Passage
[Numbers 6: 22 -27]
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ “So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Recently the whole world became nervous because of the swine flu. Some people died of it.
How thankful we should be that as believers in our God we can live without fear of diseases!
Each time a disease rages that has no scientific or medical cure, those in the world who don’t believe in God can only sense fear.
Yet they are not aware of the fact that an even more fearful presence than disease exists and is spreading throughout the world.
It is the spiritual disease that causes spiritual death, it is the sin of the heart.
2 Timothy 3:2-5 describes the end time as follows: “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.”
Before this description, 2 Timothy 3:1 says, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.”
Namely, at the end time, people will suffer from the pains of sin.
God created mankind to give them His love and to receive their love.
But as love disappears from this mankind, their life-energy also disappears.
Even though there is so much knowledge in the world, as the truth leaks out from their hearts and with their hearts darkened, they don’t see the right way.
They try to fill their emptiness with pleasure, but this is same as drinking sea water when they are thirsty. Pleasure will only give them more thirst and emptiness.
During this time while you are listening to the sermon, I hope you will check your spiritual health to see whether such a spiritual sickness may have infected you.
If you find any sign of it, I urge you to root out the origin, the fundamental problem so you can be healthy both in body and spirit.
I hope that none of you will have anything to do with any kind of spiritual or physical illnesses.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will also be able to deliver the God of love and God the healer to those who are suffering from diseases and sins.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let me give you the fourth question for you to consider and diagnose your fundamental problem.
Do you rejoice always? Paul the apostle urged the Thessalonian church to rejoice always in 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
After going through frequent hardships, he realized that it is the will of God for believers.
Do you always rejoice as believers in God?
I am not saying you must unconditionally rejoice.
Before the apostle Paul urged them to rejoice always, he first gave them fullness of Spirit by vividly describing the day of the Lord’s coming, the day of resurrection.
You can rejoice always because you are waiting for the Lord who is coming, and because you have the hope for the beautiful kingdom of Heaven.
But sometimes I found some people who do not rejoice because of their conditions such as financial difficulty; lack of education and ability; lack of health; lack of peace in family; and persecutions, etc.
But any kind of difficulty cannot pose any problem to us if we just have faith. We can always rejoice.
The beggar Lazarus in Luke chapter 16 lived such a wretched life.
Verses 20-21 says, “And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.”
But Lazarus was saved because he believed in God. However, the rich man regularly dressed in purple and fine linen, and joyously lived in splendor every day. But he did not receive salvation and fell into the Grave to suffer.
Which one do you think is more blessed? Obviously Lazarus is the blessed one. Therefore, we can always rejoice just by the fact that we are saved, even though we are living like Lazarus.
We will always rejoice with the hope of resurrection and hope of heavenly kingdom if we have true faith. This is what children of God should do, too.
When the family is having a difficult time, those children who love their parents will try to show their faces more brightly to their parents.
We say we love God. But, if we feel that even little things are too hard then we cannot please God.
Of course, God will not just let His beloved children live like Lazarus. God can solve any kind of problem. He always wants to give good things to His children.
It’s just that we do not experience the power of God because we begin to grieve and complain in difficult situations.
Even in a situation in which we cannot rejoice, the situation will change if we do rejoice.
The light will come and the darkness will thus go away if we truly rejoice in heart obeying God’s word.
Of course, believers sometimes have concerns not for physical problems but for spiritual matters.
They may also grieve when they realize their sins and shortcomings.
But they should rejoice at these times, too. The grieving that leads us to sanctification and faithfulness is the only kind of grieving that leads us to life.
Also, to rejoice in hardships is the evidence of really trusting God.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”
As said, those who really believe in the power and love of God can always rejoice for He will make them His true children.
Therefore, I urge you to rejoice always by trusting and relying on God.
Above all, I hope you will rejoice because you love God. If you love somebody, it will show. You will have smiles on your face all the time.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will always be filled with joy by loving God so that anyone who sees you will feel the love of God.
Brothers and sisters, now I will give you the fifth question.
Do you always pray according to the will of God? For example, the will of God is for His children to continually and habitually pray without ceasing. Do you pray this way?
If you really love somebody, you would want to see their face and talk to them just one more time. In the same way, if you love God you will seek Him daily in prayer, not by coercion but out of love.
Also, it is the will of God for us to pray wholeheartedly. Do you pray with all your heart according to the will of God?
For example, let us think about our Daniel prayer meetings.
The leader gives you the prayer topic.
She/he will give you prayer topics for your personal matters and for the kingdom of God such as world evangelism, construction of sanctuary, and revival of the church.
Then, do you pray with all your heart and mind with faith, hope, and love, for all the prayer topics?
Are there any of you who struggle against tiredness and idle thoughts in prayers?
If you are new believers or if you have just started praying, God will have mercy on you when you struggle like that to pray. He will accept your heart and answer you.
Furthermore, He will give you the strength and grace to pray.
But if you are habitually falling asleep, murmuring meaningless repetitions for many years, you should definitely change.
Especially if you have quit praying for a long time, you should check whether you really have love for God.
Those of you who continually pray, I urge you to check whether you pray with wholehearted love for God.
There some cases as follows:
They pray earnestly in their personal prayers, but when they pray for the kingdom of God, they just utter meaningless repetitions, saying the same thing all the time.
God’s will is that His children pray for His kingdom first, above all else.
Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Also, in 1 Samuel 12:23 the prophet Samuel made a declaration to the nation of Israel.
He said, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you;”
Samuel said to cease to pray for Israel is a sin before the LORD God.
From what Samuel said, we can feel how those who really love God will pray and with what kind of attitude they will pray.
Especially, if you are workers of God taking care of souls, you have to really put effort into your prayers.
Samuel loved God, and so he loved Israel, the people of God, with the heart of a father.
That is why he never ceased to pray for his people. God must have been quite pleased with Samuel.
If you want to receive the answers to prayers, I urge you to pray like the prophet Samuel to please God.
More than anything else, you should pray with love, so that the prayer itself will be a fragrant confession of love offered to God.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will receive answers to everything you ask for in prayer.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the sixth question.
Do you read at least a chapter of the Bible and memorize a verse everyday?
Those who love God love His word, too.
As said in John 1:1, God is the Word. We can meet God and sense Him through the Word.
That is why those who love God always love to read and learn the word of God.
Let me give you an allegory. Those who have been in the military must have received letters during their hard training.
It is so nice to receive letters from parents, brothers, sisters, loved ones, and friends. They might read the letter again and again.
It’s because those letters contain the hearts of those who write them.
Parents ask them whether they are healthy and if they are eating well. These letters also contain the love of the parents having concerns about their children.
Likewise, the Bible contains the love of God the Father.
It contains the guidelines for us as to how we should live each day. It is also the source of the comfort to us from God.
So, if we love God, we will naturally love to read His word.
Also, if we love God, we would want to find out His will and do His will. Thus, we would want to know more of the word by reading, hearing, and meditating on it.
Also, the word is the spiritual bread that gives life to the spirit.
Jesus is the Word itself that came down to earth in a human body, and He introduced Himself as follows:
John 6:51 says, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;”
Therefore, we can continue our spiritual life only when we always eat the Word of God.
Do you always eat this spiritual bread? You always eat three meals a day, but do you also eat spiritual meals all the time?
You like to experience the taste of food, but do you also like experiencing the taste of the Word?
Psalm 119:103 says, “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
If you meditate on the word of God day and night in obedience to His Word, you will confess the same thing as the Psalmist.
You will sense the true taste of the word that gives life and strength to the spirit and happiness to the heart.
Isaiah 1:19 says, “If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land.” In the same way, God will give you blessings according to your obedience.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will also love the Word of God fervently with your love for God.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I will give you the seventh question. Do you evangelize at least one person a year?
Those who love God and are loved by God are always filled with happiness in life. So, they will open their mouth and speak about their secret of happiness to other people.
Also, those who love God will also love the souls.
They understand the heart of God who considers one soul more valuable than the whole world. So, they preach the gospel diligently.
They cannot just sit around and watch the souls who are dying, and so they try to guide them to God.
Of course, some of you want to preach the gospel, but cannot do it well because you are not bold enough. But I would like you to try to obey now.
The important thing is your willingness to obey the word of God, as well as your earnest love for the souls.
If we just preach in season and out of season, it is God who will give us the fruit.
I hope you will be so full of God’s love that you cannot help but preach the gospel.
Brothers and sisters, the (8th and) last question is like a comprehensive question that covers all of the previous questions.
Do you have peace with everybody?
Do you have peace with God the Father, your neighbor, and yourself?
To have peace with God means you have no wall of sin between God and you. Those who have peace with their neighbors have no conflict with anybody for they resemble God and are full of love.
Those who have peace with themselves are those who have become sanctified, having no struggle with sins and untruths in the heart.
If we solve the fundamental problem completely and destroy all the walls, we will have peace with everyone.
Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
I hope that dissensions and quarrels will disappear and there will be peace wherever you go. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be called true sons and daughters of God.
Let me conclude the message. In Job 1:8 God commends Job before Satan. God said, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
We can feel the love of God towards Job. But this Job lost all his children and wealth by the accusations of Satan.
He was still thankful up until then, but when he had painful boils, in the excruciating pain, he began to complain against God.
It was caused because he had evil deep inside his heart, although his deeds were upright and perfect.
God accepted the accusations of Satan because God knew this fact.
But through the trials, Job finally cast away the evil placed deep inside his heart.
So, he became a true child who loved God with a true heart.
Then, God showed His love for Job more greatly than before. Job used to be the richest man in the East, and God gave him the double amount of what he previously possessed.
God gave him many children, health, and long life. Namely, God gave him multiple and comprehensive blessings.
After all, to solve the fundamental problem is to become true children who love God truly.
It is to cast away all grave sins, worldly things, untruth, and to root out the desires that love darkness.
How many questions could you say yes to today?
As you checked through the Word, what is your heart like? Do you really have the true love for God the Father?
If you can say ‘Amen’ to all the above questions, all the walls of sin will be demolished.
As you keep on acting this way, your fundamental heart will change and you will wholeheartedly love God.
The sermon ‘God of Answers and Blessings’ will end here.
The sermons are finished, but from the Day of Blessing, God is still giving us grace and strength.
If you have not found your fundamental problem, I hope you will keep on trying to find it and receive comprehensive blessings.
If you become a true child of God and share love with God, that love is so beautiful beyond description.
I hope you will share this kind of love with God. Fulfill the desire of God who wants to give you everything you ask!
Above all, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will fulfill the long-lasted hope of God, wanting to give you New Jerusalem.
[AMEN!]
