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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Blessing |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Deuteronomy 28: 1-6 |
Date |
2009-07-05 |
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Passage
[Deuteronomy 28: 1-6]
Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. [2] "All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God: [3] "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. [4] "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. [5] "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. [6] "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today is the Feast of Harvest Sunday. Let us give all thanks and glory to God who has been with us, Manmin, and blessed us wonderfully during the first half of this year.
Exodus 23:16 first part says, "Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest."
Then, He told them the meaning of it saying, "of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field;"
In Israel about the time when they finish harvesting barley they begin to harvest the wheat.
The Feast of Harvest is a festivity when they give thanks for the new harvest of the wheat.
The people gave sacrifices to God with both animal sacrifices and with the bread made from the first harvest.
The Feats of Harvest of today is the day to remember the meaning of the Feast of Harvest.
Of course, most of you are not farmers, but in spiritual sense, everyone harvests the fruit given by God.
God has provided us with the things to eat and dress and the place to live in for the first half of this year.
He gave us health and also happiness at home. He gave us spiritual fruits such as the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Today, the Feast of Harvest, is the day to give thanks for all this grace and give glory to God looking back on the first half of this year.
When we rejoice before God and give thanks and glory to Him on this day of festivities, He will not just simply observe and accept the glory.
He accepts the aroma of our (hearts) and gives us overflowing blessings.
On this Feast of Harvest, let us review the kinds of blessings God has given to us during the first half of this year.
Let us give thanks for His abundant blessings and start the second half of the year with the expectations for the greater blessings.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will keep marching on with faith and happiness until the end of this year, and further, until the Lord comes back.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the first half of the year of blessing 2009 has already passed.
We were very busy working and the time has really flown.
God the Father must have been very busy too, giving us so many blessings.
Then, what kinds of blessings has He given to us?
First, He gave us the blessing of our soul's prosperity.
The greatest blessing for God's children is the prosperity of their soul.
What does prosperity of soul mean? It means we become true children of God.
It is to become those children who resemble God and who understand His heart and obey Him.
God began human cultivation because He wanted this kind of children.
But today, so many people disobey and stand against God let alone the fact that they do not acknowledge Him.
There are those who say they know the love of the cross of Jesus and believe in Him, but many of them still live in darkness.
What would be the end of such a life?
When they die on this earth their spirit will be thrown into the eternal death in the fire of Hell.
God has called us from among these people.
With the precious blood of Jesus Christ, He cleansed us of our sins that had the smell of death.
He did not just save us to make us heavenly citizens.
He called each of you to the church of life and guided you so that your soul could prosper.
He gave us the explanations of the 66 books of the Bible through the Holy Spirit and filled our hearts with the truth.
To let us live by His will, God raised us in such a way that we would not only cast off sins in action but also sinful natures of the heart through the help and power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:6 says, "knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;" As written, we are no longer slaves to sins.
Romans 8:13 says, "...for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
As said, God has guided us to cast off even the minutest deeds of the body and traces of flesh and long for the whole spirit.
Especially, during the first half of the year, God literally poured down His grace on us to bring our souls to prosper.
In the short period of half-a-year, He gave us two big days of blessings to resolve our fundamental problems.
Namely, on the days of blessings in March and May, God let us look back on ourselves thoroughly.
He let us check how prosperous our souls are; and how close we are to becoming the children of God whom God really wants.
He has illuminated the depths of our hearts to let us discover the root causes of the problems that formed the wall of sin between God and us.
He also gave us the grace of repentance so that we can demolish such thick walls of sins that cannot be torn down by ourselves.
He let us realize and turn back from even small things that we did against the word of God.
He changed the depth of our fundamental hearts to love God.
Through these opportunities to receive blessings, those who had been continually trying hard could become more like true children of God.
God renewed hope for New Jerusalem and renewed determination for those who were losing the strength of their determination to become true children.
God the Father wants all our members to become blameless, perfect, and holy children and enter into New Jerusalem.
With this kind of earnest desire, beginning this year He has been personally giving us praise songs.
