Title: Peace to the Lord / Leviticus 11:7
Contents: Peace to the Lord/Leviticus 11:7
When I think of the grace and love you gave me in 2006, I first feel grateful. Over the past year, our church has been a happy church, and you have been a happy people. I wish you all the best in the coming year of 2007.
In Leviticus 11, which we read today, we list clean and unclean animals. Those with split hoofs and chewing cud at the same time are clean and can be eaten.
At that time, Gentiles ate whatever they wanted, but Jews had a lot of forbidden food, so that they wouldn't become unclean by eating. In short, God wanted His people to live holy lives. At that time, sanctification was an expression of God's love to keep us from mixing with the Gentiles through our eating and to avoid the uncleanness of becoming like them.
A split hoof symbolizes the wisdom of right judgment, and chewing the cud means serious meditation on God's Word. In order to eat and digest God's Word, we must take action to meditate again.
The year 2007 is the Year of the Pig. In Korea, for some, it is the Golden Year of the Pig that comes back every 60 years. Some say it is the Golden Year of the Pig, which comes every 600 years. If you go to a shopping center to see if Germany has also been affected, pigs are clamoring for piggies and piggy banks.
Don't believe all these words because they are all useless babies
Anyway, in the Year of the Pig, we are going to receive grace through the Word for a while in order to live this Year of the Pig in faith.
Pigs in today's text are unclean animals that cannot be eaten. The reason was that it was an animal with forked hooves but could not chew the cud. So, even if you have the wisdom to judge the Word, you lack the heart to think carefully about it and believe it. The life of faith must be re-evaluated. The reason why many people read the Bible, nothing changes and does not understand its meaning is because the Bible is not just a book that conveys knowledge, but God's will to save the soul. Like an animal that chews the cud, it is recognized as the word of God through rethinking and meditating on its meaning. In 2007, I bless you that we do not read the Word intellectually but engraved it in our hearts, so that we can think again and grow in faith so that we can understand its meaning.
Pigs have lost their self-defense ability because they have been raised under human protection. Since they did not have to forage themselves, the corners of their mouths were markedly reduced and their fangs were also reduced.
Beloved, may you come under God's protection this year of the pig. Living in the world makes people aggressive. In particular, Germany is sometimes even worse because it is a country that is almost treated like an idiot if I don't make my point. But now, it should be a year to see our good side and make people feel free to approach us. If you look at the common characteristics of successful people, it is said that they were not an aggressive life but a natural and gentle life towards people. We must become good people who overcome evil with good. I hope that I will receive the grace of God who grants my daily bread and live a holy life in which no one feels threatened by me just as no one feels threatened by pigs.
Pigs are annual breeding animals that can breed at any time of the year. They give birth to about 10 cubs and have more than 7 pairs of milk. I hope 2007 will be a year of evangelism. Germany is a very difficult country to evangelize. First, it is not an immigration meeting, so there are not many people, and it is because the country is large, so it is geographically far away, so it takes a lot of time to come to church. From the time of preparation to coming to church, all of that time is given to God. I believe it's never wasted time.
Evangelism is the mission of the saints. Just as pigs are always capable of breeding, I hope that there will be frequent opportunities to preach the gospel anywhere, anytime, and lead them to the church to raise them as children of faith.
Pigs have a keen sense of smell and have a good appetite, so they eat anything well. I hope you will be sensitive to bad smells. Now, for the next 52 weeks, when the Word is preached every Sunday, I hope that you will receive, eat, and digest well, and grow into strong believers.
The pig dream has been welcomed since ancient times as it is said to be a dream that brings good fortune and brings good fortune. I hope that 2007 will be a year of good fortune and fading away from uncleanness.
Dear friends, 2006 is over and 2007 is approaching us anew. I bless you in the name of the Lord that God, who has protected you for the past year, will walk with you until the end of this world.