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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
Measure of Faith(14) - 4th Level of Faith (3) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Romans12:3,3 John1:2 |
Date |
2006-02-05 |
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[Passage]
[Romans 12: 3], [3 John 1: 2]
[Romans 12: 3] "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith."
[3 John 1: 2] "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Bible, there are many promises of God to His children.
But all these promises have some conditions. We cannot receive blessings just by confessing, "Lord, I believe." God will give us blessings if we love God, if we have faith, or if we dwell in light and keep God's commands.
It's because that is the justice of God. Of course, it doesn't mean your soul is not prosperous and you will not receive any blessings if you do not completely keep God's commands yet.
Within one's measure of faith, to the extent that he keeps God's commands a person's soul prospers, he can receive these blessings in some areas. But if you go into the 4th level of faith, you will receive blessings in full scale.
Only if you are recognized by God as a man of spirit who has cast off sinful natures in your heart and fully dwell in the light, then God can bless you as much as He wants.
You can receive blessing to the extent that you sow and act at the 3rd level of faith or below, but if you get to the 4th level, a door will open for much greater blessings that cannot be matched with previous blessings. Then, what kind of heart do people have at the 4th level of faith, and what kind of blessings will they receive specifically?
This is the 14th session of the measure of faith and continuing from the last session, I will talk to you about the 4th level of faith.
Through this message, I urge you to get to the 4th level and above and into the spiritual realm quickly.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be able to receive blessings in full scale and give glory to God as His spiritual children.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the 4th level of faith is to love the Lord to the utmost degree. It's not just to love but to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and strength, and even your life.
I explained the two traits of the 4th level of faith in the last session. The first is that they love God unconditionally without wanting anything in return.
Proverbs 8:17 says, "I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me." God will love those who love Him and He will bless him on this earth. But those who love God to the utmost degree do not care about it even if they do not receive blessings on this earth.
It's because they are happy and thankful only for just being able to love God and do His will even if they do not receive blessings and honor on this earth.
When people preach the gospel following the will of God, they may face persecutions or even get to the point of becoming a martyr rather than enjoying earthly rewards and honor, and they will still give thanks if they have achieved the 4th level of faith.
They love not because they want to receive something in return but for them it is so natural to love God. Secondly, at the 4th level of faith, they love God more than anything in this world. Namely, they love God first.
They will not spare any kind of honor, wealth, family, friends, or even their life if it is for God. After giving everything, they will still look for things to give more.
I explained up to this point in the last session, and today, I will tell you from the 3rd characteristic.
The 3rd characteristic of those at the 4th level is that everything of theirs will go well with them and they will be healthy as their souls prosper. Today's passage 3 John 1:2 says, "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."
Here, 'prospering in all respects and being in good health' doesn't only mean they will only be physically healthy but also they will be prosperous in all respects including their family, workplace, and business. As I will soon explain later in this message, God will do all things for those whose souls are prosperous, so they will prosper in everything.
God will supply them with health, wealth, fame, wisdom, understanding and everything as needed. God will intervene in their lives to lead them in only ways that prosper.
Now, what does it mean by your soul is prosperous, which is the condition to receive blessings? Simply speaking, you can say your soul is prosperous when your dead spirit is revived and the order among the spirit, soul, and body are maintained properly.
It takes place when your dead spirit is revived by accepting the Lord and the revived spirit comes to rule over both your soul and body as the master. I already explained about this in the lectures entitled 'Spirit, Soul, and Body' in the series "The Message of the Cross", so let me just briefly go over this here once again.
Originally, when God created the first man Adam, He made him as a living spirit. Adam who was a living spirit was created with a spirit, a soul, and a body. It was the spirit that communicated with God. The soul was ruled by spirit and the body that was a vessel to contain both the spirit and soul.
But since Adam violated the command of God and he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he committed sin. As the law of the spiritual realm dictates, the wages of sin is death and Adam's spirit died.
A living spirit, namely the living spirit of Adam, died and Adam changed into a man of flesh. Here, 'dying of spirit' does not mean the spirit becomes extinguished but the activity of spirit stopped.
When the spirit died and it stopped its activity, the soul took the position of the spirit and began to act as the master. 'Soul' is the generic term for the memory device in the brain, all knowledge contained in it, and the operations of remembering and utilizing the knowledge.
When a man experiences something, he keeps it in his memory, and remembers and thinks about it, and utilizes his knowledge. All this is "operation of soul".
