Paul Washer

Matthew 15:32-39

Offer the Lord worship that He can accept. Matthew 15:32-39 32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”33 His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” 34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan. Today as we have done previously we continue to look at what it means to worship. During the ministry of Jesus, there were many great miracles, but I would like to talk to you about the feeding of the four thousand and how it relates to worship. In the text, are there any words that relate to worship? We tend to focus on the miracle itself when we read the passage, but I would like us to see if there something here that relates to worship. What word or verse do you think is about worship? Let us read here: ...they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way. Is this not the act of worship, to sit before Jesus listening to the Word of God, to the point to which they were hungry and did not have the strength to return home? What do we think of when we say worship? At some churches it may be about the beautiful choir performance, or the presentation by the pastor, or the sequence of events that happen for service. Everything that we decide whether it is singing, praying or anything else that we consider to be worship. Then we ask, who accepts this worship that we are offering? We all know that it is God who accepts. Then we ask the question, did God ever tell us that we are to worship in this manner? The four thousand who sat before Jesus for three days, hungry and weak, were they worshipping God in the manner in which we do so today? Did they have morning service, afternoon service and evening service? Do you think so? When we say morning service are we assuming that we go through the routine of prayer, singing and sermon and are all these things necessary? It is not. There is no such requirement. Worship is the listening of the Word and repenting, and then laying down my life before God in a decision to change my life and in the grace that I have been given by the Lord, who is now my Master and when He accepts my worship and in return He answers my prayers. This is worship. When Jesus was here, there were many who sought healing from Him and He did heal many, but before there was healing, they first listened to the message, and people repented of their sins. Did Jesus sit with them for three days to heal the people? He did not. He taught the people about the kingdom of God. Today when we speak of worship, we say that God is our Father, because we have been saved by the blood of Christ, and we believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the Life, and because we have been chosen by God we offer Him honor and praise. Jesus who died for our sins and was resurrected and ascended into heaven, we worship Him as we wait for His return. If this is what we believe, then is it proper to worship to do so the way we think, or is it proper to worship according to the Holy Spirit with praise, thanksgiving and honor? What does it mean to worship in the Spirit? Is it to worship following a certain schedule? In the Old Testament, there seems to be many differences in their worship and ours today. In Genesis, God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh day. So as He rested He also told us to rest in the commandments given to Moses in the Exodus. The seventh day is a day of rest. We have changed it to the first day offer our worship to God, but on the days they did not rest, did they gather as we do today to worship? Is this so? They did not. During the Old Testament time, God told them to come before Him and offer sacrifices during the six days, but on the Sabbath they were to only rest. On the day of rest, in remembrance of all that God has done for us, we are to lay down all the things in our lives and lift up our eyes to God and honor Him. We see that Israel was later led into captivity later because of their sin. In Genesis 12, we see that Abraham worshipped God and God came to meet Him. Abraham left his family and left for the promised land of Canaan and we see that God met Him on the way and Abraham built God an altar. In Genesis 13:8 we see that Abraham split with Lot and God came again to him and reassured Abraham of the promise. Again Abraham built an altar to God. In Genesis 22 we see Abraham offering up Isaac as a sacrifice. What I want you to understand is no about the special worship we offer once a week. The Israelites were in captivity because they did not live according to the commands given to them in their sin, we see in Nehemiah 9:1-6 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. 4 Standing on the stairs of the Levites were Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God. 5 And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.”“Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. They read the commands of God and confessed their sins in the light of the Word. In the New Testament, after Jesus came, we can see that the teachers of the Law, made things even more difficult by adding to it things with which they themselves could not do, because they were trying to find a way to serve God better. This is why Jesus rebuked them because they were creating a system which they themselves could not do and Jesus told them that you are not saved by the Law. We wait for the return of the Messiah, and in reverence to God we rest of the given day. And on this day, as we study the Word, and offer up our worship, has it become just another form of a ritual as in the time of Christ? In the Old Testament God commanded the people to come during the week to offer up their sacrifices, and on the day of rest, each were to stay where they were and remember God. When Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary made the trip up to Jerusalem and it took them how many days? If today after you finish service you go home, then the moment you get home, you need to prepare and then leave once again to worship again. How can anyone live like this? It is impossible. We can see that those in the Bible only made the trip to worship during those special occasions when God had told them to do so. Today we come and worship saying that God is here and that is the foundation of our worship. If we worship saying that God is here, then I ask you, what is the condition of your heart? Is your heart prepared to meet God? What did you come here to offer to God as you come before Him today? You say you have come to worship, but are you here for something that your heart is seeking, or did you come to give thanks for all the blessings that God has given you? They are completely different reasons. In Isaiah 66:1-4 it is recorded, This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word. 3 But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person, and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations; 4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” They are killing bulls and worshipping God, but is their purpose to worship God in a manner that He will accept? God did want the offering of young lambs. But is it offered in the manner that God would accept? Today we worship, sing praises and pray, but did God accept these praises and prayer? If He did not, then just as it says in Isaiah, we are murdering animals. The killing of the bull is equaled to the killing of a person. Why? The bull that I am offering for my sins I am offering with the heart of a murderer and God will not accept this. It does not matter that I come before God ask for forgiveness, cry and pray out loud, for if in my heart if I have hate then I am a murderer. If I have a heart of a murderer and come before God and pray, will God accept this prayer? He will not. We think that there is nothing wrong with hate. We ask God to get rid of the one we hate so that we may have peace, how then can God gladly accept this worship? This cannot be. The offering of a lamb is equaled to breaking of a dog’s neck. The grain offering is compared to pig’s blood. It is all cursed. The sacrifices are compared to those things that God commands that we neither eat nor touch and our worship is being compared to idol worship, how then can God accept this worship? He will not. This is why it says that God will punish them. It is possible to offer worship that looks sincere. We should not fall into the trap of thinking that we are offering God sincere worship when we are not. SCRIPTURE PASSAGE..... The people tremble when they hear the scripture but there is no life of obedience. If we come before God and offer up a ritual without truly living the life that is required, then we are not worshipping God with a sincere heart. Isaiah 58:1-11 it is about true fasting. “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. We see that there is a fasting that God delights in and also a fasting in which God despises. What is the fast that the Lord delights in? And what is the one He despises? Fasting that is filled with strife, quarreling, and fists will not be heard because you raise your voice to God. But when we fast and pray, if we do so for something that we desire to attain, though God may answer it because you have prayed for it, it will not be a fast that God will accept gladly. Rather through that prayer you will receive a curse and end up with more spiritual problems that later. When we fast in a manner that God delights and accepts, we see what is recorded here for us. