Title: Night of Faith / Acts 16:16-34
In Luke 15, there are three messages about lost and found happiness. Among them, the parable of the prodigal son appears third. When the prodigal son returns, the viewer's perspective changes in three ways. If you read the Gospel of Luke 15, it is expressed that the servant is a strong body because the highest level is to see the body. . Where do you place the value of life when you believe in Jesus and live your life of faith? Are you putting it on the flesh? Are you putting it on material things? Are you putting it on spiritual things?
I heard that a member of a church caused trouble, left the church, wandered from one church to another, and tried to return to the main church, but could not come back due to the denial of the session. When I heard that, my heart ached. Who among us dares to make such a decision? I was scared too. Can the Lord really stay in that church? I was also worried. If you guys knew your father's heart, you wouldn't speak like this brother. This older brother did not deserve his younger brother to return. Because he didn't know his father's heart. If you know Heavenly Father's heart, compassion and mercy will naturally arise in your heart to care for the abandoned, the forgotten, the marginalized, the sick, and the imprisoned. May this Father's abundant heart of love be with you and me.
Living in the present world, we live in a dizzying and uncertain situation in which we can only live if we are crazy about something. There are many hardships, tribulations, and difficulties. Politics is called reform, but in fact, Genesis 3:21 says that God made and clothed skins through the sacrifice of animals for fallen mankind. Real reform is to cover the faults. How many people have been sacrificed every time there is a change of government in our thousands of years of history? This was the will and spirit of reform that humans had from ancient times to the present. The history of reform has never been right. But what kind of reform is God's reform? He didn't ask, just made leather clothes to cover them. That's why he says God is love, and he says that it is sacrifice, and that love covers a multitude of faults. Here is real reform. Failure to do this will not result in successful reform.
We are made in the image of God and breathed life into our nostrils. When an icon pops up on your computer, click on it, and the window is small, but it contains a huge amount. Because we have the image of God, we do not know it outwardly, but if we touch it, there will be tribulation, adversity, and persecution. What do you want to look like then? Love, joy, peace, mercy, goodness, longsuffering, gentleness, and temperance? Or do you want to live a life full of such things as hatred, resentment, jealousy, anger, etc.
Even if two people walk the same world, believers and non-believers are walking on different paths of life. Those who have the Spirit of Christ can overcome any situation and adversity. You can live by faith. Faith wins. The Apostle Paul said he prayed at night. Every human being has a nightmare. Family nights, faith nights, health nights, tribulation, adversity, and personal crosses for everyone. If you meet in the middle of the night, don't worry and praise him. Please pray. What is truly holy and powerful faith? In 2 Timothy 4:5, the Apostle Paul said, “Nothing is to be rejected, if all things are received with thanksgiving. Do you want to be sanctified? You are sanctified by the Word and prayer." There is true holiness in following the Word.
Why did Abraham become the father of faith? He followed the word and left the mainland. The culmination of obedience is the record of the offering of Isaac in Genesis 22. The verse I woke up early in the morning was very impressed with the attitude of faith. Also, he kept his unchanging faith until the end, even in the passage saying he went on the road for three days. He kept his faith until the end by answering the servant, “Wait here, we will come back.” God loves us. It is the Lord who feels more pain than I do when we suffer in tribulation and adversity. The deep love of the Lord is open before you.
Just as the Philippian prison problem was solved when Paul prayed without worrying, I believe that God will solve it in a perfect way if you entrust it to God's way, pray and sing praises. How do you want to live your life? I hope you buy it positively. I hope you live by faith and creatively. If you leave it to Jehovah, God will solve it. How could the Philippian church be established? The first European, Greek Philippian church, through Paul's prison incident, all his guards, family members, and prisoners believed and rejoiced and were baptized. will be Without this suffering of Paul, this European church would not exist.