[Passage]

1 Corinthians 11:1 "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ."

Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father for allowing us to have this 2010 Students' devotional service.

I also give thanks to all the students who have prepared for this service with all your hearts, minds, and souls.

I give thanks to the guidance pastors, directors, Sunday school teachers, and the parents, too, for their service to the students.

Dear students of Manmin, please repeat after me with a loud voice.

"Manmin's students are the exultation of Manmin."
Repeat after me one more time. "I am the exultation of Manmin."

God the Father has given you this message for this devotional service and He is expecting each of you to become the exultation of Manmin.

He hopes that you will be very confident even before the unbelievers and give glory to God.

You can receive the grace and strength of God to the full extent as you believe in God and obey Him.

You can shine the light of the truth in this sinful and filthy world.

Today's reading passage 1 Corinthians 11:1 says, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ."

I have taught you so much with following evidences as to what truth is and how you can receive blessings.

So, you students have learned what truth is through so many messages.

I urge you to cultivate what you learned in your heart completely.

I hope you will think seriously about how you can please God during each moment of your life and how you can receive the grace and strength of God.

You shouldn't just think that you can take it easy in your life of faith merely because you are still young. You have to try to see, hear, and think everything only in the truth.

Then, God will lead your life in every aspect.

He will give you wisdom, understanding, and health, and He will answer your prayers and make your future life prosper.

He will let you be acknowledged by your relatives, neighbors, teachers, and friends.

Through this devotional service, I hope you will dwell in the love of God the Father, and you will try harder to dwell in the truth.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, in doing so, you will become the pride of Manmin who give glory to God wherever you go.

Main

Dear students, in order for you to become the exultation of Manmin, first of all, you have to think in spirit.
Even if you are in a difficult situation, you have to see everything with eyes of spirit and deal with each situation with spiritual mind and thought.

Even the worldly people say everything is up to how you make up your mind.

Even in the same situation, things can turn out differently according to how you make up your mind.

It is even truer in the faith.

If you have spiritual thoughts, you will have spiritual deeds, and you will bear the spiritual fruits and fruits of blessing.

But if you have fleshly thoughts, these thoughts will lead you to have fleshly deeds, and you will only bear fleshly fruits.

You have heard a lot about spiritual thoughts and fleshly thoughts.

Simply put, spiritual thought is the thought that you have in the truth.

It is to think in faith, hope, and love. It is also to think in joy, thanksgiving, and goodness.

On the other hand, fleshly thoughts are the thoughts of hatred, disappointment, ill-feelings, complaints, and resentment.

Thoughts of unbelief and negative thoughts are also fleshly thoughts that discourage you.

Romans 8:6 says, "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace."

If you want to check whether you have spiritual thoughts or fleshly thoughts, you can reflect upon yourself with this verse.

When you examine your thoughts, you can see whether you have fullness of Spirit and peace, or if you feel burdened and heavy-hearted.

For example, suppose your family is in a difficult situation.
Some people make their own lives even more miserable by having pessimistic thoughts.

They complain thinking, "My friend is rich, and his mom always helps him study better by staying home. But my parents are so busy they don't have time to pay any attention to me. My friend's parents would buy him anything he wants. If he wants to play a musical instrument or play sports they get him what he needs if he wants it. But it's impossible for me. My family is not rich, and I am not in a good situation. I don't even want to try to study. When is this situation going to change- I am so unhappy!"

If you have negative thoughts like these, how can the situation change or can you receive the strength to bear good fruit-

You will only have more discomfort, and you will lose your strength even more.

In the end, it will only make your situation worse.

On the other hand, some people think and act positively even in the same kind of situation.

They think like: "Even though the current situation is not good, I will bear good fruit if I just try my best. Although my family is not rich, I have my parents who love me. I am so thankful just for the fact that I am healthy and I can try! I have experienced some difficulties now, and when I become successful later, I want to encourage those who are in difficult situations!"

Even in this world, there are many people who overcome hardships with positive thinking and hard-effort.