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. When we fast in a manner that God delights in, this is what He will do for us. When we worship it is the same. It is not in the formality or the ritual we go through, but it is offering up worship that God delights in and when He accepts He will help us with our troubles. If we worship for the sake of raising our voices to God so that we may be heard, it is not a worship that He will gladly accept, and the result will be that which none of us will know. We raise our voices to God so that the plans that we have desired, or the things we must do we ask Him to help us with. Is this not why we lift our voices to Him? There are good reasons to fast but it should not be out of our selfish desires but in obedience to God. In Daniel 6:10 10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. This is also worship. Having a set time and place in your life to give your life to God. As we can see fasting that God delights in, and like Daniel praying to God during set times all are a part of worship. In what manner have you come before God to worship Him? I want to ask us, not only those here, but all who say they believe, if you did not come before God with a repentant heart to seek forgiveness for not being able to live the life that God desires, or if you did not come to give thanks for allowing you to live another day in His grace even though you are a sinner and you are grateful for this moment and you offer up your praise and thanks to Him, but you are here to tell God that you gave Him offerings and that you performed for Him, so now you are demanding that He give you blessings, fix your troubles and if this is the reason that you came then He will not accept your worship. If until this moment you have lived the life of a sinner worthy of death, but not being required to pay the penalty for your sins, and with patience as God calls you to repent and you have been given grace to stand before Him today in this place of worship, then out of the gratitude for this grace, you confess your sins to God, you offer gladly with joy the decision to turn your life around and to live to do God’s will, this is the worship that God will accept. Then God will train you so that He may use you to do His will, and this training must be complete so that as a servant of God, as a worker for Him, you can used. The reason that God’s will is not evident in our lives, is because we refuse to go through the training and immediately seek the blessings, so our desires and God’s will does not match up. If we offer God this type of worship, then our attitude of worship must be changed and made right. When we attend service for an hour, we think that a good service is when from beginning to end everything flows nicely and there is no interruption to the order of things. Is a flowing schedule and not having any interruptions define what proper worship is? If a pastor’s sermon goes a minute too long people complain that it was a long sermon. In today’s media age, we just cut out parts of the message to fit the time. We put all the other things into the video but remove parts of the message. If God gives us all His word then is it any different that we cut out the parts that we do not want to hear? If that is the attitude that we have when we come to worship, then how can God accept our worship when we accept what we want and remove what we do not want? We complain about a service that runs long and are concerned about what we have to do next. Would we not also complain to God if He decided to show up late for service? The only reason we do not do so is because we do not see Him, but If we could see Him, what would we say? We would question Him,“Why did you come late?” “I have been waiting here for you since 10 AM.” “There is only 10 minutes left for service and I have to go soon.” “Why did you come so late?” This is how we would complain to Him. In big churches they may have up to 7 or 8 services, does that mean that the Spirit of God must wait for us to finish all our worship according to our schedule? In today’s age, I may attend the 7 AM worship and then go spend the day playing golf, or go to work, or whatever it is I do because I have done my duty at church. Then I demand that God follow me and bless me in all that I do. Then If I tell the Spirit to follow me and help me with what I do, then whose Spirit should attend the second worship after I have left? Which God will sit there and accept the second worship, and which God should go and follow you and bless you as you go about your day? Why should God have to follow all those who have left and also be bound to the other services? Of course we believe that God is spirit and that He is great and able to do such and follow us and help us, but frankly speaking you came here to worship a mascot that you created that you brought and along that you serve. How can it be proper worship when this is your attitude you bring? Even the time of worship is what you decide, and also the manner in which to worship. You decide all that you will do. For example, there is open worship. How comfortable it is. The pastor wears jeans and t-shirt, comes out comfortably and gives the sermon. Personally that would be nice for me as well. Who would argue about the clothes you wear when the pastor comes out wearing sandals? It is open worship. Where in the Bible does it say open worship? Has worship ever been closed? Because I am comfortable I ask God to accept my worship, but we did not teach the truth about God who is the one who accepts our worship. It is possible that a new believer having an no idea of worship may come to worship God is their own way and the worship is open to explore, but that is why many of the good churches seeing the new churches grow as worship gets comfortable have themselves changed in their form of worship so that too may see growth. Even those who know God, come to worship Him comfortably in a relaxed posture in an air conditioned room listening to a ear pleasing message. Some churches are putting on great performances of singing and dancing and is now becoming an event which people experience. Who has made God out to be so unworthy of respect and honor? It is those who have led the way and say that they have believed God. They have made God unworthy. That is why the nonbelievers have even greater disrespect for God. Who fears a God that does not command respect? We have opened the doors for all the anti-Christs to come into the church. Let us look at those who worship and bow down to idols. Would you worship and bow down to God if that was the way we were to do so? We would not. We would complain that that is idol worship and judge them, but we would not give our hearts completely and bow down and worship God as they do their idols. Which god is receiving more respect and honor in their worship? If you were a god which worship would you accept? Would you accept the worship of the one who is relaxed, who gives some money and then says what they want and then leaves and then demands of you to give them what they want? Or like those who build great buildings to you, and whenever it is time, they stop whatever it is they are doing, and bow down and worship. Whose worship would you accept? We judge them, but do we really worship God with our lives? We do not. Our entire posture of worship is wrong. The people spent three days listening to Jesus. That was not the only time, and when Paul was preaching to the late hour and a child fell asleep and fell and died. They stay late listening to the Word, they spend three days attentive to the Word of God abandoning themselves and the things of this world, but this is not our attitude. We decide when we will come, stay as little as possible, and expect God to meet us when we do. And we get upset when God does not meet us and we leave angry. Will God accept such worship? We decide the duration of worship. The duration for singing, praying and the length of the service. If it does not follow our desire we complain that the worship is without blessing or grace. What happened to being led by the Spirit and seeing the power of God manifest? If this is the manner of worship at any other church at any other service, then will God accept it? There are many ads that speak of open worship and offering worship for the youth or a girls worship. Who is the worship for? They do not say that it is worship to God from the youth but rather they say it is a worship for the youth. Who is going to accept this worship? If you look at the meaning of what they are saying they are saying that the youth are going to be worshipping for themselves. Can you say that God accepted the worship, that there was much grace and the the spirit moved if the youth are only gathering to jump and sing and feel good for themselves? The meaning of a single word is important. Who is worshipping