THE LORD'S DISCOMFORT BY PASTOR KIM YONG DOO

Isaiah 55:6-9
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

There is a way that God wants and a way we want. Today our God tells us to come to Him.
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
(Isaiah 6-7)

Let’s say this together. We have to walk with God. In order to walk with Him we have to pray, do prayer vigils and try to receive spiritual gifts. However in order to walk with God we have to above all know God. Let’s say this together. We have to know the heart of God. I probably did a lot of sermons with this kind of content. I said that there were about 4 things which God thought were important.


Firstly, God has the heart that all people regardless of type will become his children and be saved instead of being sent to hell. You have to have faith that God is holding us tightly. Hallelujah! Secondly, God has the heart to make us to be like children of God instead of simply receiving salvation. Thirdly, God has the heart to give us more work to do. He doesn’t want anyone to have nothing in heaven. Let’s say this together. We have to do a lot of the LORD’s work.


Many think that only by going to theology school and becoming a pastor one will be working for the LORD however this is not true. In reality the rewards in heaven that the congregation receive is bigger than the rewards the pastors receive in heaven. This is because the pastors receive money from the Church however the congregation goes out to work to earn money and fight reality all the while walking the Christian walk. That is why the congregation receives more rewards in heaven. Do you understand?


The pastors are simply called to do the work of the LORD and if they make a mistake they will lose more rewards and will receive more judgment. In a way there may not be anything more precious to earn a lot and give it away as tithing and as charity. Don’t you agree that working with your sweat is a big task? I think that manual labor shows the purity of labor. It is written that for those who have sown seed with tears will reap with joy.


Fourthly, God cause all things to work for good. Hallelujah! God thinks like this but we are in conflict as we have our own thoughts. If God can He wishes to bring your thoughts to us, make the environment He wants and lead us to live like His children. However, we have drawn a line and told Him “You can work until here; from here it is my life”. We don’t like him intervening above a certain point. We don’t like God’s total control.


If an adult wants to hold hands with a child and walk then the child’s pace has to be met. When an adult takes one step children who had just learnt how to walk have to walk ten to twenty steps to match it. That is why there is a need to know how God deals with us and who He is. We can understand God best through the bible. You will know that God leads us in this kind of pace.


If we want to become used to the God’s pace, training and hard work is needed. Hallelujah! God is the one who suffers more when He tries to match our pace than us who try to match His pace. When I walk with my wife I take big strides but my wife rushes behind me. That is why when I am far in the front I turn back to tell her to come faster or I wait for her.


Likewise it is harder for God to do this for us than for us to do for God. Don’t we say that it is extremely hard when we pray before God? However God does not say that you are tired often. If a person without power and a person with power is to work together there has to be a compromise of level. However, the person without power suffers to compromise and likewise the person with power suffers to compromise as well.


In a three legged race the stride length has to be matched right? Despite all that God suffers this discomfort to accommodate our levels until we change. Let’s say this together. God bears the discomfort. Hallelujah! I probably said this before and the people in the Lord’s Church would have heard about it. When we get involved in the LORD’ work it takes a lot of time.


When we get involved we will get suspicious, be resentful, be jealous, be angry, be stressed, be disgruntled and say that you don’t want to go. When the LORD works alone everything can be done through His one spoken word. When He says let there be light there will be light and when He says let there be sky there will be sky. However, God wishes to unite with us and have us participate.


Until we are united with the LORD, and even after we are united God suffers. We may walk with Him with arms around each other but in reality when we are too tired to walk and collapse the LORD carries us. All of us want to walk with God and accompany him but there is a disrupter who is jealous of your faithful companionship.


There are two spiritual and cancerous beings. Outwardly they are forces of Satan. Internally they are made of our flesh, ego, stubbornness, pride, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life. In the flesh you cannot receive the kingdom of God. That is why this flesh has to be controlled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!


There is something that is called our ego. When we are put in to difficult situations due to the work of satan we give up although we are with God. If one thinks that the pastor and the pastor’s wife does not acknowledge him or her one may give up. There will have sad emotions. One will get disappointed and hurt.


Why this is so is explained in today’s word. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). Because we do not know that God’s thought is different from ours we get defeated, become saddened, disappointed and get hurt. It may see when you do everything according to your experiences. It becomes your fixed standard. Everyone fights with each other because everyone’s standards are different. Isn’t so?


Even if couples are living without any friction, there will be times when couples will argue with each other as they each have had different experiences. In order to advance forward there has to be concessions. In order to maintain and advance the family there will be many times when there has to be at least 10 concessions for one step to made forward.


Young men and women dream about marrying princesses and princes however this is a bad lie. When people marry they become shackles to each other and will become entangled. Whatever they do they will hold each other’s ankles catch the emotions and thoughts of each other’s words. Each one’s experience will be used as one’s shackles. However, we have to empty our hearts. We have to become stupid and only then can the family be maintained.