But when they think and try with a positive attitude, they have to overcome the difficulty only with their own strength and willpower.

But as children of God we can receive the strength of God.

Therefore, we can have much hope in faith, and we have more things to give thanks for than unbelievers.

You can think like, "There are so many people who are going the way to Hell without knowing God, but I have heard the gospel and I can go to Heaven. I am so fortunate. Moreover, I am so blessed because I hear the word of life and experience the power of God all the time in this church! Although my family is not rich, I am so thankful that we are all healthy and together we can lead lives in faith in God.
The almighty God is my Father, and so I will rely on God for He tells us to believe we have received whatever we ask with faith. The Father will lead me and bless me when I try my best in my everyday life." You can give thanks, rejoice, and think in goodness and truth, and faith and hope.

If you think in spirit and rely on God, you will experience that the grace and blessing of God will come upon you.

In that way, you can give glory to God through your life.

Dear students of Manmin, in order for you to become the exultation of Manmin, secondly, you have to keep your heart and arm yourself with the truth so that the worldly things will not come into you.

If you always have spiritual thoughts, you can keep your heart and dwell in the truth. Then you can be confident before God.

On the other hand, if you take in worldly things and keep them close to your heart, you will soon lose spiritual confidence.

Even though you don't receive immediate punishment, you will feel uncomfortable, sorry and nervous about such things.

The grace you've received will cool down in worship services, and it will become more difficult to pray.

You cannot concentrate on your studies.

You will feel just like Adam did after he ate from the tree of the knowledge and hid himself from God because he was ashamed of his actions.

1 John 2:15-17 says, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [17] The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

You students of Manmin must not accept any of the attributes that come from lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, or the boastful pride of life.

You must not see, hear, or take in anything that is not truth.

Nowadays, I hear that not just middle school or high school students but also elementary school students have boyfriends and girlfriends.

Some of them put on heavy make-up. And not just the girls but also boys wear necklaces, rings, or bracelets, caring very much about their appearances.

They feel it more natural to use foul language than gentle language, and there are so many students who smoke and drink, too.

If they know how to use Internet, they can very easily have access to things that God hates.

Of course, there were such students in the past, too.

But in the past there were only a few, and they knew the fact that they were not doing well.

But nowadays, such a trend is so widespread that they don't even know they are doing something wrong.

You can easily get stained by the fleshly things in this environment if you let your guard down and become lax in your attitude.

The fleshly things that your friends are taking in might seem good, and you might take them little by little thinking it's OK because everyone else is doing it.

But, you have to be able to discern correctly.

Just following some of the worldly trends may not be a sin leading you to death immediately.

But, is that kind of heart acceptable before God if you take in such things-

Can you be confident before God-

Also, what kind of spiritual benefit can such things give you-

As you accept and take in fleshly things, you want to take more and more of the fleshly things.

Later, you won't be able to control yourself.

You think, "Oh, I shouldn't be doing this, but you cannot obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. You will fall deeper and deeper into flesh."

That is why you must not accept any of the temptation for the worldly things.

Even though you are still young, God wants the same kind of holiness from you as He would from mature adults.

God wants you to fill your heart with the love for God and hope for Heaven. He wants you to have the desire to give glory to God by bearing fruits in your life. He wants you to have the passion to become holy.

But if the worldly things seem good to you, God says, it means you don't have love for God in your heart.
You have listened a great deal to the word of truth, and you know about flesh and spirit.

You can discern between the things that can please God and that will not please God.

Therefore, if you hear any voice of temptation that leads you to take the worldly things that God dislikes, then, drive it away sternly.

Realize that such a voice is the work of the enemy devil and Satan and drive it away in the name of Jesus Christ.

The way for you to receive blessings and answers to your heart's desires is to not take the worldly things but to keep your heart with the truth.

Even though you may have been taking in the things of the world until now, you can make up your mind right now.