who when the title means the worship of the youth or any other group. Should there be a difference in worship when it is being offered to God? There can be differences, but the heart of worship whether young or old, boy or girl, should be bound to God and not to the satisfaction of oneself. How can God accept worship that is not to Him but for the self? Worship by the youth who do so to please God. Yes, there is such worship. But if it is worship for the pleasure of the one giving it, then God will not accept it. It is like sacrificing a bull but equaled to killing a person. If we come to worship in this manner will God accept our worship? If I decide the time, place and order of worship and expect God to come and meet me when I am present and I get upset when He is not present, will God accept this worship? If the first service goes a little longer and gets pushed into the second service hour, do not those who attend the second service complain about the problem that this now creates for all the other order of events that are now effected by it? If the prayer is long, if the sermon is long, then those who attend worship get upset. Who is the one who is to accept the worship but who gets mad and attends it? I am saying let us not come to worship God in this manner and come to seek Him with this attitude. If it takes all day, if it days all night, if it takes a few days if God is truly within me, then I must let go of everything in this world and come before God and humble myself and this is how we are to come and worship God. If we are always setting the time, place and manner and expecting God to accept our worship, then will He accept it? Times have changed. In the past you went to pay your respect to those who had passed away they made food and prepared all their gifts with sincerity. Today you can call in your order and have it all ready for you. They will even deliver it for you where ever you desire it to be sent. If circumstances arise and you cannot go to the funeral you consider that you have done so even though you did not. Is this not how we are with our worship? If our worship is changing as is the way we show respect to those who have died then none of it will matter. The true heart of on who worships must be like that of the five virgins who were wise and ready for their grooms. In Matthew 25 we see the parable of the ten virgins. Five who were wise and five who were foolish. The five wise virgins had the heart of true worship. We can say that they were waiting for the coming of Jesus but their attitude was of a true worshipper. Not only were their lamps full and burning but they also had prepared extra oil for they were prepared. Today when we come to worship at a designated time and place, but if the Spirit of the Lord delayed Himself, and He decided to come at 11 then we need to keep extra oil, and sing praises and wait with patience so that we can meet the Lord. It is when we meet the Lord that we can enter into the place where there will be celebrating. Without this attitude, but with complaining as to why He is not here now, then we are like fools who will never enter into the place of celebration, which means we are not worshipping the Lord properly. If you are here to meet the Lord, if you have let everything down to come before Him, then do not preset a time and expect Him to come. Worship is not about what you do in your own strength, in the offering, in the singing and the praying. Why do you go to meet someone of high position? It is to see their face. You pay good money to get an autograph, some pay tens of thousands of dollars to have a meal with them. But when you come before God, you come with your desires which you want to have met. That is the wrong attitude of worship. Even amongst people when you desire to ask a favor of a person in a high position you must first have a good relationship before you can ask the favor. Even then you may have to persuade then by giving them a large gift for the request to be made. God will come and meet us when we come before Him and offer our lives in gratitude for saving us from our sins and repenting and thanking Him for being patient with us even up until now and confessing all our sins before Him and asking forgiveness for not living the way that He ha desired. But now you confess that you will change your life and live for Him. Will He not meet us then? Will our relationship not be mended and when we fast, would we not receive all the blessings as promised in Isaiah. My relationship must be right with Him, and my attitude of worship must be right, then will my problems be solved. I will be able to go in the right direction in this life. You can live the live of victory that you desire. Do you desire to go? Then correct your attitude of worship. Live the life of one who worships God. When you stand right before God, then when you lift your eyes up to God, He will provide all that you need as He has promised. We have been called to be the salt and light of this world in the lives that we live. This is the life that will give glory to God for which we were given life. May we give glory to God by living with the right heart of worship. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park translation by Miguel Park

What Do You Want Me To Do For You?

God is asking, “What do you want Me to do for you?” What is it that each of you desire? Is it to truly be with the Lord, to be one with Him in His grace? Or do you, like those in this world, want to have material things? What is it you desire? What do each of you want? Those things that spring up from inside you at any moment are the things that you want. You repeat the things that you have been taught and answer, that you want God and that you want to attain heaven, but there are things deep inside you that fight for the place in you heart. Don’t try to hide it, what is it that you honestly desire to attain? We all have something that we want, but the moment we come to church or meet with others we try to hide these things because by doing so we will receive recognition from others, from the pastor, and other church members. But deep inside us, we each have these deep longings that we hope that God would grant us. This is the true desire of our hearts. But many refuse to speak freely about what it is. When you share your desire with the people of this world they encourage you and tell you to go for it and that you will find success. But inside the church, if you share you material desires with others you are seen as a fool. Each of us hides our true desires and speak and act holy. There are more lies in the church. Nobody is speaking the truth. We say that the Spirit of God is with us in the church, but how many Christians really believe that God is present here with us in the church? If you think about this then you could not lie while you are at church. I believe that there are more lies spoken inside the church. People are so good at hiding their true feelings. Let us say that you smoke and drink. Outside of church you freely tell others that you smoke and drink, but the moment you come to church you hide that truth and so you are lying. Some people do say that they smoke and drink but they do so in a boastful manner. Then is this not a life of deceit? There are so many things hidden within us that we do not know of nor do we do realize that we must repent of these things. We think God will overlook this offense, but to what degree do you think He will? At what point do you think that God has overlooked enough of your sins that you will stop doing so? God tells us that when the earth is full of sin that there will be no choice but to bring judgement to it. We complain that God is the judge. Why? It is because we do want want to obey His Word. We think it is too difficult to follow. Yes, you are right, if you try to follow the Word by using the methods of this world it is very difficult, but out Lord tells us that it is easy if we come to Him. I have not come to be with Christ and this is why it is difficult. The wisdom of the world is evil but it seems good. This is why it is difficult to accept the Gospel that God gives us. When God asks you to name the things that you desire, you have too much fear to speak the truth. Why? Because we have no confidence. We fear that if we ask for something that something terrible may happen, that there may be trouble. For those of you here, you feel that I may scold you. It is because you have failed to see the truth of the Gospel so you do not know what it is that you are to seek and the things that you are to attain so you are confused. So when you are asked you cannot answer. You think about giving up, but realize you shouldn’t. You desire to go on, but it is too difficult. You are confused as to which direction you are to be heading, so you come to church and worship, read some of the Bible, and pray a little thinking that you have done all that is required. You have no choice but to think this way because the Gospel people hear is being twisted and changed. Many of the youth today do not think that they have worshipped God unless they sing and dance. Without it there is no feeling of