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 Sermon > |
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Title |
The Heart of the Spirit - 2011 Light & Salt Mission Devotional |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 John 1:5 |
Date |
2011-05-13 |
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Scripture
1 John 1:5
"This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is 2010 Light & Salt Mission's Devotional Service.
The Light & Salt Mission consists of those who are engaged in the transportation and restaurant businesses.
That's why they give their devotional service during the Friday All Night Service.
I give all thanks and glory to God the Father who blessed us to have this devotional service.
I extend my thanks to those who prepared for this service with all their hearts, minds, and souls.
Dear devotees.
The title of the message that God has given to you this year is "The Heart of the Spirit."
Devotees, please repeat after me! "The heart of the spirit"
You all wish to have the heart of the spirit, don't you?
You should, if you are a child of God.
Then, what is the reason that is God giving you this particular message?
It is to show you how great the true peace and joy are that those who accomplished the heart of the spirit can enjoy.
Romans 8:6 says, "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace."
If you have the heart of the spirit, you have peace and joy all the time because you have only thoughts that are spiritual in nature.
On the other hand, if you have the heart of the flesh, it is natural you come to have fleshly thoughts.
The fleshly thoughts cause your heart to become troubled and make you feel depressed.
Our God the Father wishes that the children of faith can live in joy all the time.
Especially, since the members of the Light and Salt Mission must closely interact with worldly people, He truly desires the members of the Light & Salt Mission to be able to continually experience this joy and happiness.
He wishes that, even if the actions and attitudes of stubborn customers may be irritating, or if you are mistreated by your superiors, you will not be troubled in heart but remain in peace.
The secret to become like that is to accomplish the heart of the spirit.
I pray in the name of the Lord that all the devotees and members of the church may make bread of life with this message well and acquire true peace, happiness and joy.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
To accomplish the heart of the spirit, first of all, you should not have fleshly thoughts.
The more you accept more fleshly thoughts, the stronger the flesh becomes.
When the attributes of the sinful nature are combined with the body it is then referred to as 'flesh'.
Such sinful attributes are hatred, envy, arrogance, greed, and adulterous mind.
Each of these sinful attributes is also called, "things of the flesh."
As you cast off these 'things of the flesh' from your heart one by one, you can have the heart of the spirit.
However, if you keep on inputting the fleshly thoughts, the things of the flesh will not be cast off, but they will be strengthened and grow greater instead.
Therefore, to accomplish the heart of the spirit, first off, you should cut yourself off from such fleshly thoughts.
When a fleshly thought comes across your mind, you should not allow for the thought to progress.
Perhaps you can think, "No! That thought is bad and unacceptable." And let it be stopped right there.
Some customers may abuse the phrase, "A customer is always right."
They misuse the fact that service industry is supposed to consider the customers' perspective and put great value on kindness.
I heard that there are many who mistreat or despise salespeople in the marketplace and they rudely talk down to them.
They ask for refunds for products that they have used or purchased a long time ago just because they no longer like them.
Even though they break products by their mistake, they ask for refunds giving the excuse that the product was defective.
How would you treat such customers?
You may serve them with a smile even if they come up with some ridiculous request.
But even if there is a smile on your face, do you still have a form of ugliness in your heart?
Do you have a sense of condemnation toward such customers?
Or, do their spiteful words wound you and emotionally drain you?
"I hate those people for making me suffer. What a pain they are! These kinds of thoughts belong to the class of fleshly thoughts.
Fleshly thought is the result of evil in the heart.
The more you have the fleshly thoughts, the worse it becomes and the more you suffer.
Once you are caught in the fleshly thought, Satan never loses such an opportunity.
Satan causes such thoughts to come upon you back to back, one right after the other.
Then the thoughts are developed into greater evil and more negative expression.
Therefore, if a fleshly thought hits upon you, try to stop thinking about it on the spot.
And then, you should remember the word you have heard so far, make full use of goodness and truth, and change it into a spiritual thought.
For example, someone speaks ill of you, and it makes you come up with a sad and sorrowful thought. Then think like this.
'I'm actually a princess of heaven, but I'm under training to experience relativity.
I am experiencing how bad evil is. I am under this training to be able to realize the value of the truth and how to choose goodness.
It was just a test to check how well I have been trained so far to meet such a customer.
Although I didn't get the perfect score this time, if I come across with the same test, I will surely get the perfect score."