When nobody recognizes what we have experienced we become disappointed, defeated and saddened. God’s thoughts can be different from our thoughts. No matter how much you think this is right God will have an opposite thought. We have to solve it as easily as we scratch a lottery ticket. But when there is a situation we cannot understand or there is a difficult problem we become defeated and saddened. That is why we fall in to despair and everything will seem difficult.


Yesterday two people who were much older than me came. They asked how everything came to be as so. So I told them a bit of my past. They told me that if they were me they would have ran away and asked me how I managed to endure. I am nothing. Look at the characters in the bible. Jeremiah was thrown in to a mud pit that came up to one’s neck and was not able to sit or lie down (Jeremiah 38:6)


Ezekiel was told to lie down on his left 390 days and on his right for 40 days. All the while making and eating bread made of wheat, barley, beans, red beans, millet and oat cooked with fire fueled by human dung (Ezekial 4:4~17). It symbolized his responsibility for the sins of Israel. Compared to what the prophets had to go through the difficulties I went through is nothing.


Now the hearts of the Israelites’ have started to advance to a false religion that is starting to doubt God’s existence. Their standard of God whether He exists or not depends on whether He grants their requests. If God grants their requests God exists and if He doesn’t He doesn’t exist. Even the chosen people of God have this kind of thinking. Don’t we have this kind of thinking as well?


When our prayers are answered then Hallelujah! We say that God is definitely alive. However when our prayers are delayed or are not answered we think “did God die? Did he go out?” When we live the way we want and get used to my ways then the path becomes wider and wider. One will end up in death as the path gets wider. Hallelujah!


When I don’t walk in the path with my method but walk in the path which gets narrower and is driven to a corner we have to give thanks, pray to God and be happy. “God, things have progressed not the way I wanted however I am thankful. I believe that that path which seems very narrow will at some point open up to the road of Zion. Hallelujah!


God gives everyone almost different methods. Daniel and his three friends prayed together. They prayed but the answer to their prayers, and individual tests were different. Daniel went to the lion’s den, and Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) went to the furnace. They all received the same grace but their tests were different. When we pray we think “God will probably answer me in this way” and restrict the method of His answer. However when there is no answer we give up.


Today is Pentecost Sunday. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk "without money and without cost. (Isaiah 55:1). Apostle Paul confessed that he was crucified with Jesus (Galatians 2: 20). There is a border between us before believing in Jesus and after believing in Jesus.


The cross is the border. If one returns to his or her old way of life and then he or she is leaving the cross. Hell and judgment waits that person. We must not cross this boundary. Hallelujah! Let's say this together. We are at the boundary of the cross. The moment you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior you have crucified the desires and passions on the cross. After doing this you must not cross the boundary because you have entered the Lord’s kingdom. Hallelujah!


The Holy Spirit is not simply given. It is a gift from God that was given because Jesus Christ paid the price by dying on the cross. It is a gift to us but it is not a gift to God and Jesus. It was a price that Jesus Christ who is the Son of God paid by dying on the cross.


“Son, the only way is for you to die on the cross. The Holy Spirit has to go to them. As the Holy Spirit can only go to them through my Son's death, Son you have to be obedient.” Even if Father God did not tell Jesus this, Jesus knew His Father's heart. Because Jesus Christ died on the cross the Holy Spirit was given to us. That is why if you extinguish the Holy Spirit you are cursing and cheating Jesus.


If we think about Jesus who did this for us we have to change our prayers. We have to pray “LORD, please hold me. Let I be caught by You LORD, do not let go of me. LORD, a test has come. Let me win the test.” The reason why the Holy Spirit is with me is because Jesus paid the price by sacrificing Himself. If we are outside of Jesus there is nothing stuffy.


We can live freely. There is no worry. We can do everything we want and fight our way to survive. However, because we are in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit, and in grace when we pray we feel stuffy. Because we are in the grace of God the stuffiness the LORD gives us needs to be inside of us. Hallelujah!


All the pain in this world to us and the "we" in us will slowly disappear. The chance of becoming worldly is slowly reduced to almost nothing. That is why it is stuffy. It will be so if one is in Jesus. That stuffiness will be a method of maintaining our faith. It makes one pray and kneel before God. The person who knows this will surrender early and say God, You are correct.


In the end we can only kneel before God. We have to surrender early and our nature needs to be treated. Let's say this together. My nature has to be treated. When we stay in Christ the Holy Spirit will continue. Our temperament, sexuality, spirituality, flesh, personality, mentally will all need treating. Hallelujah!


The work of the Holy Spirit continues but the forces which continue to interfere it. We sin a bit by bit in our ways. Despite all this it is very precious that God does not take away the grace from us. Hallelujah! Even if we are hard pressed and we feel stuffy we are not being hard pressed. Even if we are trapped we are not trapped. If we think in the flesh then you will be trapped.


Although it is stuffy because we are being hard pressed on every side we will go deeper in to the river of grace and the spiritual realm. Strength to serve and to pray is created. There is no other way but through the power of the Holy Spirit! Hallelujah!


