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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Father God - 32nd Anniversary Sunday morning service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1 John 4: 16 |
Date |
2014-10-12 |
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[Passage]
[1 John 4: 16]
"We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today is the 32nd anniversary of Manmin Central Church. Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has established this church and has led it for the last 32 years. I give thanks to all the families, relatives, and honored guests from within and outside South Korea, who came to celebrate this blessed day together. I give thanks to all the ministers, workers, and members who have been working together since the opening of the church. I also give thanks to all Manmin members who are attending the service on the Internet and via satellite. Today, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will fully enjoy the joy and happiness that come down from above, and furthermore you will receive spiritual and material blessings.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Since Manmin Central Church was established, we have gone through so many things for the last 32 years. Right from the opening, we had such rapid church growth through signs and wonders, and we have been accomplishing world evangelism greatly. Many members received answers and blessings and their faith has been growing up.
But our ways were not just easy. We also went through times of trials where we couldn't see any way out, and we sometimes had to pray in mourning and with hot tears. But the final outcomes were always blessing, and there was always the evidence of God being with us even while we were going through trials. Such evidence only kept on increasing.
All those 32 years of our church history were in the providence of Father God and in the grace of Father God, and it was a process of revealing the glory of God. It was God the Father who established this church and has been leading it to make it become what it is today, and it is also God the Father who will lead us and receive glory through us.
In this sense, the title of today's message is the Father God. I will talk about the Father God who has been making this church what it is today, in three aspects. Through this message, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will understand the heart of God the Father more deeply and be used as precious instruments to accomplish the providence of God.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters, and guests,
Firstly, the Father God who has been leading this church is love itself.
Today's reading passage 1 John 4:16 says, "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
God existed as Light and voice that filled the entire universe. He is glorious being who exists by Himself transcending all space and time. And this God at a certain moment made a plan. He wanted to gain some beings who would understand His heart, share love with Him, and enjoy limitless glory with Him forever.
With this purpose, all things were created and the work of human cultivation began. In the course of human cultivation, God first chose the sons of Israel to show His love to all souls. Through the history of Israel, God wanted all peoples of the world to come to Him by realizing that the nation that reveres and loves God is blessed, that God is full of love, and that they should also revere and love God.
We can sense the delicate love of God if we just consider the process of the Exodus. While they were passing through the wilderness, God covered them with the pillars of cloud during the day and protected with the pillars of fire at night. God gave them manna and quails when they were hungry and God let water gush out from a rock when they were thirsty.
This delicate love of the Father was given not just to sons of Israel but also all children of God. He shows His love again and again so that eventually they will understand the heart of the Father God in their heart, and they will be changed as children who love God from their heart.
So was the case with God's establishing and guiding this church during the past days. It was such great love of God that I who was before death met God. It was God's love that He gave me the calling to be a pastor, let me open this church, and let this church have great revival and become a world-famous church.
God asked me to become a pastor at a relatively old age. He also asked me to preach the holiness gospel and change the sin-stained souls in this evil generation. And to be honest, I was not confident I could do it with my strength. Especially, I could not fulfill with my own strength the command of God telling me to fill up New Jerusalem with completely sanctified souls.
But God did all the work every moment. We started with 13 members including 4 children in 1982, and now it has grown up as a denomination that has more than 10,000 branch churches and millions of members worldwide.
We've had united crusades in the Unitedd States, Peru, Honduras, India, Pakistan, Dubai, Russia, Germany, Japan, Philippines, Uganda, Kenya, DR Congo, and Estonia. Tens or hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people gathered at a time and experienced signs and wonders. They threw away idols and accepted Jesus Christ.
God sent me to Israel to do a ministry of preaching Jesus Christ for three years, which resulted in giving life and strength to Christianity there. God also let us spread the gospel through broadcasting and publishing. GCN TV is broadcasting to 170 countries in 7 languages, around the clock.
When God let us start this TV ministry in 2000, we did not have technology, staff, or money to do it. But now, we spread the holiness gospel and the works of God's power in full HD, leading Christian cultures.
We are also actively publishing. Today, we have 94 books published in Korean. 300 of these books have been translated and published in 56 languages. More than 1,000 books are being translated and getting ready to be published. There are 315 e-books in 47 languages.
WCDN, which is a non-denominational medical doctors' network, has 19 international branches. They prove the power of God medically. Other than these, God let us establish many affiliated organizations such as United Theological Seminary, Manmin International Seminary, Prayer Center, and kindergarten.
Along with such external growth, God has been raising many members and workers who have faith in their heart. And this was not an easy process. We had great trials and crises that seemed impossible to overcome.
But God was always with us even during the trials. After such times passed, we could see why He allowed for us such time through the fruit of blessings. As explained the Father God has guided us with so much endurance to establish this church and our denomination, to let us accomplish world evangelism, and to let the faith of church members grow up.
