Passage

[Deuteronomy 30:11-14]
"For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. [12] "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' [13] "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' [14] "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it."

[Introduction]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Do you feel it is difficult to lead a Christian life in faith or is it easy?
Most of you will say it is easy, but some of you may say something different.
Matthew 7:14 says, "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." So, they are trying even though it's hard.
Is there anyone among you who thinks like this?
Then you should cast away the thought that a Christian life is difficult.
A life in faith is by no means something difficult or hard. It is something easy.
Please listen carefully and understand why it is something easy.
So, at the beginning of this New Year 2010, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will lead easy, joyful, and happy Christian lives.

[Main]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, since I started a life in Christ, I never thought anything was difficult.
Even when I was so poor, I lived a happy Christian life. I was always happy even in trials.
Also, once I set a goal in faith, I never gave up in the middle, but ran towards the goal until the end.
Because I led a Christian life this way, naturally I could go into spirit and whole spirit quickly.
Even after I went into whole spirit my attitude didn't change.
As I was going into even deeper and higher levels of the spiritual realm, I never thought anything was difficult.
That is why when I achieved whole spirit I could turn everything into nothing and also endure all the spiritual trainings.
But then, why is it that I never felt any of these steps were hard or difficult?
How can we lead an easy Christian life?
First, we must have a clear goal.
God is alive, and the kingdom of heaven certainly exists.
God repays us according to what we have done on this earth. He lets us reap what we sow.
So, from the beginning, I had a very clear goal.
This goal is not something vague; it isn't something that could be achieved if we were 'lucky'.
If we just follow the way that God has taught us, we will certainly achieve this goal at the end of this road.
So, we don't even have to think whether we should really take this way or not.
Brothers and sisters, just think about the students who study to enter colleges.
They invest 12 years beginning from elementary school, then in middle school and throughout high school.
They put in so much effort studying everyday.
They invest so much time and energy just to achieve the goal of going to college.
Now, how many hours a week are you investing to achieve the goal of the heavenly kingdom and New Jerusalem?
The goal that we have ahead of us cannot even begin to compare with entering a college.
Moreover, we don't even have to worry whether we can really make it or not.
If we just follow the way that He shows us, all of us can achieve it.
The outcome will be given exactly according to what you have done. So, why hesitate to take this way?
Why give up in the middle while we have such a clear goal? We have no reason to be lazy.
For example, in case of salespersons, they work day and night in order to achieve their goal.
Even though they are rejected and hear some insulting words, they do their best.
It is because they have a clear goal that they want to achieve, and also because they have sure faith and hope about the things they will gain by achieving the goal.
Therefore, they do not consider it hard even though they work so hard.
They try so much just to achieve something physical, and how much more should we try when we try to achieve something spiritual?
There must be our effort to achieve a spiritual goal, and we should not say it is difficult or hard while doing something so natural.
Furthermore, the goal of New Jerusalem cannot be compared with anything physical.
We are taking this way to gain something so very good, and how can we get it without any toil or effort?
Of course, there have to be our toil and effort, but we are not supposed to say it is difficult.
Therefore, you should have a clear goal in order for you to lead a care-free Christian life.
You shouldn't think like, 'if I can, I will achieve it.' You have to make a goal that you know you will definitely achieve.
And you should run towards it vigorously.
For example, suppose you are climbing up a mountain. But even before you begin to climb, you think, 'Oh, this mountain is too difficult to climb.'
We have to look at the goal itself and think that we will definitely achieve it.
There is a saying for those who climb up a cliff. It says they must never look down. It means they have to just keep going up.
As they climb step by step, they will finally reach the top.
I hope you will run towards the goal in your faith this year, and furthermore towards New Jerusalem, looking ahead all the time.
//
To lead a Christian life without difficulty, secondly, we have to go towards the goal without change of mind.
Namely, we must not give up mid-way.
This changing of the mind is such a great obstacle in a Christian life.
The reason why I could go into spirit and whole spirit, and even to deeper spiritual realm, is because I had no change of mind.
Namely, I never gave up anywhere in the middle.
I could have gone into the deeper realm of spirit today because I neither changed mind nor gave up.
In Korea, there is a pastor who tried to go into the spiritual realm through prayers for a long period of time.
But God said that though he tried hard, he gave up mid-way and could not go into the spiritual realm.
It is not an easy thing to go into spiritual realm.
You cannot achieve it just by thinking, 'If I can't, it means I can't.'
In regard to going into spiritual realm and receiving revelations on Heaven, I never gave up or lost heart.
I didn't even think about quitting.
Because I never had any changing of mind or giving up, it wasn't difficult for me to go into the spiritual realm.
Of course, physically there were so many hardships and I had to expend great toil and effort with fasting and prayers, but I never thought those things were difficult.
If we do not have desire to change plans or give up the effort to accomplish our goal, we will not feel the way to achieve it is hard.
In case of a mountain-climber, if he thinks he wants to rest in the middle or he wants to go back down, then from that moment on he will feel it's difficult.
On the contrary, those who keep going towards the goal do not think anything is difficult in any situation.
A child of one of our assistant pastors was dying from a serious illness.
The dear child was at the threshold of death.
But when I saw the face of that pastor, she was always comfortable without any change of attitude.
She never changed her attitude in loving her shepherd, and she always shed her tears seeing him.
Because she had such a heart, she never gave up in any situation without any changing of her mind.
God considered her attitude and heart and finally cured her child.
As above, an unchanging heart and not giving up are crucial.
It's the same with a believer who gave her testimony recently.
Before her husband became a believer, she had to bring her two little children to the church by herself in order for her to attend church, but she always had a bright face.
And when the time came, God healed the disease of her husband and made him a believer, blessing the family in general.
Other than this case, why don't you ask those who are going this way of faith without a change in attitude?
If you ask them, "Is this life in faith hard?" then they will never say it's hard. They do not even think it's hard.
The main cause that makes us feel it's hard is the things in our heart.
We feel a Christian life is hard and difficult because we have the desire to give up in the middle and change our attitudes.
If you just cast away this one thing, the changing mind, a Christian life will be so much easier. You will be able to cast away other sins very easily, too.
Therefore, if you think a life in faith is difficult, I urge you to check your heart.
You should check how much of a changing mind and desire to give up you have.
Brothers and sisters, it is not an easy thing to get promoted in your work place.
If you just get promoted one step, how happy you will be!
But if you give up in a couple of years just because you are not promoted, or if you shift your workplace many times with changing attitude, it will be more difficult to get promoted.
In fact, for us to change and go to New Jerusalem is easier than to get promoted.
Depending on how you do it, you wouldn't have to wait for such a long time. According to your efforts, you can have the qualifications to enter New Jerusalem very quickly.
Thus, I urge you to never give up or change your attitude in the middle in this march towards New Jerusalem.
If we just cast away such a changing mind and keep on trying hard, it will never be difficult.
But rather, there is no other way that is easier than this.
So, I hope you will quickly rid yourself of the changing attitude and desire to give up.
Then, the thought itself that it's hard to go on this march of faith will disappear.
In 2010, I urge you to pull out all the desire to give up or change the mind in the middle so that you can always be happy and at ease in your Christian life.
In order to lead a life in faith without difficulties, thirdly, we have to be joyful and happy going towards the goal.
Brothers and sisters, let me give you another example of mountain-climbing.
The reason why people climb mountains, even though it's hard, is probably because of the happiness they get after they climb the mountain.
So, for some people, after they climb a high mountain, they look for a higher and rougher mountain to climb.
As they feel the happiness of conquering each mountain, they do not think it's hard to climb the mountains.
They'd rather feel happier and happier.
It's the same with a life in Christ.
As we lead a life in faith in Christ, there are different goals that we have to achieve at different times.
For example, at first we have the goal of 1st kingdom of heaven, and the 2nd kingdom, then the 3rd kingdom of heaven, and then to enter New Jerusalem.
As we conquer each level one by one, we will finally reach New Jerusalem.
So, how joyful and happy a thing it is to achieve each of the goals?
But some of you say that you feel it is hard when you discover the shortcomings in your Christian life.
But it should rather be the opposite.
Since I was a new believer, I was happy to find my shortcomings and cast them away.
I never thought it was hard to face my own shortcomings nor did I feel it somewhat wasteful to cast them away.
Why would it be hard when we find these things and cast them away and when we can achieve our goals and go nearer to New Jerusalem?
For example, suppose you are climbing a mountain, and you are carrying a very heavy backpack.
As you climb up the mountain, the backpack feels heavier and heavier.
So you open your backpack to find out that there are so many unnecessary things in it. Then, what would you do?
Obviously you will throw them out of your back pack. Nobody will say it's such a waste to throw them out.
You will try to throw away unnecessary things as much as possible. Who would want to carry unnecessary luggage with them?
The same goes with finding out your shortcomings and casting them out in your Christian life.