When the spirit played the role of the master, man could communicate with God in spirit and received the knowledge of truth from God. Therefore, the operations of soul were done only in the truth, and the body also spoke and acted only within the truth as the spirit wanted.
But since the spirit died and the communication with God was disconnected, the enemy devil and Satan began to control man through his soul.
The knowledge of truth that God had sown in man's heart began to leak out little by little, and instead, the knowledge of untruth, and various sins and evil were planted by the enemy devil and Satan. As time passed, the heart of men was stained with more untruth and they came to live in all kinds of sins and evil.
And I said that the soul is prosperous when the spirit is revived and it plays the role of the master of soul and body just like Adam when he was first made.
Then, how can the dead spirit of man revive? It is done by accepting Jesus Christ, who is the way, truth, and life, and receiving the Holy Spirit.
God gave the sinless Jesus over to death for the forgiveness of the sins of the sinner. God sent the Holy Spirit to those who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
The Holy Spirit comes into our heart and revives the dead spirit in it. He helps us re-fill the knowledge of truth again in our heart. When we listen to the word, He helps us understand and believe the Word and He lets us know about the sin, righteousness, and judgment.
He gives us strength to think in truth, speak in truth, and act in truth every moment. When we obey the works of the Holy Spirit who is helping us, we can give birth to spirit through the Holy Spirit.
The untruths such as pride, hatred, anger, envy, adultery, wrongful desire that were planted by the enemy devil and Satan will be removed one by one, and instead the heart will be filled with truth.
If you fill your heart with truth completely, and you recover the image of the first man that God created, then this is when your soul is prosperous.
If you cast off all untruths in your heart and if your soul prospers, in terms of measure of faith, you are at the 4th level of faith. You are no longer a man of flesh that perishes, nor are you a person who is controlled by the soul.
If you have no evil at all in your heart, Satan cannot arouse any untruthful thoughts through your soul. This is like selecting a radio frequency. You will hear different radio broadcasting according to what frequency you have tuned in.
Likewise, the heart of a person whose spirit is the master is on the frequency of the Holy Spirit and the heart of a man whose soul is the master is on the frequency of Satan.
If you fill your heart with truth and if your spirit is the master, you will accept only the teachings of the Holy Spirit, namely truth, and your soul and body will obey your spirit, so that you can have only thoughts and acts of truth.
On the contrary, if your soul is the master, you will think as Satan wants and act out evil.
Let me give you an example. Suppose you have some uncomfortable feelings against a particular person, and he again does something you don't like.
Then, Satan will work through your soul. "He is doing that again. I hate it. I may even hit him." Satan puts into you these thoughts of untruth. At this time, if you have such evil as anger and ill-feelings, you have accepted the thoughts of untruth and get angry or you may even hit that person.
But to those whose souls are prosperous, even though Satan tries to plant thoughts of untruth in them, they don't have any evil in their heart to accept those thoughts of untruthfulness.
They have only love, forgiveness, and compassion instead of hatred and anger, so even though the other person acts very rudely, they only understand, love and accept the other person, following the truth.
Therefore, just as we cannot hear the broadcast if we are not tuned to the frequency, Satan cannot control the mind if you are not listening. People have the Beatitudes and the Love that is in [1 Cor. 13] known as the "Love Chapter", and they also bear the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, too.
As Philippians 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," they have the heart that resembles the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if your souls are prosperous, you will prosper in all respects and you will be healthy. Now, what kinds of blessings will those who are prosperous in everything and healthy, namely those who are at the 4th level of faith receive?
When I explained to you about different dwelling places in the heavenly kingdom, I told you that the difference between the place for the 3rd level of faith and that of the 4th level of faith are completely different, like the difference of heaven and earth.
But it's not only about the heavenly kingdom. Even for the spiritual and material blessings on this earth, they will be so different between those who have gone into spirit and those who have not.
If you go into the 4th level after getting rid of even sins in your heart, you can be called a true child of God. Therefore, you can enjoy the spiritual authority as the children of light.
1 John 5:18 says, "We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him."
The evil one, namely the enemy devil and Satan accuse the men of flesh who live in sins and bring trials and disasters to them. But those who have cast off sins even from their heart do not commit sins, so God can protect them and they will not face any disasters.
Of course, there are trials allowed by God to let them go into the whole spirit, and this is different from trials brought by the enemy devil. Even in trials, they will be prosperous in all things, and people around them can feel that God is with them.
