Title: Let's Look to the Lord
Contents
Let's look to the Lord
Text: Hebrews 12:1-2 "Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
Pastor Bakei of India was walking with a friend along a rough road across the hills. After a long walk, they crossed a narrow rope bridge that led over the rapids of the valley. When a friend who had crossed that bridge many times crossed the rope bridge and arrived at the other side first, Pastor Bakei was stunned and barely passing the middle of the bridge. Pastor Bakei felt dizzy as he looked down at the whirling, roaring rapids. It was thought that the bridge was swinging in the opposite direction of the rapids. Then the friend shouted at Pastor Bakei.
In life's journey, we sometimes encounter threatening and difficult situations. In times like these, if we only stare at the problem situation and try to find a solution from it, we cannot get out of it. But when you look beyond the problem to the goal, you can win. In this way, when we look only to Jesus, the Lord of faith, we can win the race of faith without being shaken or fearful.
There was a time when immigration to the United States was a dream come true. However, now there is a phenomenon of reverse immigration, and many of the problems of the Korean-Korean society are exposed. At that time, people who immigrated to the United States and obtained permanent residency or citizenship were able to drive several cars as they had envy in the past, live in a house worth hundreds of millions of won, play golf, and enjoy the state-of-the-art civilization of the United States. However, after trying all the things that only the privileged could touch and enjoy in the past, I now experience a reality that no one envy or stare at. And only then did I realize that those things were only relative values.
The only goal we should look to in our life is God. If you seek wealth, fame, or comfort in this world, you will have no choice but to live a life of wandering away from God's grace. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, we must first seek His kingdom and His righteousness. Then God will provide everything we need.
"O Lord of heaven, I lift up my eyes to you. As the eyes of a servant wind on the hand of his master, and the eye of a maidservant on the hand of his mother-in-law, our eyes wait for the LORD our God, and wait for mercy on us. "(Psalm 123: 1-2)
Modern people enjoy 3S. 3S stands for sports, sex, and speed. However, the most important screws are left out.
When the machine is moving slowly, even if one screw is missing, it doesn't seem to be a problem, but if you speed up and run quickly, the machine with the missing screw will be destroyed. The most important S to find in the top 3s enjoyed by modern people is the spirit. In 2 Kings 4:2-7, when the wife of the prophet's student, who was exhausted in debt, forgot the importance of the soul, when Elisha asked her what she had, she could not answer that she had a sound soul, and could not answer that she had faith and hope. They reply that there is only one bottle. Even those who believe well often put material things ahead of kings and kings souls. This is a big mistake as a believer. There was a thief in Qi, China, who was caught stealing gold from Geum-eum in broad daylight. When the official asked, “Why did you steal gold from so many people?” the thief replied, “I saw only gold nuggets and no people, so it was so.” When you are deceived by gold, God is invisible. You need to get your mind right and look straight to God.
“My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my hope comes from him” (Psalm 62:5).
Parkyeon Falls is located under Cheonmasan Mountain, which rises 16km north of Gaeseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. On the way to the waterfall, there is a place where two cliffs meet face to face, and the distance is said to be about 1 meter. However, there are only a few people who can skip this one meter long distance. Even a small child can jump if it is 1 meter on a flat ground, but when looking at a cliff that is a thousand roads, when you jump, your legs are shaking and you can't run. That's why we named the rock the Rock of Decision. Instead of looking down, think of it as a flat ground, look only at the goal in front of you, and make a decision to run. And when you look at it, this distance of one meter is nothing. Don't look back, look forward. The same is true of the religious life. We must look only to Christ. A runner must keep the rules of the race to the end and run a straight race like our Lord. Then our joy will be doubled.
When Peter looked at Jesus, he was walking on the water, but when he looked at the wind, he was afraid and fell into the sea. Then Jesus came and spoke the words of Matthew 14:31.
“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” When he looked at Jesus, Peter was walking on the water. A miracle has happened. Grace has appeared. It was rewarding in life. But when I looked at the windy sea instead of looking at Jesus, and when I had fear, fear, or doubt, I fell into the water. What did Jesus say then? “You of little faith!”
A person who sees the world is a person of little faith. In order to have great faith, we must look to Jesus and reject our doubts. We can live bold lives by looking to Jesus.
A carpenter's father was nailing his nails one day, and his son was looking at it curiously. It must have been fun to pound small nails with a big hammer. So the father taught his son how to nail.
“Son, if you want to be good at nailing, you have to fix your gaze. just look at me Then the nail will look small at first, but then it will look bigger and bigger. That way you can only hit the head if you can't. But if you close your eyes without fixing your eyes, you will slap your fingers.”
Those who fail are because they sell their eyes. Wrong people, unsuccessful people, it's all about selling. How many people get lost and go bankrupt while selling this and that? You have to set a goal and move forward towards that goal. We must think of the grace of Jesus Christ, the word of God, and hope for God's blessings and move forward. We should live for the glory of God with one goal, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do.
Dear saints, I pray in the name of the Lord that we all look to God and live beautifully.
* Prayer: God, who is our hope and life, let us always look to you and live, and let us always live satisfied with only you. I pray in Jesus name. Amen
/ Pastor Taewan Hin