having done something. Truly before God we are to dance, sing and be joyful. But what you seek to do is for your pleasure. Our worship should be like that of King David who was so filled with the glory of God and being overjoyed did not realize that his clothes were coming off in worshipping God. Our worship should be like this but is it? When I see the youth worship, at times I get angry, at times I am disappointed. They say that they are worshipping God, but are they truly joyfully praising and honoring God? Truly this is how they should worship, but if we mistake jumping and dancing for our own pleasure as worship, will God accept it? If you sat in silence and in an sense of holiness does it make you holy? It is possible to sit quietly and meditate and feel His presence. But is God really there present with you? When you are in the presence of God, as described by the prophets in the Old Testament, you become still as though dead, and in this place you offer God your worship. But today even this form of worship, just like those of jumping and dancing, has become a formality. We act as though we are offering up holy worship, but in our minds we are thinking about everything else in this world. We think about all the worries of our lives and the things that we need. Where is God’s presence in this kind worship? When we are truly in the presence of God there is joy. In the stillness of His presence, there is so much joy. It is inexpressible. We are stilled by His presence. We must truly desire this. We are to offer this worship to God so that He can accept it and be glorified by it. When we are one with God through our worship, He will grant me the desires of my heart. Rather than go through proper worship, we skip to the end and ask God to give us what we want. We tell Him to give us what we want which is status, money, relationships. We look at Him as though He must give us everything we need. We want Him to be like a genie that grants us what we wish. Having not repented, without removing the sin in ours lives, without changing our lives and turning from sin, we still expect God to heal us, to forgive us, and think that He will prevent us from sinning again. It is not this way. We are not robots. God did not make you a robot. He has given you free will, so you must decide and then stop sinning. You must repent, turn away and then live the proper life. When we hear the message we agree with what is taught, but the moment we leave the doors we do what we want. The words of God, though the seeds are planted, do not take root because you do not tend to field of your heart. You do not work on removing the rocks or the weeds and having good clean soil so that the words can spring forth in your heart. The Words do not get planted, they are not rooted the seeds do not die to give birth in you. The seeds must die so that there can be new life, but we refuse to make new life. We listen to the Words and bury it. The seeds do not yield anything. What is the point of listening to hundreds of sermons? What use is it to carry the Bible around with you? It is no use unless you read the Bible. It is useless to read it and not understand it. It is useless to understand the Bible and not live it. We think that by carrying around a Bible that you become a believer. The youth are embarrassed to even carry the bible around. Because the Word of God is not active in our lives, we are unable to be one with God, and when God asks us the desires of our hearts we are unable to ask for the things we want. We are unable to attain anything, neither from the world nor from God, stuck in the middle and conflicted. When God asks us what it is that we desire, we should give Him an answer and say that we will use it for His glory, but we are unable to do so. We think that our lives will become to difficult. We think that we are going to live in much hardship. We think that He will make us do things that we have no desire doing. We tell God that He already knows what we want and ask Him to give us those things. And when God asks you what is the very things that you want we do not answer Him. It is because our conscience is pierced. God does not desire to give you anything bad, He desires to give you the best. In this way you can spend eternity with Him together. God loves us and desires to spend eternity with us. But we desire a temporary love. Even between couples who love each other there must be sacrifice. I saw a couple who were both 91 years old and they loved each other so much. The children grew up watching their parents love and serve each other, so when they were married they married spouses who treated them just as well as their parents treated each other. They live in the country and even to this day they hold hands when they walk and give each other kisses in public. It is a beautiful sight. Do you want to live like this with your spouse? I do not know if they are a believer, but for those who say we believe in Jesus, do we love, forgive, comfort and desire to go forth together with our spouses? Someone asked them how they were able to live the way they do? They replied that they knew that there was not much time left for them to live, and they knew that there was not much time left for them to be together, that one of them would die first, so they want to love each other even more, comfort each other even more, and hold each other dear in their hearts even more. I thought to myself that there are Korean people who are like this. They live in the country. They are not rich or people of status. You think that you must have something in order to love. You think that you need something to share in order to love. It is not so. The elderly couple show us human love, but God loves us even more than this. God is giving us the best love. We are unable to accept it. We all desire His love, but we are unable to accept. Between spouses, even if things are going well, the moment you hear something that bothers you, you immediately get angry. Our feelings get hurt. We think that God is this way to us. God is not like this. You are mistaken to think that God is like you. God is giving us so much of His love and asks us the things that we want, but the heart of the matter is are we willing to accept what He is giving us? When He asks us what we want, it does not matter that He gives us, because we do not accept it and do not realize that it has been given to us. He keeps asking us what is it that you would want so that you would be content in Him, so that you would obey His Word, His commands, and His will and follow Him and be with Him and spend all eternity with Him. He keeps asking you this question. But when our feelings are hurt even a bit, we think that we have the right to get angry at others. We think we have the right to give someone the silent treatment. We expect the other person to break the silence. We have all these selfish desires. We expect our parents to speak to us first. Parents expect the children to speak first. We expect others to seek forgiveness first. This is why we respond to God in the same manner. We tell God that He is selfish. We ask why is it that God wants to take all that we have? We tell Him that He does not love us but that He demands that we love others. Is this not how we think? How much more love do you want from God? He sent His one and only Son for us, what else do you require of God? What more do you want from Him? What have you offered up to God? You say that Jesus is the groom, then what have you given your groom? Even now our Lord is saying let us go together. He is telling us that He loves us. He has given everything to us. He is telling us that there is nothing that He has withheld from us. But we keep asking of Him so even now He asks us what is it that we still want? What more must you have that you will be sufficient? How many of you have ever told God that you have more than enough, that you are sufficient? We are always thinking that we lack and therefore are never satisfied. We are unable to say that “Your love is overwhelming and too great for us, we have more than enough, we lack nothing.” If you are truly a citizen of God’s kingdom, the bride of Christ, we must confess to God that we lack nothing. We must confess that we are content. We have more than enough and it is overflowing. We are truly grateful. Should these things not be the things that we confess. Think deeply of these things and according to God’s Word may you be used for His purpose. Sermon by Pastor Joy Lee Translation by Miguel Park

John 4:20-24

