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 Sermon > |
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Title |
True Fruit - District, Group, Cell Leaders Devotional Service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 Corinthians 4: 1-2 |
Date |
2009-02-22 |
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Passage
1 Corinthians 4: 1-2
"Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy."
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This service is the 2009 District, Group, and Cell Leaders' Devotional Service.
Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has blessed us to have this devotional service.
I give thanks to all the devotees who have prepared for this service with all your heart, mind, and soul.
This year, God the Father has given you a message with the title, "True Fruit".
All the devotees, please repeat the title of today's message, "True Fruit".
As it is written in today's reading passage from 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, you are servants of Christ. You have the duties of district, group, cell, and assistant cell leaders.
In verse 2 it says that which is required of you workers is faithfulness.
God the Father wants you to be faithful as His servants and bear true fruits.
Through this message, I hope you will realize deep in your heart what kind of faithfulness and fruit God really wants from you.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that, you will give glory to God bearing precious fruits both in material and spiritual things during this 'Year of Blessing, 2009'.
Main
Dear devotees and other church members, what is the true fruit that God the Father really wants?
First, it is the fruit of the heart with which you love God the Father truly.
You have come to receive your titles and duties because you love the Father God.
You wanted to dedicate yourself in an attempt to pay back the grace and love you received. You have become workers of the Lord while trying to pay back the grace you received by giving what you have.
And according to the faith and experience that each of you has shown, you have become district, group, and cell leaders.
And in fulfilling your duties, how much of the love for God the Father do you still have that you had in the beginning?
As you gain more experiences and your positions become higher, your love for God the Father has to grow more fervent.
But are there any among you who care for something else more than loving God the Father?
Here, 'something else' does not necessarily refer to just the good things of the world.
You have to check yourself as to whether or not you consider your position and fame of being the leader to be more important.
Or haven't you worked thinking that you have to at least fulfill such duties in leadership positions in order to go to New Jerusalem?
Of course, you should consider your duty very precious and also look up to heavenly rewards.
But, what God the Father really wants from you above all else is your love for Him.
He wants you to consider your duty precious because you love the Father God so much.
He wants you to long for New Jerusalem because you love the Father so much and in there you can meet Him.
The duties or the rewards are external and seen from the outside.
But those who truly love God the Father will consider the unseen yet true things rather than the things that are seen from the outside.
If you contemplate and pray about the reasons why you have been given the duty of a district leader, a group leader, or a cell leader; and what the Father God wants from you through such a duty; and what you have to achieve and seek through your duty, then, you will be able to receive the answer to a question concerning 'the reasons why'. Then, what do you think the answer is?
Above all else, it is the prosperity of your soul. It is to enlarge the vessel of your heart, and increase your generosity and love.
Eventually, the most important thing is to become a man of Whole Spirit who resembles the Lord. Fulfilling the duties given is just one of the tools to make it happen.
Those who truly love God clearly understand what is primary and what is secondary and act according to it. Namely, they know that the primary point is the prosperity of their soul and the fulfilling the duty is only secondary in importance.
Then, what do you have to do for your soul to prosper? Your flesh has to be put to death and spirit has to be born through the Spirit everyday.
To die everyday to make your soul prosper, this is spiritual faithfulness. This spiritual faithfulness is more important and it comes before faithfulness for your duty itself.
You can also bear the fruit of love in your heart to truly love God the Father, through this spiritual faithfulness.
When you find your shortcomings, you acknowledge them without hesitation and repent of it. This is what Rev. Myong ho Chung, the president of Holiness denomination in Africa is doing.
Rev. Myong ho Chung is also used by God so greatly, but if he finds out any shortcomings through the word, he immediately sends a letter of repentance.
He even knelt down and repented before his subordinate missionaries.
It's because he understands very well what God the Father wants from him.
It is to become a perfect and true son.
Because he loves God with a true heart, he also wants to become more perfect as the person that God wants him to be.
It's the same with you.
Fulfilling the duty is of course important, but the most important thing is that you love God. Those who really love God the Father will become good and give love resembling the Father God.
But isn't there any of you who is causing uncomfortable situations around you because you are more concerned about fulfilling the duty itself?
How much do you look around you, and how much do you seek the benefit of others? You should never offend or hurt the feelings of others or make them stumble by not understanding their heart.
You should not insist on your own opinion with your self-centered framework and righteousness and thus give hard time to others.
And after such a thing happens, you shouldn't say, "It happened that way while I was trying to fulfill my duty in the leadership position."
This proves that you consider only the outward title, and you don't understand the will of God in giving you the duty. After all, it shows that you are not bearing the fruit of heart to love God the Father truly.
In the army, sometimes the soldiers say, "Let's take off the rank and just fight about it."
In the same way, if you take off all your titles and measure who has the most magnitude of love for God the Father, what would it be like?
God the Father sees the heart of men, and He doesn't give you additional points on a score sheet just because your position is high.
But rather, the higher your position, the more is required of you, and thus God may be more disappointed.
Therefore, I urge you to bear the fruit in your heart of loving God the Father truly.
This aroma of heart of loving God truly is the first true fruit of heart that God wants you to bear.
Dear devotees and church members, the second true fruit that God wants of you is the fruit of blessing that you bear by receiving love from God the Father.
God loved us first even when we were sinners.
Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
We didn't do anything to deserve to receive the grace of salvation, but God first gave us His great love.
He sacrificed His beloved son to save us.
We didn't even know there was such great love, but God met us first and forgave all our sins.
We didn't have anything that was lovely within us, but God the Father still gave us a great and an amazing love.
Proverbs 8:17 says, "I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me."
God the Father loved you even when you didn't know God. He gave you the blessing of salvation.
If you love this God who is full of love, God shows greater love to you.
Namely, He makes you prosperous in all things.
He blesses you when you come in and when you go out.
This is the promise of God and it is the attribute of God showing He is love itself.
That is why God always searches for who can be really loved by Him by loving Him truly.
I hope you cell leaders will be people who are like this. I urge you group leaders and district leaders to be people who can be loved by Him by loving Him.
To the extent that you bear the fruit of the heart to love God, you will receive God's love and bear the fruit of blessings.
Recently, many church members testify that they received blessings by giving the whole tithe and keeping the Lord's Day holy.
They showed the little bit of evidence of loving God by keeping His basic commandments, and God gave them blessings as the evidence that He loves them.
I believe you devotees have been keeping these basic commandments.
If you just love God a little more than you do now, there are so many blessings that have been prepared by God for you.
For example, why don't you try to cast away a certain thing of the flesh with your love for God?
Then, the dimension of God's blessings on you will be completely different. Your prosperity will be different, and the speed of your problems being solved will be different.
Suppose that before you sowed 10 and harvested 15 with your labor, but now you can even harvest 30 or 60 times that is sown.
This is the fruit of blessing borne by receiving love from God.
Some unbelievers work hard and receive blessings.
But God's children should receive blessings from God the Father. The blessings should come upon them as the evidence that they love God truly and God loves them.
Especially, you devotees are working hard for the salvation of other souls.
Some of you leave your house in the morning, visit and take care of the members all day and go back home in the evening.
But at home you cannot take a rest. You are busy preparing the dinner for your family.
Even after that you cannot take a rest. You come to church to attend the Daniel prayer meeting.
It's the same with male cell, group, and district leaders.
You work hard during the day, and during the short spare time after work, you visit your members and gather in the cell worship services.
You are working so hard like this, so why wouldn't God the Father want to bless you?
If there are sons and daughters who give out the aroma of true love for the Father, He will certainly bless them abundantly.
I hope more of you will bear this fruit of blessings, giving glory to God with your testimonies.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become great joy to God the Father who sees His children being prosperous.
Dear devotees, the true fruit that God wants, thirdly, is the fruit of salvation of souls borne by your deeds accomplished through spiritual hearts.
If you truly love God and receive His love, you will have revival in the area of your charge. God will lead the people to salvation in the cell, group, and district.
Psalm 3:8 says, "Salvation belongs to the LORD; Your blessing be upon Your people!"
Jonah 2:9 says, "Salvation is from the LORD."
John 6:44 says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day."
The fruit of salvation of souls is borne by God.
Then, does that mean we workers don't have to do anything? Of course not.
With the heart of parents who are looking for lost children, we have to make known to people who do not know that the real Father of their spirit is God.
We have to let them know that God alone is the Father who gives the eternal life and true blessings.
And when they come to God, we have to prepare a spiritual resting place for them so that they can feel at home.
We have to accept them and care for them with warm love so that the wounds of their hearts can be healed and their hardened hearts will be melted.
To the extent that we workers are ready this way, God the Father works on the people.
God gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit and changes their heart.
He leads them to salvation.
When God sees a worker who has true spiritual love, God sends a soul to that worker.
God knows which worker in which cell will not give up on any soul and lead that soul to salvation.
God the Father has the most earnest desire to save as many souls as possible.
Therefore, when there is a worker who has spiritual love, God the Father can send many souls to her.
But some workers have worked more with physical effort than spiritual love.
In that case, they visit the members and preach the gospel, and they may have some increase in the number in their charge.
But, the souls in those groups do not really grow well in spirit.
They attend church at the urging of the leader, but their hearts do not open easily. Also, since they are not supplied with spiritual love needed, they finally leave the church.
God the Father wants all you workers to become great vessels to accept all kinds of people.
He doesn't want you to give hard times to others with your self-righteousness and frameworks, but to save them with warm love and good deeds.
God sends the souls to those workers who have prepared a spiritual resting place for them.
That is how you can bear the fruit of revival.
This is the third fruit that God the Father wants you to bear.
Conclusion
Dear devotees, and church members, I talked to you about the three true fruits that God desires of you.
First is the fruit of your heart to love God truly. Second is the fruit of blessings that you bear by receiving the love of God the Father.
Third is the fruit that is borne in the saving many souls by acting with a spiritual heart.
John 15:1-2 says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."
If you really want to bear the fruit, you should cleanse yourself first. This is the proof that you truly love God.
If you want to bear more fruit, you should become one with God by loving Him more.
John 15:5 says, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."
You cannot bear true fruit just with your own diligence and effort.
The fruit given by God the Father is true and perfect fruit.
God the Father surely shows the evidence of His love to those who love Him.
This promise is sure and never changing.
Therefore, I hope all of you will love God the Father more perfectly.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will also bear abundant fruit of blessings and fruit of saving souls in this year of blessing.
[AMEN] |
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