, like that of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, all these past things of this world that are filth, I must kill.
I must decide to do this and accomplish it.
My anger, temper, bitterness, envy, jealousy, greed, all that which occupies my soul that has breath which causes me to live in rebellion against the God, I must kill believing that God will grant me victory.
I must kill them all.
I cannot do anything to anyone outside of me.
I am not to do anything to those who dwell outside of my inheritance, but within my given inheritance, all that has breath that is evil, I must decide to kill it and do so.
God does not say it will happen just because we pray about it.
You think that because you have prayed that it will all happen as you asked, but it is not so.
I am the one who must believe, to draw the sword, stay awake in the night, protecting what I have been given, just in case an enemy comes in to destroy me, or a spy come in a take away information about my weaknesses to hurt me, I must protect myself.
God does not do your work for you.
In our lives, if I do not make these kinds of decisions, the result will be that I will not find success in faith.
There are many things we can speak of in this manner using the Bible, but more importantly, if I want to live a life that allows the vision that God has given me to be, then are we thinking about the obedience that is required in the life of faith that we live?
If by merely saying that I was a Christian gave me success, without obedience, then we may be unique, but countless Christians, those who choose to follow Jesus, many of them had businesses that failed, were fired from their jobs, had problems within their families, many personal problems, until they humbled themselves before God.
They are all witnesses to this.
The single difference that set them apart, was when they faced these times, they did not quit, but every time they faced circumstances they humbled themselves before the cross and looked upon the sin in their life, confessed to God their insignificance, and surrendered their lives so that the Lord would be revealed.
And when God is revealed, He restores the family, restores their business, restores their health, and their children are restored.
We hear the testimonies of these people and see these things with our eyes.
You are all faced with problems.
Search your heart with the light of this Word.
Am I still expecting God to do everything for me?
Where is my heart in light of the Word?
Or, though I may have thought that I have cut it all off, but what is it that I have yet to let go of, which is continuing to create problems for me in my life.
It is not just one problem, but there are many peoples with each their own king living within the land.
Within me, my desires, greed, unless I kill these things that live within me, these kings have set up places within me and unless I get rid of these kings, do I see that God cannot use me for His glory?
Or , do you think that I am good enough, and refuse to bow my head before the cross, refuse to bend my knee and shout to God and choose to face Him head on in stubbornness?
Let us examine ourselves.
When we try to live our lives according to the Word, and as we look those who have gone before us in the faith, there are many things that I at times would refuse to do.
When Moses was leading the Israelites through the desert, who were the first ones to turn against him. It was his own family, his brother and sister.
Miriam and Aaron tried to rise up against him.
The ones chosen by God, Korah, Dathan and Abiram are the first to rebel.
The ones who are leaders, who are learned are the ones who rise up and rebel.
It is not the insignificant ones who rebel.
If this is so, and I look at my life, and see my rebellion against God, it is the pride in me that wants to boast in myself that rises up and chooses to be disobedient.
Do you ever think that for you to refuse to believe that other are better than you and to think of yourself better even in the slightest bit is rebellion against God?
We do not think so.
While we were eating last week, I told the story about Abraham Lincoln and the ridicule he faced though he was president.
When people spoke about the flaws in his character he never denied it.
Rather, he acknowledged those things and turned it into a positive.
He did not concern himself with the circumstances of his upbringing and where he grew up though people tried to shame him, but if people were to point out our past our pride is hurt.
What does it matter?
If by his parents’ circumstance he stands here today, then he can stand on the foundation that his parents have set and honor them.
But we are embarrassed and pray that no one knows about our past, and if someone does mention something our pride is bothered.
Does God not know all that has happened as He put you where you are?
He knows.
When someone speaks about your flaws, if you acknowledge them then there is nothing more to say.
But the inability for us to acknowledge it is the desire for us to keep covering ourselves and present a different self.
If we would just accept and acknowledge everything then there is nothing else that can be addressed.
Then we can stand before God without hiding anything.
But to do this, what are we to do?
As God has spoken to the Israelites through Moses, because the sin in Canaan was too great, God was going to remove those who are there and give that land to the Israelites so that God may be glorified.
But without killing all that has breath in the land of Canaan, the Israelites would eventually fail to live a life of faith that would please God.
When we look at the history, the Israelites did not kill all that had breath in Canaan.
They lived a life of sin in failing to follow God completely.
If we are to look at their history and apply the teaching in our lives, then what must we decide today?
Are we going to think that we are good enough and embrace the life that the world around us approves of?
Or are we going to live a life of victory by killing all sin that desires to breathe within us?
The decision is yours.
Because I tell you something, to do this, do that, receive a blessing.
The one who is ready to be blessed, God will bless.
When you kill all the sin that has breath in you, and give yourself to God believing in the promise He has made to you, the Spirit of God will be upon you, He will guide your life, and be with you.
This is the blessed life.
You are not blessed because someone speaks blessing upon you.
When the Blessed One, God the Father, is in your heart and dwells among you , guides you and is with you, then your entire life is a blessing.
It is a life of victory.
For this reason, to live this life, we have spent time in this Word so that you may decide to kill all sin that has breath in you.

