Heart
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 10676 |
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November 01, 2009 |
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 "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5)
Dear Sunday school children, I want all of you to go into New Jerusalem. I want you to live a happy and enjoyable life forever in the most beautiful and wonderful place in Heaven. But just because a person wants to enter New Jerusalem, it does not mean that he can go.
Do you know how big New Jerusalem is? The size of New Jerusalem is 58 times as big as South Korea. To be qualified to enter New Jerusalem, your heart must be filled with the goodness and beauty that's in the heart of Jesus Christ, the heart of our Lord. Then, how can we fill our hearts with the heart of the Lord?
First of all, you have to live a Christ-centered life.
What is a "Christ-centered life"? It is a life that obeys the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there any of you who still give unkind looks to your brothers, sisters, or friends? Is there anyone of you who plays video games when you are supposed to be studying? If any of you is doing this, you should now obey the word of God. If you want to live by God's word, not just knowing it in your head, you must think about His word every day. Not only when you are attending worship service at church, you should always try to see, hear, speak, and act within the word of the Lord wherever you are.
For example, God wants you to read the Bible and listen to the word of God as opposed to exciting cartoons, movies, or singers on TV.
He also wants your lips to lift up beautiful prayers and sing beautiful praises; He wants them to only speak loving and kind words. He wants you to come to church, serve Him diligently, study hard and help your friends with your hands and feet so that you can store up great rewards in heaven. This is the way to live a Christ-centered life: to see, hear, think, and do the things that please the Lord. Of course this may not always be easy, but if you keep on trying to obey the word of God once, twice, three times, sooner or later, it becomes much easier. Then, you will realize, "Wow, so this is why it is so good to live by God's word!" When you realize this, you can joyfully obey the word of God even though nobody tells you to. Then, your heart will become filled with the Lord more and more, so the worldly things will not affect you anymore. Though you are still young, when you cast out untruths from your heart one by one, you can diligently run towards New Jerusalem.
Secondly, you should get into the habit of praying to God as if you were talking to Him.
Prayer is talking to the God you love, just as you joyfully talk to your mom, dad, and your close friends. Close friends are very open to each other, and they share their deepest, most honest feelings and thoughts to one another. When two friends talk, they don't even notice time going by. God the Father also wants to have conversations with you just like this, through your prayers. When you tell Him how thankful you are to Him for keeping you safe throughout day, and when you tell Him about the happy things you experienced, and the things you did well that day, He will also be happy. If you tell Him about the bad things that happened to you that day, and about the things you did wrong, He will forgive you and comfort you. If you pray, "God, help me cast away all the bad things—the dark things in my heart," He will give you the strength to do it. If you pray, "Give me the wisdom to study well, and make me a good worker for Your kingdom," then He will answer your prayer. But God is not pleased when you pray ostentatiously or just to be "showy." I hope all of you, the children of Manmin, will talk with God the Father every day and fill your hearts with the heart of the Lord.
Thirdly, you must remember that God can always see your heart, which other people cannot see with their eyes.
Because all of you long to enter New Jerusalem someday, you probably want to become good workers for God's kingdom. For instance, many of you dream of becoming pastors, or members of the praise team one day. But whatever you do, if you want to please God and reap greater rewards in Heaven, you need to do everything with a good heart. It's good to appear beautiful on the outside, but you must know that God looks at the inside of your heart first.
Suppose some children sing beautiful praises with great smiles on the altar. But when they're at home, they're totally different. They complain and fret, nagging their mom and dad, "Buy me the latest video game! Buy me new clothes!" And, during praise practice, they give their friends a hard time. Would God be pleased with these children's praises? Even though they "appear" beautiful in people's eyes, since the aroma of their hearts are not lifted up to God, this would rather sadden God's heart. On the contrary, let's say there are children whose singing skills may not be excellent, but they are obedient to their parents and teachers, and they make other children happy and comfortable during practice. When these children praise on the altar, the aroma of their hearts are beautiful, therefore they are lifted up to God. This case is not only limited to praises, but also in the area of prayer and one's studies. Whatever you do, you must do it with a love for God and a good heart.
In everything that you do, I hope all of you will do it with a good heart like our Lord Jesus Christ, so you can always bring joy to the Father God's heart.
The above message is a summary of the sermon preached during the Sunday Children's School Devotional Service on October 18, 2009. If you want to read this sermon in more detail, visit our website (www. manmin. org) and click on "Sermon".
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