Passage

[Proverbs 8:17]
"I love those who love Me; and those who diligently seek Me will find Me."


Today is the Lunar New Year.
Happy Lunar New Year!
In the past, children used to put on the Hanbok (native Korean Dress) and went around the town to greet the relatives and the elderly.
They would bow saying, "Happy New Year" and the grownups would say something good for them, pat them on their heads, and give them some pocket money and holiday foods.
At that time, people were not as affluent as we are today, but they had this love and shared with each other.
If people have the desire to share good things with others like this, then just how much more would our God, who is full of lovingkindness, want to share good things with us!
How many good things would God want to give to you since you are offering him worship even on this Lunar New Year morning?
But to receive what God wants to give to us, as is in the title of today's sermon, we have to meet God.
Here, 'to meet God' does not only refer to our first encounter with God when we accept Jesus Christ.
It refers to all the moments where we experience the works of God in our daily lives.
Is there any of you who have not met God yet?
Or are there those of you who say that you used to meet Him often but nowadays it is not as frequent as in the past?
I hope this message will serve as a guide for you to be able to understand the ways to meet God.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will always meet God and furthermore, become God's true children who walk with God.


Main

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, viewing audiences,
The most fundamental and important thing for meeting God is that you should earnestly want to meet God.
A meeting cannot normally be held just because only one party wants the meeting.
It has to be mutually agreed so both parties are able to meet.
I mentioned what people used to do for the Lunar New Year, but suppose the children were forced by their parents to go greet the seniors.
If they bow with sulky faces and just want to leave the house immediately, how can the grownups give good things to the children, even if they have prepared many good things?
Our God is always preparing good things to give to His children both for their spirits and their bodies.
But if the children do not seek this God, they cannot meet Him or receive good things from Him.
God meets His children when they open their hearts and then seek God with their whole heart.
It is just as today's reading passage Proverbs 8:17 says, "I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek Me will find Me."
Is there any of you who have been forced by your family members to come to the church?
Today, I hope you will ask God yourself, "God, please meet with me!"
Our God is so good.
And it is my regret that so many people do not try to seek or meet God but rather worship meaningless idols.
When you preach the gospel, some people listen when you talk about God and the Lord, but others refuse to accept the gospel saying, "If you show God to me, I will believe," or "I believe in myself."
Some of them even embarrass you saying, "You can just go and be a good little believer all by yourself!"
But our God is never to be so marginalized in this way.
He is so precious and great and cannot even begin to compare with meaningless idols.
Habakkuk 2:19 talks about the foolishness of the idol-worshippers as follows:
"Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, 'Awake!' To a mute stone, 'Arise!' And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it."
Certainly! Idols cannot talk nor can they blink their eyes.
They are just pieces of wood, stone, or metal.
On the other hand, just who is our God?
As written in Jeremiah 29:12, "Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you," Our God is living and hears our prayers.
He is our Father God who answers us, speaks to His children, and meets them.
Idols are merely fashioned objects, but God is the Creator who has created heavens and earth and everything in them.
The foolish people worship the sun, moon, and stars, but God is the true God who created all these things.
Also, idols are made by men after the images of men or animals, but God is the One who created all living human beings and animals.
So, how can He be compared with any idol?
Furthermore, God is full of mercy and compassion.
He gave His only begotten Son as a propitiation for mankind who were destined to eternal death due to their sins.
Jesus came to this earth in human body and showed the love of God to the people until He died on the cross.
Matthew 4:23-24 says, "Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them."
Jesus shared in the pains and joys of mankind and preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven to those who were in pain to give them true hope.
He set them free from the pains of diseases.
He promised them eternal life and true rest.
Woe will follow those who worship idols, but if we serve God, He gives us prosperity and peace in our family, workplaces, and business fields.