Sermon by Pastor Howard Park
Translation by Miguel Park

Matthew 3:1-10 Fruit of Repentance

Matthew 3:1-10

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

We are all familiar with this description of an event in John the Baptist’s life as he was witnessing about the coming of the Lord.
As we see this text it makes me see that in life, the things we do, the sequence of events that are tied together which in the end has a result.
Because yesterday was today is.
Because there is today, we think that there will be tomorrow.
Work or shall we say the working together of things can have a good result or also at times as we know bad results.
There are many ways to do good and have a good result as we desire to make some sort of gain.
When we look for gain it can be for the time now, or something that we look toward in the future.
You can work hard now, and though you do not see the results of your labor immediately, but because you are expecting a return at some point in the future you consider it good work.
A simple example is that our children study.
They may not like to do it now, but the one who studies well, and diligently seeks to attain knowledge will later, be found in a position to use their knowledge which is of value.
They will be found in a position and acknowledged by people.
This is done with wisdom.
In health it is the same.
If I am diligent in taking care of what I eat, drink, and finding rest and taking care of my health, then later in life I can be a healthy individual.
This is basic knowledge.
The younger children, if you did not exercise and all you did was eat and lay around, would you be healthy?
No.
We all know that you cannot.
But yet, when a little bit of laziness enters into us we do not exercise.
We say I will do it later or start tomorrow.
When we are told to control our eating, we say today we will eat as much as we want and tomorrow we will start.
Most of us think this way.
We do not think about the future and control ourselves today, but we live to satisfy our pleasure now and that is not a good life.
We are to see that the action which you are doing will end up harming you, but we do not think like this.
Leaving aside good or bad, whenever we do something there is a proper order in which to do things.
Is that not so?
When you go exercise, we are told to stretch, warm up, though we do these things daily, whenever you go exercise again another day you start off as a new beginning in order.
Whenever you are going to create something grand there is an order to the work.
If you follow the order to the work properly then it will be easy.
But if you go out of order you will make a mess and things will be difficult.
We all know this basic knowledge.
But there are many times when we do not want to do this.
It is said that you need to button your clothes in order to look nice.
If you start off wrong then you can never finish the work properly.
We know this to be true.
If we are doing something for the first time, there are times that we need the advice of an expert.
But do we listen to their advice?
At times we may.
We may know that person or someone we know may tell us if you do it this way it will be easier.
We should take the advice and do as they suggest but we do not because we have our own thoughts.
Many times we are stuck on our own ideas and want to do it the way we think is right.
That is why after having done a little of the work we see that it is a mess.
What should have been an easy fix has now become a disaster.
When we watch our dramas we see and know what is going to happen and what the writers were thinking as they wrote the script.
We all know that if that character would just speak and say that which is right the situation would be resolved, but because they did not say what was needed to be said bigger problems arise. There are also times when one should not speak but because they have spoken they also have made problems.
We see this happen.
We know that if we meet a con-artist that they are not going to present themselves as such. We know that we should have them sign a contract or something in writing for proof.
But we do not.
Yesterday, we went to go eat at a restaurant.
I learned two things yesterday.
The first thing, is that in order for the restaurant to not lose profit, they took a reservation deposit.
They did so because they do not want to run their business at a loss.
This is the mind of business.
It was an all you can eat restaurant.
You would think that you could stay as long as you wanted and eat however much you wanted, but it was not so.
You had two hours and after when your two hours was done, they turned off the lights at your table.
Though it is all you can eat you can eat as much as you want but you must do so in the time allotted.
It is different from our previous experiences but this is how they run their business to stay in business.
We are in the habit of thinking that we can freely make a reservation for a group of 30 or forty, and that they will have that space available. But what if you did not show up?
Who will suffer a loss?
They will.
They do not want to suffer loss, so they demand that you come, sign an agreement and leave a deposit.
This is how to run a business without suffering loss.
Though we are taught this, people refuse to listen.
Those who refuse to do what they are taught will only suffer a loss for themselves.
That is why when we hear stories of people’s circumstances we see that rather than listen to advice they did what they felt like doing and have suffered for it.
