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Text: 1 Kings 18:20-21
It is the wisdom of life that a person ‘acts neither too much nor too short’ in life. At the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, Lee Seong-gye started a revolution and sent his son Bang-won Lee to convince Goryeo loyalist Jeong Mong-ju. Lee Bang-won sang Haega (何如歌) to convince Jeong Mong-ju, and Jeong Mong-ju sang a single heart toward the Goryeo king with a single heart song.
Are you a ‘haha’? Are you a 'singer'? Living in the world, depending on the situation, you can choose to choose this one. But to be on the side of the truth, to be on the side of God, you have to be clear.
In Revelation 3:15, we find the words of Jesus rebuking the church in Laodicea. “You are neither cold nor hot; so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.” This means to be clear.
Faith must be cold in the head and hot in the heart.
Jesus hates having one foot in the world and one foot in the church, as if it is lukewarm and neither believes nor disbelieves.
We live in this world, but let's prepare for life in heaven.
We are in the body, but we live for the soul.
Life is hard, but let's live for the Lord.
Today's text is a scene of a prayer battle with 850 false prophets serving Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel. During the reign of King Ahab, who did not know God, Queen Jezebel worshiped four idols, and many people sacrificed at the high places of Baal and served Asherah poles. Because of God's wrath, the heavens were closed for three years and six months, and no rain fell, and the land was in extreme drought and famine, to a point where it was impossible to live. At that time, the prophet Elijah had a prayer battle with 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah in the presence of the king. Elijah cries out. “How long do you hesitate between the two? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal is God, follow him; but the people did not answer a word.”
God hates hesitating between the two. Faith and unbelief, light and darkness, these cannot coexist. When the light shines, the darkness disappears. Likewise, love and hate, democracy and communism cannot coexist. Communism shouted for equality and interests of the people as if the devil disguised himself as an angel of light, but their true appearance was nothing other than exploitation, dictatorship, human rights violations, wars of aggression, and killing of their own people. It is an evil group with the attributes of the devil. We Christians are people who seek the light and spread freedom and truth, so we cannot become one with the communist ideology.
Matthew 6:19-24 says, “You cannot serve two masters” and Matthew 6:19-24 says that you must choose between God and riches, just as one cannot serve two masters.
Matthew 10:37 says, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” We must become believers in God-centered faith. Now, our confession must be, "If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord; whether we live or die, we are the Lord's" (Romans 14:8).
The people who do not please God are going to suffer and suffer because of God's wrath. We Christians should think centered on the gospel, judge from the Christian's point of view, and defend the truth of the gospel even if we are persecuted. This is the power that sustains this society, preserves the nation, and spreads the gospel of Christ to all nations.
Dear members of Shepherd Church,
We must pray for this one-way government that goes against God's will. Let us not hesitate between the two. Let's choose God's will in this lukewarm generation, where we do not know what is right and what is wrong with the wisdom and discernment to discern the times. No matter what the world says, I pray that you will lead a victorious life by following the example of Elijah, who triumphed because God was with the 850 false prophets. God is on our side and clearly hears our prayers. Hallelujah!!!