As we meditate on the lyrics of these songs, we can realize what kind of heart we should have, what words should come from our lips, and what deeds we must have as true children of God.
Namely, whenever we sing those songs, we will understand the shortcut to the prosperity of our souls.
Our hearts are purified, our lips are sanctified, and we receive strength and grace to overcome this world.
God the Father has been guiding us with this kind of delicate love during the first half of this year.
Many of us have gained new strength through such love and we are cultivating the spirit and whole spirit.
Many of our young students who are living in this world full of temptations have gained the strength to cut off the worldly things and live in the Lord.
Also, among the laymen members with whom you usually fellowship, there are many who are coming into spirit and whole spirit.
Through their examples, I believe you gained confidence and faith that you can also really do it.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will give thanks to the Father again and again for blessing us and letting our souls prosper.
The second blessing God has given us during the first half of the year is the blessing of health.
Namely, they are blessings in material aspects.
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."
As said, God blessed us in all things and in our health as our souls prospered.
Namely, as your souls prospered by resolving the fundamental problems, He blessed you individually, at your home, and places of work.
Not only one or two things, but He gave us comprehensive blessings.
Many kinds of complicated problems were resolved.
You received the answers to your heart's desires.
As we look back on the first half of this hear, we can realize that prior to the day of blessing God had guided us to prepare our vessels to receive the blessings.
Through the New Year's service and the Lunar New Year, He taught us in detail what we have to do to receive blessings.
Also, from late last year through early this year, God taught us the secrets to receiving blessings through the sermons on the whole tithe and offerings.
When you obeyed the Word, the sales increased in your shops, you received raises in pay. You heard many testimonies of such blessings.
The amazing blessings promised in today's reading passage are being given in your daily lives.
Deuteronomy 28:1 says, "Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth."
It says those who keep the word of God will be blessed in the city and in the country, and you are blessed wherever you are.
As said, "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl," your children, places of work, and all your possessions received blessings.
As written, "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out," you are blessed whether you are in the house or outside, namely you are blessed in whatever you do.
Namely, you receive comprehensive blessings.
Many of you testify that as you resolved the root causes of the problems through the days of blessing and dwell in the Word of God, you have received comprehensive blessings.
Then, what specific kinds of blessings has God given you?
Today, there are more and more diseases, but God healed you of many incurable diseases and kept you healthy.
He gave you financial blessings to your families and work places.
There are many of you who say your sales increased, you got pay-raises or promotions despite the downturn of the world economy.
Various life problems that you couldn't solve by yourselves were resolved including the problems with your children.
Families were evangelized and came to have peace.
Our students received desire to study hard and their grades went up.
You profess your life was full of sorrow and worries before, but now you are filled with joy and thanks.
We are just so thankful that God made our souls prosperous, and how much more are we thankful that we received such material blessings, too?
God the Father says He has given all these blessings to everyone fairly.
He blessed everyone, even newcomers to the church and those who have weak faith, according to their trust in the Word and their deeds of faith.
I hope you will give back abundant thanks to God for He has blessed us so abundantly.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the third blessing God has given us is the blessing on our church.
In the beginning of the year God gave our church a word of hope.
He said this year 2009 was going to be the year to begin to reap what we had been sowing.
And we could actually feel that God has been working to make the world our parish during the first half of the year.
For example, God has recently rearranged the organization of our denomination.
He said it was a process to lay a firm foundation to connect the whole world with Manmin, having our church and myself at the center.
We have already grown up to become a world-wide denomination, and we need an organization to befit it.
Also, we will grow to a size that we cannot even imagine now, so we have to prepare for it, too.
Just in the last half of the year, there were so many pastors' conferences and handkerchief crusades all over the world.
We had handkerchief crusades wherever we have our branch churches, and we could feel the power in the handkerchiefs that became much greater.
In countries where we don't have branch churches, the local people who had contact with us asked for conferences and crusades.
Particularly, we finished 11th of our mission trips to Israel for our evangelistic outreach this year.
