[Passage]

John 4:24
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has blessed us to have this 2010 Performing Arts committee devotional service.
I give thanks to all the devotees who have prepared for this service with all your hearts, minds, and souls.
Dear devotees, the duty of Performing Arts committee is to praise God with songs, dances, and musical instruments.
It is not the physical sounds and the body movements that God accepts. He accepts the aroma of the heart that is contained in them.
God is pleased with praises, and for this reason He gave you so much grace.
I also cherish you so much and served you with my best to help you fulfill your duties.
And when you receive this kind of grace, you should not begin to take it for granted.
You should not stay in flesh that perishes and changes.
Because you receive more grace than others, you should try harder to go into spirit.
But as of now you are not yet really meeting the expectations of God.
You have listened to many messages, but how well did you imprint them on your hearts?
What kind of truly fervent effort have you extended in order to cast away evil and go into spirit?
God is spirit, and through Spirit He knows everything.
He knows your deeds, your heart, your words, and everything about your life.
If you say evil words and show evil deeds with evil heart, and adorn yourself beautifully and praise God with smiling, will God accept it with joy?
Here, 'to praise' includes not just singing, but dancing and using musical instruments, too.
The worldly people will applaud when they see performances of those who are gifted, but God doesn't.
No matter how beautiful the trappings and how ornate the decorations, God considers the spiritual aroma foremost.
I hope Performing Arts Committee will be renewed through this service and touch and move the heart of God who is Spirit.
I pray in the name of the Lord that not just your singing, dancing, and playing but also each of your hairstyles and adornments will be acceptable to God.

[Main]