John 4:20-24 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Daniel 3:30 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. We continue to study about worship. Why do we worship? Why do we come before God and offer sacrifices? Does God accept your worship or sacrifice that you offer just for the reason that you are doing so? Before you offer your sacrifice to God or your worship you must first cleanse yourself of the sin that is inside you. You must first make an atonement of your sins so that when you offer your worship with a clean heart God can then accept it. When we give gifts amongst ourselves, do you like to accept a gift from someone with whom you have tension? No matter how nice the gift is, if you dislike the person you do not want to accept the gift. Is this not true? God is the same. God desires and accepts the worship with whom their is nothing that gets in the way of His relationship with them. If God is pleased and enjoys accepting the worship of those who please Him, then between people and between husband and wives and those who are in a loving relationship does the size of the gift matter? On the way home from work, if you were to buy even a small piece of candy, the other person would joyfully receive the gift because of the person’s true love. But if your heart is twisted, if there is something that burdens your heart, you could bring home an expensive name brand handbag and the spouse would rather that you would make them feel better rather than receive the gift. Is this not true. The relationship is what is important. Making lots of money and bringing it home to the wife can be important, but what may be more valued is the ability to come home and bring joy to the heart of your spouse. We all know that you are out there working hard. When you come home from work, everyone knows that you worked hard, so a gift is not necessary and you can enter your home freely as you enter with love. But what if you came back home full of anger while holding a large gift and then you toss it at your spouse, would she accept the gift? Would you accept such a gift? There is no one who would want to receive such a gift. Worship is the same. You come before Him and bring a large gift, or offering. Other people bring in pennies but you bring a 100 dollars. Of what importance is that? This does not matter. It is your relationship that must be set right first before you offer worship. In order to have the right relationship with God, you must first come before Him and confess all your sins and repent according to the Word so that when you offer your worship God will accept it joyfully. If we say that we worship God in spirit and in truth, then how can God accept our worship when we ourselves know that our spirits are unclean? Last week I spoke about how useless it is to be an observer of worship, to be an outsider because you have no true relationship with God so your prayers will not be answered. I gave the example of paying good money to watch a game. We payed a lot of money and had a great time. If I come to church and give a lot to the offering and enjoy myself in the events of the day, then it is solely for my pleasure. I enjoyed watching the athletes perform just as I enjoy the events at church. I enjoy the singing and the fellowship so I give my offering. I am only an observer. What use is it to me? There is nothing between God and I. When I confess my sins and repent of my ways, when I change my life and live righteously, then God will do His will through me. This is the life in which God will accept as true worship. This is the life of worship that I pray that you will be able to offer to God. God has given each of us something so that we can do His will. To each of our families and each of us individually He gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it may be material blessings that you enjoy, it may also be status. Some may rise up to high positions, others may be given much wealth, some may attain everything. Others may be homeless and poor or broke. Why? If it is God’s will that there be somebody in those humble places that are to be used by Him for His purpose then we must acknowledge that. We have our own thoughts so we think that because we have done as much for the Lord, so now in order to do His work we will for Him to give us health, wealth, power and status. I decide what my path must be. There are times when our desires and what God wills for us are not the same, and rather than obey Him, we argue and complain and rebel against Him. I will use myself as an example. I was told to be a pastor so at an old age I became one. This was during the time when my children were growing and needed to be fed well and I needed a lot of money to invest in them. When I calculated all the expenses that I would need for the family then I started to think about where the church needed to be, how big it must be and I calculated everything with my own mind. The size of the church, the location of it, it was all my own calculations. So is God’s will and my plan on the same path? How can it be the same? Some are chosen to be pastors. Some are chosen to be missionaries. Others to be where He decides. God decides to place people each according to His will, some pastors He will place in the city of Seoul. Others He will put far out in the country. Others He will put in the suburbs. Some will live in Seoul and some will live in other cities. Everyone will be put in different places so that in everyplace God can spread the message of the Gospel. But we, worried about how we are going to eat and live, calculate how we are going to create a great big ministry, and end up not going where we are sent to go. There is a difference in your will and God’s will. If this is the manner in which we say we are doing God’s will, then will God really be able to use me to do His work? If His hand is not upon you, then even though you walk the path as His servant, you may be doing so without having any real connection to Him. Pastors and missionaries when they are sent out from Korea all want to come to the America. They don’t have to learn english because they only work with natives from Korea. Whether it is Canada or here they want to go somewhere where one can live comfortably. Nobody desires to go where there are a few people or the conditions are tough. Who will go to those people that are in the middle of nowhere and share the Gospel with them. God is telling some to go. When they obey and make the sacrifice to go and take the family with them, then God will provide for all of them. But rather than do this, they take up the burden alone, and send the rest of the family off to live abroad and live the life by themselves. Where is God’s will in this? When God desires to do His will but we change His will and do what we want, then the work we do will not manifest God’s will and we will not be able to give God the glory He desires because we have interfered with His perfect purpose. Rather than see that we have mistaken God’s will, we are filled with the joy of doing our own work and not His. When God tells us to go out in the middle of nowhere in the most humble of places, then it is in that place, where God will show His power through me, I will be able to confess that I am one with the Lord and be an example to others. It is my selfishness that causes me to make up my own plans to go to nice places and work in high positions and so we pray that our needs desires would be met. To follow easily, I must accept that I have been called to do God’s will. I read this recently. What does a true leader think about? The one who leads the people thinks about the future. I thought how true. When we look at the church the pastor is the leader, in your own life you are your own leader, within the family the husband is the leader, whatever team you belong to, whatever position you have at work, no matter how small the group or humble the position you are a leader. You do not need to be in charge of a large group to be a leader. Wherever you are, no matter how small the number, there will always be a leader. Those of you who are the leaders in your household, what must you be thinking about as you lead your family as a Christian? Is it about making a lot of money and buying a big house and driving a nice car? Is that what you should be thinking about? It is not. A true Christian does not think about the things of this world but he thinks about the things of heaven. He sets his sight on attaining the things of heaven and making sure that he receives his reward and leads his family in this pursuit. Even in this world leaders have their own dreams. They set goals for how much money a company will make, the kind of products they will produce and where they will spend their earnings. The company uses the goals and goes forward to achieve it. In order to achieve the goals the leaders make decisions that will lead the company into that direction. You goal must be clear and decided. Those of you who lead your homes and say that you are Christians must be clearly committed and determined to stand before Jesus and lead your family to that path so that you can truly be a follower of Jesus. How will you ever be victorious in your life of faith if today you go this way, tomorrow you go that way and then when things get difficult you give up? This week in our daily quiet times the theme has come up many times. We put much value in being recognized by others. We think that recognition by others is what matter the most. But that is not what is important but what matters is our relationship with God. We see this in the Word. Why does God want us to worship in spirit and in truth? He tells us that it is not important that we worship on this mountain or that mountain or in Jerusalem, but what is