We see this happen in our lives.
We can take these examples and look at our spiritual lives.
You can look at me and think because I am a pastor that I am perfect.
Am I perfect?
No pastor is perfect.
I am not sure how you see me, but when I look at myself I see the mistakes that I make.
When we spend together there are times when I get angry, frustrated, and at times I may get greedy. I am like everyone else.
Do you think that I never get the desire to have something that someone may have?
I do not anguish over that desire but I too have them.
But because I know that it is not mine to have I am quick to let go of those things from my heart. That is the difference.
But if you ever see me make a mistake and think that the pastor is no better, I say to you again, we are not perfect.
I am not perfect, but because I preach to you to be so, I strive harder to be so. This is the difference.
When people talk to pastors we get the feeling as if we are not even allowed to breathe.
People put impossible expectations on the pastor.
This is not the way.
Though we at times may stumble and fall, the number of times we do so decreases and the time between the occurrences increases and we strive to continue to change at a rate that is maybe a little quicker than others.
This is our way of leading by example.
Does not the Apostle Paul tell us to follow him as he follows Jesus.
The life he says he lives is a life of suffering as recorded in the Bible.
Jesus did not come to live a life of pleasure but a life of suffering.
Paul lived his life in pursuit of living that life that Jesus lived.
Paul tells us to follow in this path is the life of a Christian.
But when we see what we are faced with and the result that is to follow we have no desire to do what is laid before us.
Whether you do or not is decided by the individual.
Can you know the struggle that takes within unless I tell you about it?
You do not know.
Although the struggle that takes place within, if it continues to build the accumulation will eventually be evident to others.
Like Pastor Lee preached on Friday and I have said many other times, though we share the message with you, I look at myself first.
Is there anything that is conflicting with the message in my heart, before I am able to share the Word with you?
Is there any fault within me?
The Word says to “repent and to live a life that bears the fruit of repentance,” but am I living this life as a pastor bearing the fruit and leading others by example.
These are things that I wrestle with in my heart.
Last night as I was contemplating what message God would have me share with you, I read a letter that was written to me.
I have expressed to you that there is something that I too am selfish for.
What is my biggest desire?
Food.
What else?
What do you think that I desire from what you see of me?
There are things that each person sees when they look at someone and thinks that person really likes whatever it may be.
The desire to win.
Just as you see me and think that I have these desires, I too look at myself and see that I have desires within me.
These things can be seen by others.
Though it may be evident, it would be fine if it did so in a good way but there are many times these desires are revealed that are not good.
Why? Because without realizing it the desires of my heart and the flesh reveal themselves because that is how we are made.
Though I use myself as an example I am letting you know that in your life when you have things that you are unable to let go of, they will be revealed in time through the life that you live.
You know this and I am using myself as an example.
When you see me, do I look like I want money?
Do I want status?
Do I want a big ministry?
I have no such desires for these things because I am trying to live the life that God has given me .
God has given me His promise, but if I look at myself and see if there is anything that I want more than anything is for God to fulfill His promise and touch my wife and allow her to once again walk on her own, but much time has gone by since that promise was given.
From the time I heard God give that promise until this day I have desired this.
I have told my sons that when they pick a wife to pick a woman who is like there mother.
Though spiritually she is well, she does lack something.
Do you know what that is?
She lacks health.
But since God promised to raise her up one day, from that day do you know what selfishness entered into my heart?
From that day I heard the promise I became greedy.
All last night as I struggled with myself and looked at myself and I saw that I became greedy for my wife to have the health of a healthy woman.
It would be nice if she was as healthy as that woman, or if she could run like that person, like that person....
Whenever I saw someone healthy I would ask myself when will my wife be able to walk like that?
When will she be like that?
When that day comes then I am free of my burden.
To put it nicely I desire that my wife be able to walk on her own, but to put it in a bad way, I want her to get up so I can start doing what I need to do.
This has become a habit.
I have even told my wife look at that person, how nice it would be if you could get up and walk like them.
Many years have gone by in this manner.
Many years have gone by and now when I see a healthy person or a young person I look.