If you find out something to cast off, you can just cast it off as soon as possible.
Therefore, wouldn't you be happier if you find out more things to cast away?
You will get into better heavenly dwelling places only when you cast them away anyway, and the more you cast such things away, the happier you will become.
So, I hope you will rejoice more and give thanks when you realize your own evil.
You should think, "If I keep this with me, it will be so hard for me. I am so thankful that I realized it and I can cast it away. I will get rid of it as quickly as possible."
If you have this kind of attitude, then, realizing your sins and casting them away will be something happy, but not something hard.
You will be joyful and happy to accomplish sanctification.
This kind of person will always have joy and thanks even in trials and tests.
They find out their self even more and make themselves more perfect.
They are happy to realize themselves, to be able to cast them away, and to be changed.
This is the reason why we can always be happy in our walk of faith in every kind of situation.
We can all be happy like those people.

[Conclusion]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, listening to this message, would you say a march of faith is hard?
Doesn't it just seem right to say that it's easy, it's happy and joyful?
If you have thought that it was a little hard and difficult to lead a life in Christ, I urge you change that thought now.
I urge you to change that attitude itself.
You should think a life in faith is something so easy and happy.
Today's reading passage Deuteronomy 30:11-14 says, "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' [13] "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it."
As written, it is not something difficult to lead a life in Christ according to the word of God.
Especially in this church, you are taught and shown so clearly the way to go to New Jerusalem.
I heard a believer say the following:
"Senior pastor, in the way to Heaven, you paved the slopes and unpaved roads and made them highways, and so Manmin members can go this way with happiness and comfort"
Yes, it is right. You have such a clear goal of New Jerusalem.
I urge you to run this race with joy and happiness, without ever giving up or changing your mind.
Then, you will certainly be able to reach your goal, New Jerusalem.
In 2010, I hope none of you will feel that a life in faith is difficult or burdensome.
In this year, we should all take this march of faith with joy and happiness, so we can go ever nearer to our goal of New Jerusalem.
I hope many of you will have the qualifications to enter into New Jerusalem.
I pray in the name of the Lord that in this year 2010, many of you will say you are so happy and joyful taking this way of Christ in faith.

[Amen]