If you make up your mind not to take in the world any more, but just love God alone and hope for Heaven, and run your race of faith, how pleased God the Father will be!

When Solomon pleased God, God gave him the greatest wisdom in the world.
God also gave him great honor and wealth without his asking for it.

I hope you will be students of Manmin who can make me proud by pleasing God and by receiving answers to whatever you ask.
Dear students of Manmin, in order for you to become the exultation of Manmin, thirdly, you have to be faithful in all things and bear the fruit.

The whole and basic duty of men is to revere God.

But those who truly revere God will bear the fruit of faithfulness not just in the church but also in all other aspects of their lives.

It means they have to be faithful in all God's house.

For example, I believe some of you would like to evangelize your unbelieving parents.

And just imagine the following situation. Some children are always complaining to the parents about something.

Then, they hang out with other friends to play around, saying they go to church.

They cannot really manage their time and neglect their studies, so their grades fall.

If unbelieving parents see these children, would they want to go to church-

I am not saying you have to study all the time or you have to be the number one in your class.

Of course, your duty as a child of God is first, but you also have to fulfill your duties as children of your parents and as students.

Also, if you really worship and pray with all your heart, you will be inspired by the Holy Spirit to be faithful in all other aspects.

You can give glory to God and become the pride of the church only when you are faithful in your duties and bear the fruits.

In order to do this, you have to manage your time very well in your church activities and studies. And you should try your best in everything.
You wouldn't come to church thinking, "Which clothes look the best- How will I do my hair- Where should I go to play after the service-" or thinking like, "I will pray a little bit and come out in the middle of the prayer meeting and talk with my friends having some soft drinks."

You have to come to the church with a godly heart longing for the grace that God will give to you.

You have to worship and pray with all your heart.

And you shouldn't take your studies casually.

It's not just because your parents are telling you to study, but you have to study with a clear goal and with faithfulness.

You have to try your best with the desire to give glory to God and to become the exultation of Manmin.

I hope none of you will think like, "I am not smart, so I don't have to try hard. I can't afford any private tuition and I can't study by myself. I don't have the basics, and it will be useless to try now."

I will soon deliver the messages on how to study well, and you can just make up your mind and ask for God's strength.

Is there anyone among you who thinks that your effort didn't work-

Then, why don't you think about this point-

How earnestly did you ask for God's grace and how much time did you invest in your studies-

How much time did you save that you used to waste to focus on your studies-

Why don't you cut off the worldly trends, boyfriends and girlfriends, games and Internet, and concentrate on your studies just three or four hours a day.

If you do that every day, you will soon see the fruit of your effort in just a couple of months.

Of course, you have to be faithful in your Christian life and pray hard.

When the students in the world try hard and reap one thing, you can reap two, three or even more with the strength of God.

God who is the source of all wisdom and understanding will give you strength and let you glorify Him.

Conclusion

Dear students of Manmin, 1 Thessalonians 2:19 says, "For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation- Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming-"

I always emphasize that you must not befriend the world and you must not commit sins.

I am saying these things that the worldly people will dislike, but you do not distance yourselves from me.

Instead, you love me and draw near to me.

You want to listen to the message, repent and obey, and you want to live a life of giving glory to God.

And for me, you who are acting this way are so precious and lovely.

I am proud of you and thankful for you.

So, I pray that you will become the crown of exultation before the Lord when He comes back.

I hope you will keep this message in your mind, pray and obey, and accomplish it.

Do not think in flesh but in spirit in all matters.

Do not be stained by the world, keep your heart, and cultivate your heart with the truth.

Keep the duty of man, and try your best to bear the fruit.

I hope the guidance pastors, Sunday school teachers, and parents would help them remember this message all the time.

As you keep the word in your mind, pray, and try hard, you will soon have many testimonies.

Your faith will change; your grades will go up; your characters will change; and you will receive the desires of your heart.

I pray in the name of the Lord that all you students will receive blessings this way and give glory to God and become the exultation of Manmin.

[Amen]