Title: Hear God's Word② (November 30)
Contents
Sinchon's Fountain
Listen to God ②
(1 Kings 19:9-16; 2 Timothy 3:15-17)
The first or second Sunday of December every month is observed as Bible Sunday. Bible Sunday began when a representative from the United States who attended the 100th anniversary of the British Bible Society in 1915 proposed keeping December 5 as World Bible Day. Our country began to observe the second Sunday of December as Bible Sunday in 1954 to thank God for giving us the Bible and to pledge to love, read, study, and preach the Bible.(...) The Bible has been translated into 1,326 languages. (...) The amount of Bible publications in 2003 amounted to 26.7 billion won. The dream of the Bible Society of Korea is to have everyone on the earth read the Bible in their own language.(...) As I said last week, chaos and emptiness disappear where the word of God is heard. He said that the words I have spoken to you are spirit (John 6:63). The Bible is not just words or letters, but the breath (Spirit) of God.
Its essence is indeed the spirit.
Who Should Hear God's Word?
Sometimes after counseling, the same thoughts are repeated. That is, many people live in solitude. (...) Life is a life thrown into a lonely destiny.(-Heidecker)(...) We can say solitude in several ways. The first is physical loneliness. Orphans without parents, homeless people, sick people, people in poverty, people getting old...(...) Aging and poverty and disease are the major causes of physical loneliness. There is mental loneliness. One day, he suddenly realizes that his abilities are lacking. When a loved one has betrayed me, when I have no way of resolving it, feelings of alienation or betrayal are unbearable loneliness. Mental loneliness comes when a couple loses communication, when they pay a lot of effort and sacrifice, but it doesn't work for them, and when a wife (husband) has unrequited love for her husband (wife). Life becomes chaotic and empty. There is solitude in the soul. This is fundamental loneliness. This will influence your view of life, your world view, and your beliefs.
Solitude is the opposite of faith.
Is our faith always full? Just like the waters off the coast of Incheon, there are high tides and low tides. However, there should be no loneliness in true faith.(...) Let's consider Elijah in today's text. He was a man who loved God. We won the victory by destroying 850 idolatrous prophets that God hates. However, after being persecuted by Jezebel, she fled and became lonely under a rosemary tree. God please kill me I don't want to live anymore. Everyone has died and I am the only one left. (...) Those who think that they sacrificed themselves to be righteous become lonely. People who think that only they are true and that only they are true are prone to loneliness. Pride leads to loneliness. (...) There is no loneliness in the face of love, and there is no solitude in the one who strives to love. Let's crucify the conditions of struggling with loneliness and go forward with Christ in the hope of infinite possibilities.(...) - Amen -
- During the sermon on November 30, 2003 -