Thanksgiving
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 10790 |
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November 27, 2011 |
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 "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting." (Psalm 107:1)
I give thanks and glory to God who blesses us to celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday. This year as in the past, God has given us water and sunshine for plants bearing fruits. No matter how much men toil and how hard they work, they cannot gain any fruit without the grace of God. But when men live in abundance and have so many good things, they easily forget about being grateful. We often forget about the grace of God that He gives to us in our daily lives.
There are so many things to give thanks for as God's children. But some people just keep on complaining even though they have received eternal life and blessings. Through this message, I hope you will remember the things for which you should be grateful and offer up your sense of gratitude for His grace and praise Him from the bottom of your hearts. What then do we have to remember and give thanks for?
First, we have to give thanks for the grace of salvation
There are so many things to give thanks for, but the greatest among all is the grace of salvation. The only begotten Son of God, Jesus came down to this earth in human body form. He experienced poverty, hunger, tiredness, the cold, the heat. and all other human sufferings. He took all kinds of contempt and pains and finally died on the cross. For our sins to be forgiven, He accepted the curse, shed His blood, and died.
If we truly believe in this love, what kind of life should we live? We have to love God with all our lives, too. We have to live in the truth and in obedience to the word of God. Namely, we have to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. Then, we can reach perfect salvation.
John 6:53 says, "…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves." Therefore, to eat the flesh of the Son of Man, Jesus, is to take in the word of God. To take in the word of God is not just to know the words of the Bible as knowledge. We have to cast away evil and fill our hearts with goodness, love, and truth.
To 'drink the blood of the Son of Man' means that in addition to learning the word of God, we have to put the word we learned into practice with faith. Only then will the word of God that you have learned become your life and strength. The untruths that were in your heart will go out and it will be replaced by the truth.
Nobody in the world can solve the problem of sins for himself. We would be destined to suffer in the unquenchable fire of Hell if Jesus hadn't suffered such excruciating pain on the cross. We wouldn't be able to call God our Father if we didn't receive the Holy Spirit as a gift from God. So we must not forget the grace of salvation, but imprint it in our hearts and live only in light.
You have to realize in the depth of your hearts just how great the grace of Jesus is, a love so great that He was crucified on the cross to save us. You know how painful is it if you just get burned on one of your fingers don't you? Then, how would you be able to bear the pain if you went into the eternally burning fire of Hell? The innocent Jesus had to suffer so much pain to save us from such a fire. How can we find any words to adequately give thanks and how can we ever repay His grace with anything?
God didn't just give us the grace of forgiveness. He lets us realize what sin and righteousness are and also He gives us the grace to cast away sins. No matter how much a man tries, he cannot cast away sins through his own effort. But with the grace and strength of God and the help of the Holy Spirit, we can cast away even the evil that is placed in the depths of our hearts. As we cast away sins and if our soul prospers, all things go well with us and we become healthy. We can receive anything we ask of God, and we can live without having any shortages.
But some people, even after receiving such blessings, do not give thanks if they are faced with some trials. They say they are in a situation where they cannot give thanks. But to those who truly give thanks to God even in difficult situations, God gives them something for which they can be really thankful.
Second, we have to give thanks to God in everything
Those children who have received the grace of salvation and call God, 'Father', can give thanks in all circumstances. Especially those of you who listen to the holiness gospel, you have many things to be thankful for.
You don't just hope for Heaven, but you long for the best dwelling place in Heaven, New Jerusalem. God gives us such a great blessing. He let our spiritual eyes open so that we can see the spiritual world. This is also because God wants us to have greater hope for New Jerusalem. By allowing us to see the world, He desires us to believe in the existence of the spiritual world and become sanctified.
Then, how much gratitude do you have for the grace that let you hope for such a gorgeous and glorious place as New Jerusalem, and how hard do you try to increase the hope in your heart? As Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," we have to secure the reality of New Jerusalem.
I hope you will realize and feel the grace of God who leads us to the way of salvation and gives us hope for New Jerusalem by letting us realize the truth. We have to count all the fleshly things as rubbish so that we may triumph over the world and run towards New Jerusalem.
There are also other things for which you can give thanks. You always listen to spirit-filled messages in this church full of the Holy Spirit, and your faith increases day by day as you experience the works of the living God all the time. The word of life, with which we can discover ourselves, flows down in our church. The word helps us clearly grasp what sins, righteousness, and judgment are and explains even minor untruth in detail. The fire of prayer keeps burning in Daniel Prayer Meeting every night. Even newcomers can receive strength to pray not long after registering. As long as they pray with their hearts, they can quickly come into spirit.
When our church accomplishes the great duties of world evangelism and construction of the Grand Sanctuary, you have the privilege to participate in the glory of it. Other than these common factors, how many more personal things do you have for which you can give thanks?
You can be thankful that you and your family are protected from all kinds of diseases, accidents, and natural disasters. You can give thanks that your workplace or business is at peace and prosperous. You can give thanks that even if you are in trials for not living by the word, you can quickly realize it, repent of it and change. If you face trials, even though you lived in the truth, you can give thanks believing that God will give you better things. You can give thanks that you have precious duties, that your soul prospers and you have rewards stored up in Heaven. There are only things to give thanks for on a sunny or cloudy day or rainy day, or no matter what.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Psalm 50:23 says, "He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God." I hope you will always remember the endless love of God and glorify God by speaking words of thanks all the time.
In doing so, I urge you, that you will give comfort to the heart of God the Father who has been cultivating us for a long time with so many tears, so much mourning, and such great patience. I pray in the name of the Lord that God will accept your aroma of thanks and give you more blessings in your life every day, and finally lead you to New Jerusalem.
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