Passage

[Colossians 3: 1-2]
[1] Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.


Introduction

Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has blessed us to have this devotional service.
I also give thanks to all the devotees who have prepared for this service with all your hearts, minds, and souls.
Dear devotees,
Please repeat after the title of today's message.
"Let us go forth."
When we go forth where do we have to go?
You are playing major roles in this church that is going forth to the world and to the future.
Also, you are God's children who are going forth to New Jerusalem.
In the past, when you had to go forth, you didn't realize where you had to go, or what had true value.
You didn't realize why you have to live a life in faith and you couldn't really feel the love of God the Father or the Lord.
You may have been curious about the lustful things of the world that will perish, and you took the earthly and worldly things.
But you are different now.
Many students say they experienced the love of God through the tears of the shepherd and now they have realized what is truly valuable.
Today's reading passage Colossians 3:1-2 says, "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."
As written, you are revived through the blood of the Lord, and you only look up to the things above.
You are marching towards New Jerusalem.
But marching towards New Jerusalem does not mean you just charge forward.
You have to have a specific and precise goal and keep on checking yourself to be sure you're staying on the right track along the way.
Now, I will explain to you in three aspects about what you have to go forth for, namely what kinds of specific goals you should have.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will keep the message in mind and practice it, so that your hope for New Jerusalem will be fulfilled.


Main

Dear devotees,
Those who look at the things above, first of all, should go forth for holiness.
To go forth for holiness means that your faith has to take a deep root in you.
A tree without a deep root might have many green leaves in rain, but when drought comes it soon becomes weak.
The tree can take in water and nutrients and bear fruit in any kind of situation and circumstance only when it is deeply rooted.
Similarly, your faith also has to be rooted deeply in holiness.
This way you can keep the fullness of the Spirit and you can become more ardent.
The fullness of those who are not going forth towards holiness is only momentary and outwardly appearance.
Even though you sing praises, attend worship services and all kinds of meetings, it is not easy to keep that kind of fervor.
If the grace cools down or if there is a problem, this fervor and fullness might disappear.
Then, how can you go forth towards holiness?
First, you have to reflect upon yourself with the word of God.
When you come to worship services and attend the mini-crusades, you are happy just to listen to the message.
But you should not just think, "I am happy attending the worship service."
You have to keep in mind what kinds of messages you heard and you have to apply them to yourself.
When you listen to the message, you should not just keep it as knowledge thinking, "Yes, this is goodness, and that is evil."
Thinking like, "Oh, I have this changing of mind, I was rude to my friend yesterday. I threw my temper tantrum to my mom. I hated my friend for acting like that. All this was evil. I have to change," you have to apply the message to yourself and determine to change yourself.
In order for you to go forth towards holiness, next, you have to cast off sins through prayers.
When you find out your evil through the word, it is the best if you can realize yourself and change it right away.
But there are things that cannot be cast off immediately.
You make up your mind to cut off the worldly things when you listen to the message.
But after some time, you want to take it up again. When you see your friends doing such things, your determination weakens and you might take those things again.
You were blessed in the mini-crusades and you want to serve and obey your parents. But as soon as you go back home, your parents give you a hard time.
Your mom might scold you saying, "What are you going to become when you grow up? You never do your homework properly and just play around! Why do you come back so late? They say all the students in the church are changing, and why not you?"
Then, how do you react?
I believe you would answer with gentleness saying, "Mom, sorry for making you so worried. I am also changing. I will do my homework, and I will do better. I will not cause you to worry anymore."
Of course, in the church you want to do better. But being in such a situation in actuality, your feelings might get hurt and you resent the remarks of your parents.
Then you might throw a temper tantrum. Then, you regret what you did.
In this kind of situation, for you to carry out what you had determined to do, you have to receive strength through prayer.
As you pray fervently, the Holy Spirit will remind you of the truth when you are in a situation where you are not practicing the word.
You will have thoughts of truth such as, 'If I take the fleshly things again, Satan will rejoice over it. Being offended and getting angry are the thoughts of Satan. I am a child of God and I cannot follow the instructions of Satan," and you will have the strength to carry out your resolve.
Also, you should not just suppress your feelings at the moment. You have to pull out the fleshly attributes from your heart.
You have to cast off your love for the world, uncomfortable feelings, hard feelings, resentment, and the anger from your heart.
If you get frustrated or angry, it is not because of other people.
If you do not have any evil in you, you will not have any hard feelings or anger no matter what.
If you pray fervently, these fleshly emotions will be removed.
Those who pray ardently will also receive the strength to keep the decisions they made in any kind of temptation.
You will have the fullness of Spirit consistently when you march forward towards holiness with the word of God and prayer everyday.
You can be more ardent and happier as the days go by.
In order for you to march towards holiness, thirdly, you have to meditate on the hope of Heaven, the grace of God, and the love of the shepherd.
No matter how good the worldly things are, they can never be compared with Heaven.
Also, the love and grace of God the Father cannot be changed with anything in this world.
He created the heavens and the earth and all things, and He gave the life of His only begotten Son for us.
He rejoices over you when you change, and He is anxiously waiting for you to become holy.
How can we disappoint this God the Father?
We have to meditate on this hope of Heaven and the love of the Father.
As you think like, "The more flesh I cast off, the better heavenly dwelling place I can get into. The Father is looking at me with warm smiles," then you can receive more strength to march towards holiness.
Many of you students profess as follows:
"I know that my shepherd loves me, so I will be joy and strength to him by becoming holy." Many of you make up your mind to do so.
I hope you will remember the grace of God the Father, hope of Heaven, and the love of the shepherd in marching towards holiness without any hindrances.
I urge you to change yourself in each aspect with the truth.
Dear students,
Those who look up to the things above, secondly, must march on to conquer and subdue the world.
To conquer and subdue the world does not mean you have to oppress somebody with physical strength. Instead it means to fulfill your duties with faithfulness and diligence.
When Adam was first created, he had the right to subdue and rule over all things.
But until that could really happen, Adam had to study a lot.
He learned about Eden, the plants and animals on the Earth, the order in the universe, and all other necessary knowledge to rule over the world that God created.
Of course, it was not so difficult because he had the wisdom given by God. But he could rule over all things only after he equipped himself with all the necessary knowledge.
Today, at this end time, in order for you to overcome the world and expand the kingdom of God, you too must have the ability to do it.
As students you have to study and improve your talents to master good skills.
Of course, you have to pray, learn the word of God, and be faithful in the church.
But you cannot become any strength to your shepherd only because you spend your time in church and neglect other things.
You cannot become strength to the church only with fervor to do it.
You can be used for the kingdom of God only when you have substantial capability to provide service to the kingdom of God.
Just like grown up adults have to be faithful in their workplace, family, and all God's house, you must also be faithful both in your schools and church.
You should make yourself more capable than the worldly people so that you can be recognized anywhere in the world.
To do this, you must have firm determination, and you have to expend effort.
You have to study harder than others to improve your skills and talents.
You can become Manmin's students who really look up to the things above only by expending effort to improve your knowledge, skill and abilities.
Are there any of you who worry because you have not been studying hard, you are behind other students and your fundamentals in studying aren't good?
If you just have the willingness to do it, God will open the way for you.
You can be provided with the ways to make up your shortcomings through your teachers, guidance pastors, parents, or other people who can help you.
If you just keep on doing your best without giving up, all Manmin students can achieve your goals.
Just believe that you can do it with the power of God who gives you wisdom and strength with the original lights.
Dear students,
Those who look up to the things above, thirdly, must march on towards the souls who are on the way to death.
You came to have hope of Heaven, but around you, so many people are racing towards the horrors of Hell.
There are so many family members, friends, neighbors, and relatives who do not know the Lord.
You have to go to them and let them receive salvation, too.
But for you to be able to evangelize them, you first have to show them the fruits you have borne.
It is important to spread the gospel with your lips, but that is not enough.
What is more important is that you have to show the evidence of the living God in your life.
Through your life, you must be able to make people around you say, "A believing student is a really good student. As I see him change, as I see her receive blessings, I can see that God is really alive."
Matthew 5:14-16 says, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
If you light a lamp in the house, it will brighten the whole house, and even from a distance you can see the light through the window.
I hope you will also shine the light of the truth around you through your dedication, sacrifice, and service.
It must go on everyday, and not just for a couple of days.
Then, many unbelievers will give glory to God seeing your good deeds, and they can also believe in God.