I look and think that person walks in a certain manner and their health is lacking here and there.
When I see someone in a wheelchair and look at there face I think about their health.
Without realizing I was now judging people and looking at them in a different manner.
It was now a habit.
When I look at myself because it is a habit I stand here without fault, but when someone else looks at me, I was being seen as a sinner but I did not realize this.
That which started out as a desire to have my wife be healthy as others had now become something totally different within me but I did not know it.
Can you imagine the disappointment that I caused others?
I did not know.
If I did not have a time to reflect on myself, then I would continue to be doing that which I was already in the habit of doing.
But last night when I became aware that my behavior is causing the disappointment in others I decided that I will stop doing it.
Another way to see the matter is this. Though I may have been looking at someone and thinking that because of the way they walk they are not well in a certain area, but that too is shall we say a form of judging and pride had entered into my heart.
I fell further into a more terrible sin.
As we look at people and think thoughts about them we do not realize that as we judge them we are committing a great sin of pride.
I saw that I had bit my own tail and had fallen down in sin without even realizing where I stood.
There was also another thing.
Many of our church people have i-pads.
It was something that I did not desire to have because I do not like these things but it was given to me.
I have no idea of people’s email addresses, phone numbers, passwords.
When I am asked to give my id or password I have no idea what they are.
I have to go find it in my desk where I have it written down somewhere.
I do not memorize it nor do I care to.
I had no desire to have this device.
As I use this to prepare my sermons there are many good things in it as well as many temptations.
Especially where many of you like which is YouTube.
It has already been two years since having this.
When I first had You Tube I decided that this was not for me and removed it from my i-pad.
For many months I did not watch it, but my children always came and showed me fun and interesting videos.
I thought that there are many fun things to watch so I had my son put it back in.
But as I watch sports videos, and accidents and other things they are not the only things that show up.
As you continue to watch you see that there are many temptations that are there.
Because they are there you watch it.
I did not go in to watch it, but as I am watching the sports or bloopers of sports, I end up watching the other videos as well.
But I never thought that it was sin, because for me it was just entertainment.
This means that I have fallen into a trap and do not know it.
Without making a decision to do something about it, if someone else sees me then they will think that as a pastor I have a problem.
So last night, I made a decision and again erased You Tube.
Why?
Without doing so, not only am I not able to stand right, but when others sees me I will not be seen as a person of good character.
When I did not have the i-pad or You Tube did I not have anything to preach to you about?
No.
The i-pad only makes it easier to write out my sermons.
The things I watch when I have time or to calm down after I get angry or bored though it may start off as entertaining and as funny can lead to the wrong kind of funny and cause me to fall into temptation.
There are many temptations in today’s media age.
Though I know this and refuse to erase it and enjoy it once in a while is sin.
When I do not cut out sin from my life and then asked if am I living a life that bears the fruit of repentance, I will fail to pass.
If I fail to pass the test then when I go before the Lord I will not be rewarded.
If I do not share this with you about me can you ever know?
You do not.
You can if you went through all my things, but if I refused to admit my fault what would you think?
It does not change the truth.
When we lay out all things before us, we see that it is not the title that allows me to stand, or that you would hold me up in a place in your thoughts that allows me to be successful.
If I do not walk the path to God in the right way, I will be nothing more than a sinner who will continue to live in sin.
When God gave me the promise to restore my wife then I am only to look to God and wait for Him to fulfill it.
But as I looked at others and desiring my wife to have what they had, suddenly I was looking at them with my standards, and I was creating a habit of looking at other women.
I had changed.
Just like watching those videos for entertainment but then later I had fallen into sin without knowing it.
As I looked at myself and the sin I had fallen into, I realized that without making a decision, I will one day become a great sinner and fall away because of my sin, and when I am called to stand before the Lord and He tells me because I refused to decide to turn away from sin and to live a life that bears the fruit of repentance, then I will have nothing to say in response to Him, for I will be found convicted of my sin.
Why would I be a pastor to only end up like this?
I decided I cannot live a life like this.
When we have a desire we pray fervently to God.
I do not remember where I pulled this letter from, so I am unable to tell you the source.
But it is a poem.