important is that we worship in spirit and in truth and that time is now. If now represents the very moment we take a new breath, then how are we to live our lives? Worship is not over because the pastor has given the benediction. God is spirit and His believers must worship in spirit and in truth, that spirit and truth is about my relationship with the Father and being one with Him, in holiness. We are told to be holy because He is holy. To be holy we must cut off all sins repent and change our lives and live a life that is in union with God. This life is the life that is in spirit and in truth and this life is the life that gives true worship to God. We are to be living in this continuos moment. Even in this life there are guidelines that we must follow. When a student writes a report they must do so according to the guidelines to receive a good grade. They write the report and answer the questions of who, what, when, where, why and how. So we ask, who worships? I worship. When? Anytime. Where? Everywhere. With what? With and through my life. How? When we are faced with a decision the choice is the one that will please God and give Him the most glory through obedience in His Word. Why? Because we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and are now children of God. Should this not be the life of worship that we live? In Daniel 3:30 we read Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. We see Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the way they worship. The “who” is Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. When? During the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. Where? In front of the gold image. What? In regards to bowing down and worshipping the golden image. If they did not bow down then they would be burned to death. How? By refusing to bow down to the image because the only one they will worship is God. They put their faith in God who they did not see, and offered their lives up in sacrifice as worship to Him. Were they saved? We say they were saved, but they were not. They were only rescued because they entered the fire. The people who were throwing them into the fire were burned to death. Daniel, in the time of King Darius, for the time of one month when they were to only pray to the king, Daniel could have closed his windows and prayed. If for one month Daniel closed his windows and prayed would his prayers have been any less? However, just as he did before, with the decision that it would not matter that he entered the lion’s den, he would cry out to God and worship as he always did. Why did he do this? It is because he knew that there is only one God to whom to pray to and worship. What happened? He was thrown in the lion’s den. In our own lives we pray that God does not let us enter into difficult situations and we ask Him to save us from them. But when we see how they prayed we see that we must enter the fiery furnace and we must enter the lion’s den for then we show that we have offered our lives up to God and this is when He will rescue us. This is worship in spirit and in truth. God accepts the life that is completely handed over to Him. He does not accept the life that pretends to give Him everything. He does not accept a life that pretends to be a believer. Did Paul say that everyday he pretended to die? He said that He dies everyday. It is through death that God saves and works. He died everyday so that though he was beaten, sent to prison, hungry, and through all the trials and difficulties, through the whipping of 39 lashes three times, and being stoned to near death, and though his life was like this, through this life God moved. When we are told to go in, do we go? We pray so that we do not have to go? We pray that we do not have to die but when we see the prayers and lives of the those who have gone before us do we not see a difference? What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth so that He accepts it? It is when He places you where He desires and you say “amen” and accept your place. This is true worship in spirit and in truth. When God accepts your worship, then it is He who gives life and also takes it away. If He rescues you then through it you shall give glory to God. If you die, then you are giving Him glory through obedience and we must have this kind of determination to live this life of worship. This is the worship that God accepts. Today according to the guidelines and principles : Who? Me. When? Today, now, in every moment. Where? Everywhere I go. Whether in the kitchen cooking, or sitting in the bathroom, when I am driving, when I meet people, whatever it is I do, in everyplace. What? Through all that I do, whether I am cooking, when I am speaking to others, when I am in the bathroom, through all that I do to give pleasure to God. How? By living joyfully in God and living the life that would allow God to use me. If today I a speaking to someone, it is not a time for me to express my emotions, it it an opportunity to share my Lord through the words I speak and being keen to Him. This is how we can be one who worships and gives God the glory. Why? Because I am a child of God who has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. I have no choice but to live this life. When my life reflects this daily in all I do, it is my life that God will accept. When God has accepted your life, why would not answer your prayers? In our difficulties, and in our minds that create trouble, look at the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the life of Daniel. See the life that allowed them to be rescued after they were thrown into the furnace and the lion’s den. We too must decide to live as determined as this. We must look at our lives and compare them to the guidelines and principles and see the decision that we must make. When we ask the question “who?” and you answer the pastor, but the pastor is not present with you, it is possible that you may think that you can do what you want. This is not so. When we ask “who?” the answer is “me”. We are told that each of us is a holy priest. When the question is asked “when?” It is not Sunday when we come for service. It is daily, in every moment that we must decide and commit to. When we say “who?” and think there is no reason to worship because the pastor is unavailable, or when we say “when?” and you think we only worship on Sundays and today is a weekday, or that since worship is now over you make excuses to be of a different mind. Everything, all the time is to be worship. It is not time for you to express what you want but a time for the church through fellowship to worship God and offer our lives also as worship. This can only be done when you decide that you will live like so and do it. When we say “where?” we are not only saying at the church but it is wherever you go. When we say with “what?” It is not only about singing hymns and praying. It is through your speech, thoughts and action through which you glorify the Savior that you hold in your heart. It is a constant that you must be thinking. How? It is through living a life that does not follow the world but through the life that follows the Bible. This is the how that we must put into practice so that our lives can be one of worship. At one time we were a part of the world that thought that you can just come and easily be forgiven but if this the way you think can your life be of true worship? If you think that this is not, then the God you worship, who sees everything that you do, will He accept your worship when you do not stand with Him but rather you do what you want while blaming God. How must you live your life according to theses guidelines? You must live according to the guidelines and principles, in obedience, not forgetting to do all that is shown to us, so that not only will we be able to communicate and understand Him better, but He will also joyfully accept our worship. When we can offer up our lives of worship to Him so that He can gladly accept it, then would He not bless us graciously with the gifts of the spirit and all the other blessings with His anointing? Should your life not be the life that is one of a true worshipper? May you live this life and give God glory. May you be the salt and light in all areas of your life. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translation by Miguel Park

True Gospel

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Without Repentance Heaven Cannot Be Mine