Conclusion

Dear students, let us shout together.
Let us go forth for holiness!
Let us go forth to conquer and subdue the world!
Let us go forth for the dying souls!
I believe you can keep this message in your heart and accomplish it.
Being young cannot be a reason that you will not be in the leading group of spirit.
Can you just march towards New Jerusalem remembering the love of the Father and the Lord, and holding the hands of your shepherd?
I will never let go of your hands either.
You have to increase this fervor that you have now to bear the spiritual fruits of holiness, faithfulness, goodness, and love.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that, we will all live happily forever in New Jerusalem.
In addition, I would like to say a few words for the guidance pastors.
You cannot change any soul by force.
You cannot force them not to look at the world but you can show them how to focus on one point at a time.
You have to see them with eyes of love and serve them with love so you can change their heart.
You have to give them the strength for them to cast away the original evil nature.
For this, the pastors, teachers, and parents should all change, and especially, the guidance pastors must change and receive the strength.
You should not easily think that it is done because the shepherd has done this much.
With the same heart of the shepherd who has done this, you should also long for the power and change yourself thinking of the good ways to provide them with spiritual things and feed them with good things.
You have to expend all your effort to change yourself in order to do this.
In doing so, I urge you in the name of the Lord that you will stand before God without any shame as those who are in charge of such precious souls.

2011-08-29 Posted
2011-09-21 Updated