I have one desire.

If I can only walk I will not desire any other blessing.

There is someone out there who is praying this way because they are unable to walk.

If I can only live I will not desire any other blessing.

This is a prayer of someone who is going to die soon.

If I can only hear, I will not desire any other blessing.

If I can only speak, I will not desire any other blessing.

When there is something that one is unable to do, to be able to do that there are many people who are fervent in their prayers seeking that one ability.

If I can only see, then I will not seek any other blessing.

For some as long as they can see they will be willing to live as a homeless person.
They would be satisfied as long as they could see.

All of you can speak, see, hear, walk and do everything.
But there are people out there who are praying earnestly for these things.
You have all these things but are you grateful?
Do you give thanks?
We do not.
We take for granted that which we have while others are desperately seeking to have what we have which we are ungrateful for.
We do not see that our lives are which others desire to have to be content but fail to be.
If this is the manner in which we live, then as we live out lives not bearing the fruit of repentance, how can we stand before God and what will we say to Him?
When I pray and ask God for the blessings for my wife from whose point of view am I asking?
It is from my point of view.
I am the one who desires that my wife be healed in a certain manner but that has lead me down a path where I have fallen into sin.
Had I not had something awaken me to see this, I would have continued on the path thinking that the path I was on was right.
Why?
It is because everything I do is from my point of view.
When I am the standard, I am the one to think that because God has promised to heal my wife I want her to be healed like that person.
Because I see from where I stand I see what I want and desire what I want, and because I know that God will heal her I want her to be healed the way I want.
But as I see what I want I do not see that I am changing because of the sin in my life.
It is because I see from my point of view.
This is the problem.
Because I see things from my point of view and fail to see my sin, the bigger problem is not knowing that I am a sinner.
If I make an excuse for myself and say to you “Am I really a sinner?”
Do you think of me as a sinner?
If I make an excuse and say God is the one who promised to heal her, and He is going to do so, then why can’t I ask for something better, bigger, and more?
If I see things from my point of view, my view becomes a reason that I validate for myself.
I am unable to confess that I am a sinner fallen in sin.
Without making the decision to let go of myself, I cannot repent and turn my life into the right path.
For example, when we eat, a person who likes to eat salty and spicy will continue to do so no matter how many people tell them the food is seasoned well, because the food will never be seasoned enough to their taste.
If they continue to eat this way, then in the future the accumulation of such eating habits will be evident in a form or disease to their body.
Depending on the choice I make today, the consequence for my choices will surely affect me later.
If I choose to eat better, though it may be difficult, stretch and exercise then I will be able to restore my health.
It is always one more bite that we eat which is the reason that we fall.
Likewise in our walk, it is always that one little thing that becomes a problem for us in our faith.
If you see nothing from where you stand, it does not mean that there is nothing there?
Yesterday, we fogged our home for the first time in many years because of cockroaches.
They were coming out during the day so we decided to fog the home.
Because you do not see cockroaches in your home, does it mean that there are none there?
When you spray the chemical during the day, you do not know how many roaches have died because they do not come out during the day.
But when you spray it at night, you can see in the morning how many have died because they come out during that time.
When I look at myself I do not look to judge myself if I am doing good or bad and think that all that I do is right.
When I have taken steps and spoken words to the point that they have become habits to which I am not able to admit as sin, then I have come to a point where I will not change.
You must change to live the proper life of a Christian.
But in order to change where must you point the direction of your life?
Is it to the pastor?
Where are you to take your life?
You are to take your life in the direction in which the Bible shows you.
No matter how well a pastor preaches he is still a man who is a sinner and makes mistakes.
No matter how righteous a pastor may seem they may also have dark soul.
The point is you are to read the Word and tend to the matters of your heart accordingly.
There is something that is happening in our garden that is unbelievable.
Have you seen it?
We have turned the soil and planted all the seeds on the same day.
But if you look at the new vegetables as they sprout and grow in one row you will see the vegetables all lined up from shortest to tallest as if we were at a grade school having lined up the children from shortest to tallest.
We have planted them all on the same day and given them the same amount of water at the same time.
If there were taller ones in between shorter ones it would be easier to understand.
There might be less water going to one, or a difference in the soil or the difference in the seeds.
But having planted them all in a line they have lined up in order from one inch to the tallest being over a foot or greater.
The same soil, same water, the same time.
It is not only in one line but the entire garden is this way.