8.31.2012 Spirit Fruit Church Without repentance heaven cannot be mine. Without repentance, without being clean we know that we cannot enter into heaven. The way of repenting and being clean is shown to us in the Word, but we refuse to look at these teachings. We know that we must confess our sins before God, but we have difficulty admitting our faults to Him because we must humble ourselves and that effects our pride. Rather than admit our wrongs, we try to make ourselves good by covering up our sins through deceit and this prevents us from repenting. But if we do not repent we cannot enter into heaven. Even amongst ourselves, between fellow people and enemies, we cannot hide from each other no matter the distance between us. Within us, we know and feel the pull of the relationship. When there is tension between people, you may act as if nothing is the problem and pretend to go on with your life, but it does not mean that the issue has been resolved. It is the same between us and God. We may come to church, read the Bible and pray to Him, but if there is something between us then God cannot accept our worship. The Bible teaches us that when there is something that is in the way of our relationship with God, He will not answer our prayers. Rather than heed the message, understand it and follow what it says, we refuse to repent. We make excuses that we have done nothing wrong. We blame the other people, our parents, our children, our neighbors, our employers, or our employees. The path to repentance is blocked because rather than accept the blame we put the blame onto others. There are times that we may be right, but more often we have done more wrong. When we acknowledge that we are wrong we are hurt in our pride. We become discouraged. We think to ourselves that we have done so much for God and have believed in Him for so long, and think that we are not bad. We compare ourselves with nonbelievers and think that we are better than them because at least we believe in God. It is easier to preach repentance to a nonbeliever than it is to one who has believed in Jesus for some time. Those who have faith have a hard time accepting that they must repent. This is a bigger problem. I went to church since I was a child an knew nothing outside of school and church. As I grew up, God told me to repent, but I asked what must I repent of? I had not stolen, I believed in Jesus, what had I done that required repenting? I knew nothing of the world. But when God came and met me, He told me to repent. I did not understand. I really knew nothing outside of the church. I thought that going to church was so important that if I stopped going to church that I would die. I thought if I stopped reading the Bible I would die. I prayed the way I thought I should pray. I realized that there is a difference between who God is and who I thought God to be. We think that all the things we do for God, going to church and serving others makes us right before God, but God desires that our relationship between He and I is proper first before we do other things. We think that we are showing our allegiance to Him through our works. God desires that I believe He is my Father and my Savior. I thought that I did. As time passed I realized that I did not understand what it really meant to believe in Him. When two people are involved in a relationship they desire to be with each other. God desires that I want to be with Him, but we think that God desires that we serve Him. We think that by going to church, volunteering, sacrificing, going to daybreak prayer that we are right with Him. When I was young, we went to church 8 or nine times on Sunday. I was so dedicated. I was at church before the sun came up and returned home about midnight. I was a youth teacher, attended the youth services and the adult service, and went to all the meetings. By the time everything was done we had at least 8 or nine services. I did what I thought was my best because I was raised in the church. But God cares more about my relationship with Him. He wants to be in a loving relationship with you first. Who would do the church work? He would tell me even though you I did not do it someone else will do it. Did the church close when I did not do the work? It did not. We meet here and we do not have any separate groups or meetings. You come to church twice a week, but how difficult is it to try and live according to the Word? It is not about going to church as many times as possible in a week, it is about living your life according to the Word that is living out the will of God. God looks upon you with favor when you take what you have heard, meditate on it and practice living it out during the week so that you can be one with Him. God alone is able. He does not need our help in accomplishing His will on earth. He loves us and places us where we belong to give Him glory, but not at the expense of our relationship with Him. Between spouses, if the wife hands over all responsibility to the husband but does nothing, will the wife be loved? If the wife cooks and cleans, but does whatever she wishes against the will of her husband, will the husband love his wife? He will not. God gives us the family so that we can learn about His love for us through the family structure. This is the foundation from which we must learn. We have a problem with understanding how we are to live before God and how we are to repent because the family has become broken today. We approach God the way we live with our families and so we see God from our broken world view and we do not know Him properly and therefore do not know how we must live which is the way He desires that we do. This is why we are unable to repent. Between spouses when we have wronged each other, we should apologize specifically for what it is that we have done wrong, but rather than admit what it is that we have done wrong, we throw out a generic apology and ask to be forgiven, but what are you apologizing for? It is not really an apology. You cannot be forgiven. Because we are like this with one another, when we pray to God it is the same. ‘I am sorry for everything , God forgive me.” Yes, God does know everything, but you must confess with your mouth so that God will forgive you for that sin. We refuse to do this. We say that the Bible tells us that God knows everything. Even though I do not say anything God knows, so when we say we are sorry we think God should forgive us for whatever we did. Even between spouses, you may do that once or twice, but as time passes and those things build up, eventually you will divorce because in the end you will be enemies and have no desire but to separate. The devil desires this. When spouses apologize to each other we must be specific about what it is that we seek in forgiveness. Husbands avoid admitting what they are wrong about and rather than openly saying it they just say “I told you that I’m sorry” and to drop the matter, or you buy flowers or a gift or dinner and think that the issue is resolved but what you are doing is only covering up the problem. This is how we approach God. Rather than repent we give more offering or volunteer more at the church. We think that we have done enough to be forgiven. We tell Him to forgive us for our works. God does not need your offering. He does not need you to come and volunteer. Without being right with God first, everything else does not matter. The church will still function without your offering. Do not give your offering thinking that you are helping the church. Your offering is a gift to God it is not for the church. You give tithe and thanks offering because you are grateful for His grace and all His blessings that He has given you. If you think that you give offering to help the church keep its door open then your are wrong. God has brought me here to this day by providing for my needs. Unless you truly follow the Word you cannot repent. You cannot fool God thinking that you have repented when you did not. Is God fooled by you? You are mistaken to think that you are fooling Him. On the day of judgement, God will not tell you not to enter into heaven, but your sins will be evident and you will have no choice but to go to hell. In heaven there can be no sin and unless you repent while you are still alive you will never make it into heaven. You may argue that you are not completely stained and there is only a little discoloration, but it is said God cannot look at sin. God cannot look at sin, and it is not because He does not want to forgive us, we cannot enter because of our sins. God must rid those that have sin. This is why daily we must repent of our sins so that we may stand before Him. People say that forgiveness is once and final, so never sin again and live in joy. How great that would be but this can only be if you stop sinning. If I continue to live in sin and do not repent then I will not be able to enter into heaven. Jesus and John the Baptist both preached the message of repentance and said that the kingdom of heaven is near. We think that repentance is a one time act and do not realize that daily we commit sin through the things we see, hear, feel, speak and act. It would be great if we never sinned but even if you are confined to your homes you sin in your heart countless times a day with all the thoughts that pass through you as you judge others, hate others, and persecute them in your mind. When you leave your homes you may sin even more but even in your homes you are sinning. God is not desiring that you confine yourselves to your homes to prevent you from sinning, or does He want you to go far away and hide. A believer is to be amongst people in the midst of it all, not away from society. We are to live amongst the nonbelievers and be the light and show them the way to live a life of faith and but rather than be examples of Christ we have become stumbling blocks to those who