Title: The Life of the Blessed One
Contents
1. Words that begin
In Mark 8:34, Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” There are many people who think that only what happens according to the will is God's grace.
Ladies and gentlemen, isn't the suffering that we, who suffered all kinds of suffering because of our selfish desires and sins, as workers working together with God who saves mankind, is glory and grace?
2. The attitude of the apostolate
The apostle Paul lived and worked in gratitude and emotion for the tremendous grace that God had given him as an apostle to work with. He made sure that the apostleship, which he had received by God's grace, would not be slandered, and that he would not cause anyone to stumble in anything.
People who do not know the Gospel usually judge the Gospel based on the conduct of the evangelist. Therefore, all members of the church, including the clergy, must do whatever they do in accordance with the Gospel so as not to block the door of evangelism. Likewise, when working in a church, you must not become a stumbling block to being criticized by other members of the church, and you must know the work itself as God's grace and enjoy it with a grateful heart. That way, it will be a good stimulus for the members of the church and will bring virtue to the church.
In fact, there are people who make people feel refreshed in society or the church, and there are people who calm them down. Please believe in the word of the Lord that He will always be with those who work until the end of the world, and believe that those who work hard to help others, not to mention their own work, bring joy to everyone.
As servants of the Lord, we should not become a hindrance to receiving slander from others, not only at church, but also at home or in the world.
Next, the Apostle Paul confessed that he had endured various hardships in fulfillment of his mission by professing himself as a servant of God. That is, with pride, pride and dignity as the Lord's worker, he endured all kinds of hardships, such as tribulation and poverty, hardship and beatings, imprisonment and tyranny, toil to the point of exhaustion, and inability to sleep and eat.
Although there is a difference in degree, in doing the Lord's work, various hardships such as difficulties and barriers caused by the devil's schemes are bound to follow. However, as long as we believe in God's omnipotence and persevere to the end, please believe that there is no reason or condition that we cannot handle the work. Rather, all the difficulties, barriers, and all kinds of hardships double the joy of achievement.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must not turn away from or give up on the work of the Lord because of misunderstandings and criticisms, cumbersome and cumbersome, difficult and difficult, and suffering and suffering. After all, there are problems with everything. Do you know that there is no pursuit of the pleasures of sin? It's all the same.
Written by Kim Woong-rae.
It is said that there was a couple who had an affair like eating rice. One day, while my wife was sleeping, “Wake up. My husband is here.” And he said he slept. Suddenly, the husband got up and jumped out of the window. You probably broke your ankle.
Everyone, take a good look. The suffering that follows the work of the Lord is actually the grace of God.
The amazing achievements of the Apostle Paul were not because there were no obstacles, obstacles, hardships, etc., but because he believed in Almighty God and endured all those hardships to the end. Crying because you can't stand it is ultimately not patience. True perseverance means overcoming manna and accomplishing things. The decisive factor in achievement is perseverance, not talent.
Edison continued tens of thousands of experiments to create a filament of electricity. Matthew Henry spent hours writing every day for 40 years to complete his commentary. The artist Cezanne painted apples for the rest of her life, and then confessed, “It was only in my later years that I could paint apples properly.” When Vinderbilt was over 70, he founded a railroad company and made millions of dollars. Tatian painted his masterpiece 'The War of Lepant' at the age of 98 and 'The Last Supper' at the age of 99.
Next, the apostle Paul worked in grace as one who received the grace of God. There are people who claim that it is God's grace after accomplishing work by any means other than God's method. However, the apostle Paul used only the person of faith, dignity as a servant of God, and the means and methods the Lord gave him. That is, they worked with purity and knowledge of the Word, long-suffering and mercy, the influence of the Holy Spirit and unfeigned love, the word of truth and the power of God, and they worked in spiritual warfare as the weapon of righteousness. In a word, the Apostle Paul left more achievements than anyone else by means and methods pleasing to God. Matthew 7:17 says, “In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”
3. God's grace in fulfilling the mission
As seen from the apostle Paul working with God, workers who work together with God in the Lord do not just suffer difficult and difficult sufferings. Everyone, please believe that God's grace that allows us to overcome all those hardships and ultimately achieves works for us who work despite such hardships.
The Apostle Paul, who was the greatest worker in the history of Christianity, earned glory and good reviews from God, his supporters, and those who received the gospel, but he received disgrace and bad reviews from unbelievers and those who opposed him. There were those who did not recognize them as apostles, but in fact, they were recognized as apostles by God, other apostles, and many church members. At times I was thrown to the brink of death, but each time I was still able to work by the dramatic grace of God. In fact, he viewed martyrdom as a great favor of God because he believed that he would live forever in a resurrection with a spiritual body.
Opponents also criticized all the sufferings Paul experienced during his missionary work as receiving God's discipline. Rather, Paul himself understood that it was because of God's gracious providence that he did not even die in the midst of all these sufferings. In other words, in order to make us understand the suffering of Jesus Christ deeply, we accepted it as a refinement to make ourselves into a greater vessel.
Everyone, I hope you have such amazing faith. I hope you will become a worker in God's grace in the Lord. You can taste the great and wonderful grace of God when you believe in the power of God and the Lord that He will always be with you until the end of the world, and endure and work until the end.
4. Conclusion
We are all children of God who have been saved by the grace of God by believing in the Lord who was crucified. On top of that tremendous grace of redemption, I was also honored as a worker working with God. As those who have received God's grace, we must not become a stumbling block to anyone in whatever we do, overcome the manna with patience, and accomplish many things by using God's power and wisdom as a means. At that time, we too can confess, “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all.”
(Poongseong Methodist Church. Book: Complete Commentary on 27 New Testament Books/ Interpretation of Difficult Scriptures I, II/ Salvation Before Jesus Came/Paul’s Understanding of Man/ Prosperous Prayer/ Seasonal Sermonbooks/ Sermonbook 18. T. 426 -3051)