If you can think like this, how good will it be!
Then, you will not dislike or hate those customers who have no common sense.
You may even consider them 'good ol' boys' who help you check your heart.
If you can change fleshly thought into the spiritual thought like this, you will receive strength to go on toward the spirit again.
By the way, even if you can change your thoughts into spiritual thoughts, it doesn't mean your heart becomes the heart of the spirit.
You should realize the root of the fleshly thought which initially hit upon you.
If a thoughts of spitefulness or dislike hit upon you, it proves that hatefulness remains in your heart.
If you are troubled at the despising words, it means you still have pride in you.
Furthermore, it may be the proof of your arrogance.
You should pray to cast off from your heart the evil which is the root of your fleshly thoughts.
If you don't have any form of evil in your heart, no matter how harmful the things others do to you, an evil feeling will not arise.
No fleshly thought will come upon you.
And thus, your heart will be in peace all the time.
Furthermore, you can even understand those who do harm to you, and harbor them in your heart with the wisdom of goodness.
If you accomplish the spiritual goodness like this, the worldly people cannot ignore you or despise you.
To the extent you accomplish the heart of the spirit, you will emanate a strong spiritual light, and thus the forces of darkness cannot come close to you.
If someone approaches you with evil intention, and you have accomplished the heart of the spirit, he cannot act upon the evil of his heart.
He is overwhelmed by the authority of your spiritual light.
I pray in the name of the Lord that the Light & Salt Mission members may accomplish the heart of the spirit for sure and manage your life with the heart-full of heavenly happiness.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
To accomplish the heart of spirit, secondly, you should not lock yourself inside your own limitations.
I said already that, to accomplish the heart of the spirit, you should first cut yourself off from the fleshly thoughts, and pray to pull out the untruth which is their root.
Many people become exhausted during this procedure.
They become like an on and off switch, and eventually become warn out.
The reason is that they try to cast off the evil from their hearts through only their effort and strength.
However, it is not an easy job.
If the evil in the heart were as visible as a weed in the yard, it would be easy to pull it out. But it's invisible.
There is no doubt that it is there because it keeps coming up. You have no idea how much of it is left, and until you do, you should pray.
And therefore, there are quite a few people who meet with their own limitations, and say, "I can't make it."
"I'm not in a situation where I can freely attend Daniel Prayer Meetings, so I can't go. I'm too deeply involved in the worldly things. I don't have good heart and I don't have a good character."
In this way people set up their own limits. Then think they cannot make it. Then, they can never have the heart of the spirit.
Then, what should you do?
Even though there is a limit to the effort you can make, even though your will is weak, there is no limit to the Holy Spirit.
Besides, the Holy Spirit has the power to destroy the evil in your heart.
You should believe that this Holy Spirit is dwelling in you.
Depend on Him all the time.
It is difficult to discover and pull out the evil only with your own strength and effort.
By the help and power of the Holy Spirit, however, you can discover the evil and get rid of it.
That's why the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 10:27, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."
Let me briefly explain the background of these words.
A young rich man came to Jesus, and said to Jesus, "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
Then, Jesus told him to keep the commandments.
Then, the young man said, "I have kept all these things from my youth up."
Then, Mark 10:21 says, "Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.""
But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, because he owned much property.
After this, Mark 10:23-25 says, "And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!" It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.""
Some say that 'the eye of the needle' referred to a very small gate of the castle.
At night, the gates of the castle were closed.
At night in an urgent situation when the gate needed to be opened, this 'eye of a needle' was opened.
This gate was very small so that a camel could barely pass through it.
If the camel was loaded, everything would be taken down from the camel for it to be able to pass through the gate.
Then, the Lord said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Just as a camel has to be unloaded, the rich would have to be able to set aside his possessions, but it is not easy.
There are people who regard authority or honor not only wealth as if it were their life.
To accept the gospel, they should have a heart to give up what belongs to the world.
But they love the world and don't give up, and thus they may not reach full salvation.
With this in mind, what Jesus said was that it would be difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Then, His disciples were alarmed, and said, "Then who can be saved?"
Then, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."
That's right.
It is not easy for the rich to give up their possessions.
But, they can do it, if God gives them grace.
If they receive grace so that they can believe the glory in Heaven in their hearts, their attachment to the treasures of the world will disappear. .
For example, the reason you are able to give the whole tithes is because God the Father gave you grace.
Before receiving this grace, it is difficult to give one tenth of your income.