are true believers and making it more difficult for those who truly believe by bringing persecution on them for our false lifestyles. How can I enter into heaven when this is how I live? We do not forgive, nor repent nor live the true life of a Christian. Rather because of me there are more nonbelievers because of my false lifestyle. When we witness to people and find out that they used to be a Christian they tell us that they fell away from the faith because of all the fake Christians. But when we look at those who do not believe we persecute them and say that they will go to hell. Just because you sit in church does not mean you are safe from hell. You will not all go to heaven. Only those who do the will of God will go to heaven. Only those who repent and live according to the Word. Those who live in the Word with joy and thanksgiving. If you do not live as a Christian you will not enter into heaven. You will not go because you sit in the midst of believers. It frustrating to think that people believe this. The first requirement is repenting. It is no use to memorize the entire Bible, for without repentance you cannot enter into heaven. If after you repent, you do not change your life then likewise you will not enter into heaven. The one who repents must live the life of repentance, and to do so means that you believe in the Love of God and you must also reflect that Love. Therefore you must love. You did not truly repent if you still harbor feelings of hate and anger. This is not repentance. The greatest command is to love. In order to love you must repent. You must forgive so that you can love. How can you love when you have hate inside you? How can you love someone when you are judging them? There is no love. When you see them you hate them. You dislike them because they do not listen to you. When you see them feelings of anger rise up inside you. How can your forgive when you feel this way? To repent you must forgive. Not only must we repent to God but we must forgive each other first. Our forgiveness must turn into love. Love must be evident in our lives. We must not hate others, we must have compassion on those who need compassion, we must help those who are in need. When I see someone who is hungry, then I must sacrifice from what I have and share with the one in need, this is love. If I must satisfy myself first then I will never have enough to give. We are unable to help others because we take care of all our needs first and have nothing left to give. Love is the same. We desire to give love after we have been filled with the love of others first. How selfish we are that we fail to realize that we have been given so much more love than we could ever hold onto that we desire even more? Parents love their children. We think we give our children plenty of love. But ask a child if they think that their parent truly loves them and see how many believe so. The number is small. We talk to many people and they all reply that they love their parents and that they love their children but dig a little deeper and we see that it is not as they say. No matter how much love a parent gives the child think that they did not receive love. Parents also cannot love a child perfectly. But God’s love is complete. We have a hard time accepting His love because we do not know how to accept love nor give it. So even though God loves us we are unable to accept. We doubt His love. We question why would He love us? Then suddenly we become sinners and tell Him that we are filled with sin, that we are disobedient, that we do not deserve His love. We act holy. This is all an act. There is no lack in God’s love. We are unable to accept it. We do not understand it, because of our misunderstanding we do not understand the meaning of the cross. The death of Jesus on the cross is love. But we do not see it as love. Love is sacrifice. But we do not have the strength to sacrifice. It is because we are not one with God. Some have more strength than others but not many are willing to sacrifice all for Him. This can only be done when we are one with Jesus. You must have this love to go out and witness, so that we can go to our neighbors and help. Without this we go out and and for a little while we do what we can, but shortly after we burnout and question what it is that we are doing. The one who is completely in Christ and filled with His love is able to put their life on the line, and though their family be killed and scattered, and they are beaten and fall ill, because they are consumed with His love they are able to share that love until they breathe their last breath. This is true love. Though you do not go out to the mission field, your life is your mission field and you are to live your life as a missionary. But you cannot sacrifice because you have not given your life to God, and you have not repented nor forgiven and there is no love inside of you. You are not clean. This is why the Lord keeps telling us to repent. We may say that the other person should forgive me. That is not the way. We must each seek forgiveness. There are times that we have hated and judged others. That other person does not know. God knows. You must ask God for forgiveness. You do not have to go and seek forgiveness when you have not wronged that person. But the wrongs that have been made known we must seek forgiveness. If that person is dead and gone then we must ask God to forgive us. Confess to God if you do not know the whereabouts of the person you have wronged. Seek forgiveness until God forgives you. Repentance is not easy. Sometimes it is easy at other times it is not. When you are wholeheartedly repenting then it is possible that you may be forgiven in that moment, but most often we are not sincere in seeking repentance and therefore we are not forgiven. It is not because God refuses to forgive us, it is because we fail to truly repent. We blame God for not forgiving us though we say we seek forgiveness. When we go deep into your heart you see that it is you who has failed to truly repent. This is why God cannot forgive you. If you truly desire to live by faith, then you must first take a look at yourself and see what it is that you are doing wrong. You must know your sin so that you can repent. When you do not remember your sins ask God to show you and he will remind you of them. We fail to do this. Generally speaking, we know our sins, but we like to cover them up and act as if there is no sin. God knows. Those of you here are going through a difficult time because of all the sins that you are confronting and confessing to God. It is a trying time. Those things that God is showing you are the very things that you must confess and seek forgiveness for, but when the opportunity comes for you to seek forgiveness you become silent and do not repent. There is a spirit of repenting here with us. You must repent. If you do not repent during this opportunity you will be responsible for it in the end. God is preparing us for something and before we can be used by Him we must repent and be right with Him. If you do no participate we will still continue forward. Do not think that we will not move forward without you. We shall. We will leave you behind. If no one else goes I will go alone. God’s purpose is more important than waiting for you. But if you decide to repent and go forward then we can go together. God desires that we go together as it provides strength and speed. If you do not want to be a part of it then you will be left out. God sent His Son 2000 years ago for this reason. He desires to take even one more soul enter into His kingdom so He waits patiently. Do not mistake His patience for a sign to go and do what you want. God will do His will without you. God will take those who choose to believe in Him and use them. Do not be proud and think that everything hinges on you. What makes you think that God needs you and that He cannot do His will without you. You have mistaken God for Who He really is. God desires to use those who obey Him. When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt He used Moses who was obedient even though amongst the Israelites there were those who obeyed, and disobeyed, and those who were filled with joy and those who were not. God will take those who follow. All was not perfect when they left Egypt. Form the moment they left they complained and blamed God for all their troubles. God still took His people to promised land of Canaan. If you fail to go then it will be your loss. Even though I do not go, God will go. Though I do not do, God will do without me. God desires that you repent, turn to Him and be with Him and find joy in Him. This brings Him pleasure. When you repent and do His work He can use you for greater things. If we fail to be used by God He will use others. I refuse to see that happen so I will do what God commands. I do this because I know His will. It is up to you whether you do or not. The first thing you must do is lay it all down, repent, forgive and love. This is the foundation from which you must grow. Without doing this you cannot advance. Be victorious in your life of faith. Sermon by Pastor Joy Lee Translation by Miguel Park