When we read the bible there is something we have to realize. There are two things that collide all the time. One of the two are the laws that we must keep and the other are the exceptional and variable rules. To believe in the word of God, pray, repent, be saved, be born again by the Holy Spirit, love, be humble, be obedient are basic things so we must keep them. Hallelujah!


Another exceptional variable is that it depends on each individual's level of faith. In terms of faith, power of the Holy Spirit, healing, prayer, power, answer to prayers, etc according to each individual's faith diverse variables will be put into action. Hallelujah!


That is why those parts need a lot of variables. Even in an equation there are constants and variables so depending on what numbers are put in diverse answers are produced. It works the same way. That is why I believe that upon the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit everything should be built up. And we need to love and be humble. If it goes wrong the fire itself can be something that is boasted. The ministry itself cannot be something that we can boast about. Hallelujah!


Even if we receive the fire of God we have to act as if we have nothing. Likewise if we have all the spiritual gifts we have to act as if we have none. If someone boasts about his or her baptism of the Holy Spirit fire we have stay still. The ability to pray, the baptism of the Holy Spirit fire can become one's pride. When God gives us power I believe that we have to be humble till the end. Hallelujah!


In Hosea 6:3 it says "Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." Do you know what happens as one presses on to know God more and more? It is a lot better to know God through the bible.


If you get to know God face to face then the more you know about Him the more you would want to die. We cannot control our tongue and flesh according to what I want. I cannot control my thoughts and emotions. The owner of our body and soul is God. When our bodies die or our spiritual eyes are opened and stand before God do you know what happens as we go deeper? Our flesh explodes. Like when one eats the food and if it is not digested he or she will feel nauseas the functions of the body will feel the same way.


It is like this when one stands before God or enters the world of light. You just can't endure it. We may think that our bodies are ours and use it to commit sin. Then when we go to the LORD's kingdom we will have to responsible for them and be thrown in to hell. We are suffering and thrashing around because our repentance did not go well but in hell we will experience pain that is a thousand time more painful. All the functions of our body, cell, plasma, joints will tell God. "This human committed this kind of sin". Like this my own tongue will accuse me before God.


You have no idea what a relief it is to be able to know about God through the bible and prayer. As we know God more we will become guiltier of ourselves. Usually after one commits a sin he or she will no longer know if it is sin. However as one tries to know God more and go deeper in to the spiritual world then inside of us fear and guilt is created automatically inside us.


If one goes before God the body cannot handle it and will confess before Him. As the body confesses it will want to die. As one knows more about God this occurs more often. If we experience this presence once then our lives we will be more holy and the power of godliness will be created. No one can understand God fully with human knowledge.


Among the twelve tribes of Israel there were ten tribes who became corrupted first. The son of King Solomon, Rehoboam was not like his father and was a dictator. He kicked out his subjects and persecuted them. Rehoboam left his faith like this and sets up Israel again in the north with ten tribes.


All the other tribes except for the tribe of Judah and Levi went north. They all started in faith but later the ten tribes were slowly led astray. So the Israel in the north fell first. Later the two tribes in the south also fell away. Then fallen Israel got all eaten up by the Babylonian empire.


It is the same for you and me and also for the nations. When disaster is visible then it is too late. That is why God on one hand will point out our sins and say that He will judge us and on the other hand will say that He will forgive us if we repent. Sin is so tactful that if you talk smoothly than one will not be able to understand. That is God disciplines strongly.


Because of the hidden sins of the Israelite priests, people God destroyed them through war. That is why in Hosea 6:1 it is says let us go back to God. It may be shameless and brazen but when we come before God I hope that we will pray for Him to forgive us. Hallelujah! This is the only way. "God, I failed. I made a mistake. LORD, I have done something really wrong. LORD, I am not recovering but please forgive me. I am here before you shamelessly”.


I said to Father God when I met Him, "Who else do I resemble other than you Father?" I committed sin but no words of repentance were able to come out easily. So in the end that was what I said. After I said this Jesus touched my head. "Father I am so sorry. Please forgive me. Who else do I resemble other than you Father?" After I said this Father God suddenly laughed out loud. God was like a grandfather who was annoyed yet was affectionate towards his naughty grandson.


Let's finish it off here. Even if the method of God does not match our method I believe that we are working with God. There is nothing more precious than a person why is waiting for the moment. Whatever the prayer request may be we need to pray about it, pray for the moment to be shortened, and ask for the LORD's guidance. Hallelujah! And always remember that God bears the bigger discomfort. I hope that until we are given the real rights we will be able endure the discomforts.


Let us pray. Father God, thank You for the grace. We still have not matured. Give us the faith to study our situations and let us wait for Your will by making our trust in you blossom. The path we are walking with You is so good and brings us much joy. Let us handle the calling You have given us till the end. Release us from curses and the pressure. Let us endure till the end. Your servant will now not be in the church for a month so be with us and give the pastors the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the pastor's messages let the congregation be given strength. Let the LORD's church rise up strongly and open up our real rights. Give the congregation strong faith so the evil spirits cannot work and even if they come let they be cast away with Your name. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.