dear devotees, in order to please God who is spirit, above all, you have to cultivate goodness.
You have heard so much about goodness.
But to the extent that people have evil in them, they just continue to follow their old habits even though they hear about goodness.
They just speak words of untruths as they come into their mind, and they follow their benefit as their mind directs them.
They don't even have the discernment to check how much goodness they cultivated in them, so they cannot even try to cast away evil.
I have not taught you only with words but I actually showed you what goodness is and what love is.
If you have remembered all these things in your mind, you should have at least cultivated a minimal amount of goodness, which is not to have any evil feelings against those who act evil toward you.
Many of you should have gone into the level of goodness to furthermore touch their hearts and even give your life for them.
Now, how much goodness can you say you have cultivated in you?
Do you remember the messages on the Spiritual Love Chapter, the Beatitudes, Fruits of Spirit, and Fruits of Light? How much of these have you cultivated in your heart?
When I talk to you about three things, I hope you will hold on to them and cultivate true goodness quickly.
In doing so, I hope you will please God by offering up to Him fragrant and spiritual praises.
Dear devotees, in order to offer God-pleasing praises, you have to be careful about your words on your lips.
One of the main standards to discern whether God will accept your praises is to check your words, as to how truthful they are.
James 3:8-11 says, "But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; [10] from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. [11] Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?"
People's words come from their heart. Those who speak evil words have evil and dirty hearts.
Even though you might present your praise with beautiful voice or dance, if you praise God with evilness of heart, it cannot become a beautiful aroma before God.
Let me give you an example. There is a big vessel full of water.
It seems the water is clean and there is no particular foul odor.
But the fact is that the water is taken from the toilet of a public bathroom.
Then, would you wash your face or cook with that water?
You would hate to even touch that water. The same goes with praise.
If you have evil heart that gives out evil words, your beautiful praises cannot please God.
I urge you to check the words on your lips at each moment.
You must not say any words of gossip, judging and condemning others, words that disappoint God and make others stumble, words that follow worldly trend, words of falsehood, or useless jesting and joking.
I hope you will speak only beautiful words and words of faith that can edify others.
Dear devotees, in order to offer God-pleasing praises, secondly, you must have love.
Suppose a parrot that imitates human words says to you thousands of times, "I love you. You are so beautiful." Then, will you be touched by those words?
However, if your beloved children say they love you from the heart, it is greatly moving and comforting.
Your praises can move God who is spirit to the extent that you have love in you.
If you really have love, your life will be full of evidences of it.
You will always thank God for His grace, and you should be able to sacrifice yourself for the kingdom of God.
The same goes with praying.
If you really love God, you will pray more earnestly and with tears when praying for the shepherd, other pastors and workers, or for the Canaan Sanctuary, than when you pray for yourself.
If you have true spiritual love, you will not just love God but also all your brothers and sisters.
1 John 4:20 says, "for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."
Now, how much do you love your brothers? Imagine the following situation.
Suppose we will have the greatest and most glorious overseas crusade ever.
God tells us that all performing arts teams should be utilized to prepare for the performances.
But, God says only two members from each team will be chosen.
Two from Hallelujah Praise Mission, two from Power Worship Dance team, two from Arts Mission team, and two from Sound of Light, Crystal, Rainbow, Psalms and Hymns, Love Dancing Team, Pearl chorus and so on.
Now we have to select those who have gentle hearts and also who have good skills.
In this situation, what kind of heart would you have?
Would you think that you are better saying, "I have more experience and better skills, so I think I should go!"?
Or, would you be nervous or be disheartened thinking you will not be selected? What if you are actually not chosen?
Would you consider others to be better than you and give thanks with joy?
Would you think you will try your best to help them do better?
I believe many of you will think in goodness that you would be able to do it.
Now, let us imagine another situation.
This time, it's not two members who are selected from each team but two members are excluded from each team.
Two from love dancing team, two from arts mission team, and two members from each team will be excluded.
It's the same with the choir. But, only ten members from the whole choir will be excluded.
Now, who will be excluded?
You see the list, and you are one of those who are excluded. Then how do you think you would feel?
In some cases, if you are not chosen, your feelings when only two members are selected will be different than when only two members are excluded.
If you are not selected while most others are not selected either, you might say you are thankful. But, if are not selected while the majority is selected, your fleshly nature will be revealed.
You might be disappointed and even lament saying you are a useless worker.
Your resenting and complaining will come out by thinking, "I have better skills than they do. Then, is it really because they have more gentle heart than I do? I saw her getting angry and jealous, and why is it that I am not better than her? I have been faithful to this team for a long time, and all my faithfulness has been useless!"
From this moment on, you might feel heart-broken whenever you hear about the crusade.
When other people are preparing for the crusade, you just quietly leave the place.
Then, imagine how uncomfortable others will be because of you!
The situation is only hypothetical, but I believe you may have checked your heart.
Even if you had not been selected, would you be happy for the others who had been selected?
Would you think, "How can I help them? I want to suggest to them some good ideas and I will take care of other things for them so they can concentrate on their practices. I will also try harder to have better skills and become spiritual"?
Of course you should think this way. I urge you to act in love not just in this kind of a case, but also in all matters.
In each team and among different teams, I hope you will serve first and you will sacrifice yourself first.
If there is something good, make concession to others to choose first.
I hope you will be united in love so that you can rejoice together in good things and help each other in difficult things.
Dear devotees, in order to offer God-pleasing praises, thirdly, you have to pray ardently.
Of course, many of you pray a lot and always attend Daniel prayer meetings.
But just praying for a long time or raising your voice in prayer does not mean it's ardent prayer.
Your voice is raised in prayer because you have earnest heart and you cry out with all your heart.
When you pray, you have to pray for specific things by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
If you really believe that the almighty God is listening to your prayer, the prayer of many of you would change.
As you receive the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by praying with all your heart, you can pray fervently in that work of the Holy Spirit.
You will be able to change yourself when you pray as above.
You will be able to realize to what extent you have cast away evil and which level of goodness you have reached.
Many people have stoppages resulting from their self-righteousness and frameworks, but they do not realize it in themselves. They just think they are doing just fine in their faith.
They don't commit serious works of the flesh, so they think they will someday reach New Jerusalem.
But if you have listened to the Gospel of Holiness for 5 or 10 years and if you really kept the word in your heart and prayed with all your heart, you must have changed significantly.
Of course, many of you tried your best and changed a lot. But there are still some who still follow the lust of the flesh or backslide in their faith.
They hurt others' feelings, break peace, and follow after their own benefits, but they don't even realize they are doing it.
If they don't like somebody, they get frustrated and have hard feelings, but they think they are good-hearted because on the outside they smile at them.
They follow the lust of the eyes and boastful pride of this life to follow the worldly trends, but say they need to do those things to fulfill their duties.
If God calls your name and talks about your life in faith, do you think you can be praised by God?
Those who pray with all their heart can see themselves very clearly.
They can recognize the details of their fleshly forms and they receive the strength to cast away evil.
Dear Performing Arts Committee members, I urge you once again.
You have to accumulate fervent prayers and go into spirit quickly.
If you stay in flesh, you will only put yourself further and further away from the heavenly Father.
You won't bear any fruit even though you work hard.
Even though you come up with many ideas and practice hard, it will be difficult to touch the church members.
In the near future, there will be more and more teams and more members in the committee.
Then, those performers who can move the church members will be used more often.
Therefore, if you stay in flesh, you will fall behind even though nobody pushes you or holds you back.
You have to realize whether or not you really longed for spirit with heart and not just with words, and how much goodness you have accumulated.
Let me give you one more bit of advice. You are same as the face of Manmin Central Church.
So, all your words and deeds have to be proper and appropriate in all aspects.
There must not be any untidy appearances or meaningless words. All the church members and even people from outside should be amazed.
I hope none of you will think, "I don't have a great title or faith. I am not seen that much. People won't care about what I do."
Being in the Performing Arts Committee itself is a great duty to set a good example before the church members.
It is to be set apart being pure and holy.
Especially involving the praise songs of this church that are given by God Himself.
I hope you will be thankful for all the great grace and glory given to you and be spiritually awakened.

[Conclusion]

dear devotees, I believe you have put in so much effort to prepare for today's special praise.
Undoubtedly, you have been careful with your words for several weeks to offer God a more beautiful aroma and to move the heart of the church members.
You adorned your hearts with fasting and prayers.
But there is a much greater and much more important performance that you have to prepare for.
Of course, you will give glory to God with more splendid and beautiful performances, but there will be the most important performance.
As you always hope, it is the praise that you will offer to God at His throne in New Jerusalem.
The day is coming when you will raise your voices and offer the best aroma with your praises, movements and sounds from your musical instruments.
You should not only prepare for the next performance you will have in this church; you have to prepare for that day diligently.
I hope you will quickly finish your adornments as the brides of the Lord, keeping your whole spirit, soul, and body blameless, and give the best praise to God all the time.
I pray in the name of the Lord that in the future, all of you will be able to perform before God's throne, wearing the robe of praise that is decorated with gorgeous patterns.