As a result, many churches and pastors in Israel, the end of earth, became one family with Manmin.
Last May, we had an ultra orthodox Jew who visited our church with an Israeli pastor.
In Israel, there are many people who want to help us with our ministry.
For example, on the day of blessing, some high officials of Israeli government received answers to their hearts' desires through my prayer transcending space and time.
One of the major blessings of this year is this.
It is that many people have come in contact with us who can help us with not only our evangelism in Israel but also the construction of Canaan Sanctuary and the Grand Sanctuary.
Of course we always had fellowship with and visitation of political, religious, and business leaders from many countries.
But our relationship with these people is more special this year.
God says He is connecting us with those who can substantially help us as the construction of the Canaan Sanctuary and the Grand Sanctuary is getting closer.
There were many people who came to know about our vision and wanted to participate.
Some of them can really provide us with substantial help with their positions and abilities.
God is connecting us with our helpers for the Canaan Sanctuary as well.
Before his son, Solomon had grown up, David prepared many materials that were needed for the building of the Temple.
He prepared the building materials and also gathered the technicians who could do the job.
Similarly, God has also prepared everything that is needed for the construction of the Canaan Sanctuary.
And He has been waiting until the faith of our workers and members have reached a certain level.
But He was not just waiting.
As I explained the first blessing above, He let our souls prosper.
He increased our faith so that we can accept what He has prepared for us.
Also, He trained our workers so they would have the capability to handle the things on the actual field.
Now, as the time is nearing and the justice is fulfilled, He is showing us one by one the construction site and our helpers.
When He reveals to us more of the things that He has prepared, we will only be filled with greater emotion.
What is the reason that God can give our church such blessings?
It is because Manmin has always been sowing the seeds of faith in obedience to the word of God.
We have always endured with goodness in any situation.
Such times fulfilled the justice of God to let us receive great blessings.
And He will unfold even more amazing things in His plan and justice.
So many countries are suffering from economic recession, conflicts, natural disasters, environmental pollution, lack of natural resources, diseases, and so on.
In these times, the leaders of the world are having troubles with the problems that cannot be solved by men's knowledge or ability.
But when they hear about me and our church, they will consult with us to solve those problems.
I will be visiting many countries, meet with the world leaders and pray for their problems.
Then, you will see many of their problems being resolved by the power of God.
You have already witnessed it in the DR Congo Crusade with Prayer Center Presider, Boknim Lee.
You also saw what kinds of fruits were borne by the power of God manifested and by my prayers for that country and the President during the 2006 DR Congo crusade.
So many people received salvation and healings, and since then, you heard that they have continuous economic development and the conflicts have died out in the country.
Numerous people accepted the Lord and glorified God greatly after receiving healing of incurable diseases.
Many influential people of the country who witnessed the blessings on their country asked for prayers.
God the Father has called each of you to this blessed church.
Thus, I hope you will more vigorously run your race of faith with the hope that you will be a worker who will be prepared for God.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in this year of blessing 2009, I believe you are filled with thanks for the fact that you are members of Manmin.
In John 14:14 Jesus promised us, "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."
The first half of 2009 was a time during which what we asked for was wonderfully fulfilled.
Manmin has been asking everything in the name of the Lord and only according to the will of God.
We have tried our best to become God's true children.
And that is the reason why you and this church received amazing blessings in body and spirit.
Of course, until all these blessings came upon us, God the Father has guided each of our steps.
Through the Helper the Holy Spirit, He showed us great works of God's power to set us, Manmin, high above all nations.
On this Feast of Harvest, I hope you will understand about all the blessings God gave to us and give heart-felt thanks to God.
Also, give thanks not only for your personal blessings but also for the blessings given to your family and your departments and mission groups.
When we, Manmin, pray with faith for the salvation of souls and the glory of God, the Lord will do anything.
Put your faith on this fact and try harder during the remainder of this year.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you may completely receive all the blessings prepared for you and run towards New Jerusalem, the best blessing for you.
[Amen] |
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