Dear brothers and sisters, and guests,
Secondly, the Father God who has guided Manmin for the last 32 years, is great.
God created men and the entire universe, and He controls all things in them. His power is limitless, and to Him nothing is impossible. In the Bible, we can see many records of the powerful works that were manifested through men of God. Fire was brought down from heaven, and great rain came down after 3 and half years of drought. Sea was parted, the flow of river was stopped, and undrinkable bitter was changed into sweet water.
Such works of power were also manifested through Jesus and the disciples. Demons were driven out, the disabled were healed, and even the dead were brought back to life, let alone healing of diseases.
This power of such great God was manifested in this church, too. God changed the sea water into potable sweet water, and He even shows divine healing through that water. Furthermore, it is so amazing that sea fish and river fish are living together in this water.
In every important event, He shows us various rainbows and other things to prove that He is with us. Around the summer retreat every year, He sends to us swarms of dragonflies. By this He shows to us the power of God who governs all things and who brought down Ten Plagues.
Through the aurora-like lights that the church members take, He let us feel how beautiful the original light of God is, thereby increasing our heavenly hope and faith. The power of the great God is also shown through weather conditions.
In the summer retreat in 2013, we experienced a scene as if like in a movie. Just like the Red Sea was parted, such thick layers of clouds were split open and the heavy rain stopped. When there needed rain on the contrary, God showed His greatness through rain.
In the India crusade in 2002, they had such a severe drought, but from the moment I set foot in that land it began to rain. In Israel crusade in September 2009, it rained the next day I prayed on the pulpit to quench the long-lasting drought.
In the summer retreat this year, God controlled all the weather conditions to be the best at each moment. Before the retreat, I proclaimed that God would bring down the temperature of the retreat location to be between 22 to 24 degrees Celsius during the retreat. God controlled the weather conditions as I proclaimed. We had the athletic events in a very cool weather in the middle of the day. In the camp fire, it was so cool that we did not sweat although we were jumping and praising God.
But I believe you can experience the power of God through divine healing more directly than other means. Divine healings have been fervently taking place ever since the opening to this day.
Many rare diseases, severe and incurable diseases including AIDS, severe atopic dermatitis and other skin diseases were healed at a moment with God's touch. Many couples had a baby although they were infertile for several years or even decades; fetuses with Down's syndrome were born without it through prayers; so many fetuses' gender was changed through prayer.
So many members were protected even in big traffic accidents where the vehicles had to be scrapped. Other than these, even if I mention only important works of God that happened for the last 32 years, I won't be able to mention them all. As explained, God is such great God who has been guiding this church for the last 32 years.
Thirdly, the Father God is good.
He is God of justice who judges each one's sins, but at the same time He is our great Father who is full of mercy and compassion. Psalm 86:5 says, "For You, LORD, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You." Also, Isaiah 55:7 says, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."
This is the heart of the Father God. Even when the people of Israel committed sins, God gave them numerous chances of forgiveness, showing to them endless mercy and compassion. It is the same for this generation full of sins and evil. In this ever increasingly darkening world, God has established this church to save even just one more soul.
In this generation, people do not listen even if we tell them good things, and God has been showing us the evidence through powerful works with which we can believe. Also, He gave us the holiness gospel so we could cast away evil from our heart and accomplish sincere heart and true faith.
But even though you were attending this church, there were not many of you who actually obeyed God's words. Many of you were stained by sins, not even standing on the rock of faith. But the good Father God gave you chances of repentance again and again.
He opened a way of salvation again for those who could not even be saved. Furthermore, He gave you chances time and again so you could even stand on the rock of faith and go into spirit.
And God gives such chances of repentance not just to the members of our church. Soon, He will send you who have been changed to all over the world. He will let you spread the holiness gospel not just to those who are waiting for salvation with poor heart, but also to those who cannot easily receive salvation.
The recent several years after I finished the Israel mission were the time to create this kind of flow. I had to go through such severe processes of filling up the measure of justice in order to give opportunities of salvation not just to our own members but also corrupt and sin-stained souls in this world.
I also underwent the process to fill up the measures of your faith so you could participate in this ministry and be used as precious instruments. Our church is what it is today because the good God has been patient with us, has forgiven us, and has given us only good things.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters, and guests,
Jeremiah 31:3 says, "The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.'" As said, God has been guiding us with endless love for the last 32 years, and He will also be with us and receive glory more greatly from now on.
He will lead all peoples of the world to the way of salvation through us, and He will continue to lead us to New Jerusalem in heavenly kingdom. I thank you all once again for participating in this ministry of Manmin and for supporting it with your prayers and encouragement. I pray in the name of the Lord that the grace of God will be with you until all the days of human cultivation will be over and you will stand before the throne of glory.
Once again, let us give all thanks and glory to God who is love itself, who is great, and who is good, and who has established this church and is leading it. |
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