It is even more difficult when the expected expenses are bigger than the income.
Yet still, when you have the faith to give tithe, it is by the grace of God that it can be done.
Since God gave you the grace, you came to believe that it is not loss, but benefit to give the tithe.
Therefore, you've been able to cheerfully give tithe not begrudgingly or under compulsion.
Likewise, when God gives the grace, people can give up their possessions.
Here, 'their possessions' not only refers to material things.
It can also refer to those invisible things in their heart such as greed, selfish motives, hatred, envy, jealousy, adulterous mind, pride, arrogance, hot-temper, and craftiness.
Such 'possessions' can be easily cast off when God gives grace and strength.
Don't lock the power of God within the limits that you set for yourself.
"I cannot give it up by myself, but I can when the Holy Spirit helps me."
"I cannot, but God can do everything."
Please believe this.
Moreover, if you receive the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you can understand what cannot be understood with the understanding of man.
The Holy Spirit helps your narrow vision widen so that you can see greater and bigger things.
And thus, you will have the graciousness to understand even those who speak and behave with no common sense.
Therefore, you can have the heart of the spirit with which you can love all the people, understand them, and forgive them.
So please, if you long for the heart of the spirit, always depend on the Holy Spirit.
Don't judge others, and don't lock yourself inside your own self-created limitations; I hope you can take a look at yourself from the perspective of the Holy Spirit.
Moreover, I pray in the name of the Lord that the Holy Spirit may help you accomplish the heart of the spirit easily.
Dear devotees.
To accomplish the heart of the spirit, you should always rejoice, and give thanks in all situations.
Brothers and sisters! Please remember this well.
To rejoice over something that is minor and give thanks for it becomes the foundation in accomplishing the heart of the spirit.
The heart of the spirit is not far from you.
As you rejoice with a small thing and give thanks for it, you will come closer to the heart of the spirit to that extent.
Please give thanks not only when you are blessed greatly, but also for something that is small.
For example, being able to eat well and to sleep well are also the reasons for thanksgiving.
Can you work freely since you are healthy; it is also the reason for thanksgiving.
You should be thankful for being able to see, hear, and speak.
On the other hand, if you complain and grumble about things, you distance yourself farther and farther from the heart of the spirit.
"Why was I born in this shabby place? Why did I grow up like this? Why is my character like this? What if I had been born in a better family?..."
If you have complains in your heart like this, and if you put blame on others or on your environment, it is difficult to have the heart of the spirit.
Those who are irrecoverably stuck and bound by the past are not wise.
The past is the past; what is important is the present and the future.
Even though you were poor and unfortunate, if you plant the seed of joy and thanks from now on, you can welcome the great future.
"I met the good shepherd, and I was led to this church of life. Thank You! I am thankful for being able to live a believing life. I'm grateful for being able to come to the temple of God and to pray until late in the evening like this."
Always make a profession of thanks first, and offer your prayer of thanksgiving.
And the seeds of thanks which are planted in your heart will bear great fruit of thanks.
Moreover, if your heart becomes full of thanks like this, you can have fun while circumcising your heart.
You can have fun in doing it instead of feeling that it is hard or difficult.
The work of plowing a field and planting seeds is hard and exhausting in a physical sense.
By just imagining the harvest from the field and the happiness the family can enjoy, however, a farmer believes it's worth doing it.
He will be thankful for having a field, and for being healthy. He will give thanks to heaven that gives sunlight and rain.
Likewise, I hope all the devotees can also rejoice and give thanks in all situations.
I pray in the name of the Lord that the fruit of spirit may be borne abundantly in your heart.
Dear devotees.
In this message, I explained three steps to accomplish the heart of the spirit.
First off, you should block fleshly thoughts so that the flesh cannot receive strength.
And then, you should overcome your limitations and depend on the Holy Spirit all the time.
Lastly, you should plant the seeds of joy and thanks in any situation.
God the Father loves you.
He created you in His own image, and He redeemed you by paying with the blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus.
In addition to all of this, if you can accomplish the heart of the spirit and resemble God the Father all the more, how much more love do you think He will pour out on you?
I wish for the devotees and brothers and sisters to make bread well from this message and quickly accomplish the heart of the spirit.
And then, you will live your life in true happiness and joy even on this earth.
May you enter New Jerusalem and enjoy the ultimate happiness together with God the Father forever and ever, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray! |
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