It was the case with Joseph, son of Jacob. By His providence, God allowed Joseph to be sold into Egypt as a slave. But even in trials, God was with him and let him prosper in all respects so that his master acknowledged him and trusted him.
God's providence was also when he was wrongfully accused and was jailed. Genesis 39:23 says, "The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper."
Likewise, God protects the men of spirit so that the evil one cannot even touch them. God leads them Himself and refines them. After the refinement is over, God lifts them up to the most honorable positions.
Also, 1 John 3:21-22 says, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; [22] and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight."
And 1 John 5:14-15 says, "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. [15] And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."
As said, because men of spirit do not commit sins, they have spiritual authority, and even in physical aspects, they are brave before God and receive answers to whatever they ask in prayer.
One of them is the blessing of health. Men of spirit do not suffer from diseases or infirmities. They are always protected by the fiery walls of the Holy Spirit, so viruses or germs that are the cause of diseases cannot even enter into them. Even if they are infected in some way, it will be burned by the fire of the Holy Spirit immediately upon their prayer.
But even before you go into spirit, you experience numerous healing works when you dwell in the spiritual space in faith. There are so many diseases and accidents in this world, but most of our members are not afraid of those things.
The whole world responds very sensitively and is afraid of things like 'SARS' and 'Avian (bird) Flu' but most of our members don't even care about them. It's because they always experience the works of God who is always with our church with His power.
It's the same when you face accidents. Of course, if you keep the proper Sabbath holy and give proper tithes, God protects you every week, so you won't face any disease or accident.
Even if your car is so badly damaged that it has to be scrapped from an accident, even caused by a mistake, in many cases you are protected.
Also, even if you get a minor disease or are slightly injured due to something you have done that is not right before God, if you just repent completely in your heart and receive prayer, you recover immediately.
If before you go into spirit you experience that you are kept healthy by faith, then how much more will it be so when you go into spirit?
You will have nothing to do with diseases or accidents. Even when you get old, you won't become weak. If you go into whole spirit, you will become younger and recover strength and health. In news articles nowadays, I see there are many people who worry about loss of their hair.
Only some males after their 40's used to worry about it, but nowadays, due to environmental pollution and stress, both men and women who are in their early 20's and 30's worry about losing hair.
But if you go into spirit, you don't have to worry about this either. You are always filled with thanks and joy in your heart, so you can overcome any stress, and you will not be affected by environmental things.
When you look at the worldly people, in most cases, even though they are very rich and have authority, they have so many worries and wrinkles on their faces. But if you go into spirit, you have peace of your mind, so even when you get old, you won't have any more wrinkles or white hair.
If you go into whole spirit, even the wrinkles that you have right now will be removed and you will have young and shining skin.
Also, going beyond being healthy themselves, when men of spirit pray for other people, healing works will take place. Since I went into spirit, my family members have never been to hospital due to sickness.
Even if they had minor sickness, they were healed right away when I prayed for them. Of course, to receive perfect power, you have to go into whole spirit, namely the 5th level of faith, but as said in James 5:16, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much," healing works will take place since the 4th level of faith.
At the 4th level of faith, you will receive not only blessings of health, but also everything you ask for in prayer, so you will abundantly receive financial blessings, fame, wisdom, and everything in all other respects as well.
I will continue with these blessings in the next session.
Let me conclude the message. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if you reach the 4th level of faith and become a man of spirit, you will receive blessings not only spiritually but also financially and in all other things on this earth.
But the wealth, fame, authority, or anything they enjoy on this earth is not something important to the men of spirit. At the 4th level of faith, you don't have any desire of the world. You transcend all the honors of this world, love God unconditionally, and live in hope for heavenly kingdom.
Therefore, as the apostle Paul confessed Colossians 1:24, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions," you will rejoice and be glad even if you are thirsty, hungry, and persecuted for your whole life.
It's just that because they can directly feel that God is with them seeing the blessings on this earth, they can rejoice and give thanks once again.
Just as you rejoice and give thanks even more when you see rainbows, they can feel that God is with them through the answers and blessings that God is giving to them, and also, they are even happier because they can testify to the living God and give glory to Him.
I hope you will be satisfied with what you have and give thanks and rejoice always.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will go into spirit and whole spirit quickly, feel the love of God even more deeply, and give glory to Him with His abundant blessing for you. |
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