I do not know if it has to do with the seed or the soil.
I have been pondering over this greatly.
If this is a problem with the soil then who must tend to it?
Today in your hearts you are all given the same message.
You are all reading, hearing, and receiving the same Word of God.
The seeds have been sown, but for those seeds to bear fruit of 30, 60 or 100 times in your heart is whose responsibility?
It is your responsibility.
Without tending to the field in your heart, it will be no use to spread good seeds into it, for it will not bear fruit.
Then what will you say to the Lord when you stand before Him having to give account for your life?
Your heart can only be tended by you.
As you tend to it, there are many problems that each of us may come across.
It is different to each person.
For me, I did not think it was a problem to look and think and ask God for the things of my heart, but ended up standing in the path of sin, which lead to pride and judging others.
When you are unable to see sin change you, you too may fall.
There are many difficulties in tending to your own heart.
Pride is one of them.
As it was for me, though it started with a promise that God gave me.
There are many writings on the issue of pride.
They say that pride is refusing to change according to God’s Word though you have heard it.
It is pride.
You question what is the need to live exactly the way it is written?
Do you have to do it that way?
To think that you do not have to live or do what is written in the Bible means you are ignoring God’s Word and putting yourself in the place of authority.
This is pride.
If you hear the Word of God and put it into your heart then there has to be a change, but to not do so and to be stubborn in your way is because of pride.
To say that you love God but hate a person is pride.
The Bible teaches us that you cannot do this.
You cannot love God who is unseen when you do not love a brother who is seen.
It is a lie.
We ignore this teaching and think that we are able because we are with pride.
To look at things from our point of view and dictate to God how we think things should be is because of pride.
Rather than trust God and put everything in His hands we decide what the result should be and judge the situation in our eyes.
To propose to God how things should be is pride.
When the Lord tells us to do something, or our parents tell us to do something and we reply we will do it later, what is that?
In faith it is because of pride.
You think you can do it the way you want.
Why do I have to do it that way?
Why do you think like this?
It is because you think you have more right which comes from pride.
When someone points out your mistakes and refuse to accept the rebuke to change that is pride.
The reason is you think that you did nothing wrong.
You think that you are good enough.
You look at things from your point of view which is pride.
When you are like this you are unable to tend to your heart and therefore unable to yield an abundant harvest.
God tells us to only preach on the first point but we go on to the second and the third.
This is pride.
We do not think of it as pride.
God says to only say one thing.
We should only say one thing but we go on and on.
When we describe something rather than be honest we exaggerate it.
When we do this it is because we put ourselves in God’s place and think that we are doing God’s work for Him, which is pride.
When we hurt others and leave them with emotional scars it is because of the pride that is in us.
Because we did not know these things it has been hard for us to tend to the field in our hearts and it has been difficult for you to reap an abundant harvest in your lives.
When I look at myself and reflect on the promises that God has given us and even pastor Lee has said many times before, God has promised us a revival many times, but if it has yet to come, then I say to myself that it is my fault, and though I know it is my fault, because I did not know what the seed of my fault was, I have come all this way thinking that I was good enough where suddenly last night this problem was brought to my attention.
If I do not bear the fruit of repentance in my life, if I do not change, not only will I not be respected by my own congregation, but I will also not be able to be respected by my own children.
If this is the case, what will I be able to say in response to God when I stand before Him?
I will be able to say nothing.
I will be cast out into darkness.
I will be judged a sinner, a false pastor.
I decided that I must not live this life.
I am declaring this to you.
I decided this and again erased You Tube.
I have also changed the way I think.
If God wants to heal my wife this way or that way, in any way that He decides in His will, but I will lay down all my cares unto Him.
No matter how tempting the things of this world may be, I am not filled with joy because of them.
I have been well without it until now and it is not from which I find my joy.
I will tend to my heart according to the Word.
I have decided to live this way and sharing what I have decided to do with you.
If there is anything in which I stumble according to the Word, do not hide it from me, and come and tell me.
When you come and tell me, though I am unable to see the sin in my life when I look from my view, but as you tell me from where you stand and tell me what is wrong I will change it.
Because I need to tend to my heart so that I too may have an abundant harvest, and please the Lord with the fruit of my actions as His servant.
Not only for me, but may this also apply to your life as well, so that you may reap an abundant harvest in which the Lord has called you for and as you answer His call to His will may you richly be blessed through His Word.
May you live a life that bears the abundant fruit of repentance.

Sermon by Pastor Howard Park
Translation by Miguel Park