Subject Anything, Anytime / Philippians 4:8-9
content, at any time
Philippians 4:8-9, Acts 2:44-46
I pray that the grace and blessings of God, who became the source of blessings, abound to all of the members who participated in the worship service on New Year's Day today. When this national holiday comes, thousands of people go to their hometowns and travel as strangers in search of their families. Everyone is coming and going, even though it's hard, difficult, and sometimes boring. For what? In this snowy landscape, we can see the original hearts of life. If you look at the deeper roots of your heart, you can even see the heart of faith.
The heart of return (回歸): The first thing that comes to mind while spending the holidays is that everyone is looking for their hometown. In this way, you can see the heart of return in the heart of searching for your hometown. It is the desire to return to the roots of life. Returning home is the heart to find the root, and ultimately the heart to approach God, the source of life. That is why there are many verses in the Bible that compare life to a stranger who is looking for his hometown.
'Traveler' refers to a person who has a hometown to return to, not a person who lives in a house. The Israelites had a strong attachment to the land because they had lived as strangers since their ancestor Abraham, and they had a strong will to return to their homeland because they had lived without a country for a long time. So, while they were being held captive in Babylon, an unnamed poet sang the sorrow of losing his homeland:
We sat there by the rivers of Babylon and wept in memory of Zion...
I do not remember Jerusalem
If I don't overdo you with my greatest pleasure
May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. Psalm 137:1-6
However, the true hometown in life is not in a visible place on earth, but in an invisible but eternal place. Life cannot stay on this earth forever, so it is like a stranger and has a hometown to return to. If you lose your hometown of the body, you experience the pain of cutting bones, but what a pitiful life would be when you cannot find your eternal home and become a soul that has lost your hometown?
Humans have such a longing for their homeland. It belongs to the nature of the soul to seek the source of life. In this way, the return home shows the heart of return (回歸). The heart of this return to return to the hometown is to go to the source of one's life and to find the root of life. Meeting family members, meeting friends, and finding the root of one's life is the heart to find the source of life if you think more deeply. Even if we do not recognize it ourselves, it is actually the heart of returning to seek eternal home, eternal rest, and the heart of seeking God.
Christians should not forget that there are times in life when they must return to God, the eternal root of life, just as they return home to the holidays. When I go to my hometown with pain, I hope that the path of faith toward God that I go along with, sometimes with patience, sometimes with patience, and sometimes with hope, I am going to take the proud news to give to the Lord.
Gratitude (報恩): 'Thank you' is a word that people use a lot, whether formal or sincere, during the Lunar New Year or holidays. This kind of gratitude is the heart to know that one's life does not depend on one's ingenuity, but the grace of others and the grace of heaven. Returning to their hometown or offering a visit to an adult is in Boeun's heart to repay this kindness. Boeun's heart is an extremely humble heart that confesses that my life is not based on me, but through someone's grace and love.
As you get older in your life, you realize that life is not just about your talents. I realize that my life was made with someone's love, interest, and grace. If you look back on your faith, you will realize that it is truly by the grace of God. So Paul confessed, 'I am what I am by the grace of God...' (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Anyone who thinks that they live with what is mine is an arrogant person. Someone who doesn't know much about life. No one in the world lives with mine. Even when I was born, I was born with the grace of my parents and grew up with the touch of love. I have come this far with a lot of interest, love, and learning. How can I say that I lived my life only with my talents? I was born with blood, and I grew up with protection and love, but as I get older and more and more difficult to move, will I live with what I have? With someone's help, with someone's love, my life is also ending. Who puts the lid on his tomb himself? Therefore, I should not be proud that I live with what I have. All is grace and love.
So, you shouldn't live in a way of being too squeamish or too talkative. I hope you will buy it in abundance and abundance. Please buy with a generous and humble heart. That is the beautiful life, the heart of a true Christian.
And to whom do our souls belong? Received by God's grace, our sins were forgiven by the grace of the Lord's redemption, and in that grace we become eternal people of the kingdom of God. Who can say that I lived by my craft, I live by my wit? If you think about it, it is only grace and thanks.
A heart to be thankful for the grace of our neighbors and the grace of God--this is the right heart we Christians should have. A heart of gratitude, a heart of reverence.
Sharing Heart (Love): Another spirit that comes from visiting your hometown and finding people you are grateful for is the spirit of sharing. If we achieve meeting through regression, eventually we will achieve sharing. Share hearts, share news, share food. They greet each other and exchange greetings while having a ceremony. This would be called sharing of love.
Isn't sharing the Christian spirit? The first thing the early church members did because they were filled with the Holy Spirit was that they shared it with each other.
All the believers are together and all things are in common.
He also sold his property and possessions, and distributed it according to the needs of each one.
Every day we strive to gather together in the temple with one heart... Acts 2:44-46
The two disciples on their way to Emmaus did not recognize the resurrected Jesus even though they walked together listening to the Word all day. But when they invited him to their home and shared food, they recognized him. It was through sharing that we were able to experience the resurrection of the Lord.
♬ Where there is sharing of love, there is God. ♬
Where there is sharing of love, God is there. When Emmaus' disciples shared the bread, they recognized the risen Lord. Where there is sharing, there is love, and where there is love, God is. No matter how solemn, how wonderful, and no matter how thorough the act of faith, where love is gone, God's grace disappears. Even the Spirit of God leaves. Where there is sharing of love, God is there. Therefore, I hope that the sharing of love will overflow where you are. There God is with you.
This is what we are talking about in today's text.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are godly,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely
Whatever is commendable, if there is any virtue, if there is any praise, think of these things.
Do what you learn from me, receive, hear, and see
Then the God of peace will be with you.
Whatever you do, any time, wherever you are, and with whom you are dealing, it is a message to have a Christian heart and act beautifully.
It's New Year's Day today. After this service, you will meet many relatives. Many saints returned to their hometowns. There will be many meetings, words of thanks and sharing. May you always keep the Christian beauty in it. Return, meeting, gratitude, sharing, all are Christian hearts. It contains the Christian spirit.
Be true, godly, upright, clean, abundant in love, and devoted at all times, at all times. That is the heart of a Christian, and the heart of faith in which we learn, receive, hear, and do what we see through the Word. I pray that this will be a blessed New Year's Day performed with such a beautiful Christian heart.