Passage

[Mark 9:23] "And Jesus said to him, ''If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes.'"


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, how proud are you of the duty that you have as a Sunday school teacher?
The title of a Sunday school teacher is not a little title.
1 Corinthians 12:28 mentions the teachers as the third among all the bodies of the church, after the apostle and prophet.
Those children who are growing up are easily influenced by their environment and people around them.
Their lives can change greatly according to how each Sunday school teacher serves them.
It can even make the difference in the salvation of the souls, the difference between Heaven and Hell.
As the end of days draws near, the world becomes darker than ever, and even the youngest of students are exposed to many sins.
Some of them are stained by the world even before they develop their own personalities, so they cannot control themselves as they are falling into darkness.
In order to protect the students of this generation, you must have a stronger sense of duty as Sunday school teachers.
You cannot lead the children by forcing them just because you have passion.
The Bible says God's kingdom is not in words but in power.
This power is spiritual power.
None of the duties in the kingdom of God can be accomplished with physical power.
We have to drive away darkness with lights, and we have to drive away the enemy devil and Satan with spiritual authority. This is spiritual warfare.
We cannot win this spiritual warfare with physical knowledge or fleshly love.
You teachers must have the spiritual power to protect the souls and the power to change them.
That is why the title of this devotional service is 'Power'.
You should never be at ease thinking, "I am not even a pastor. I am just a teacher in charge of a bunch of Sunday school kids. I can do nothing more than just try my best within my limits of strength."
You should long for the power to lead the souls in your charge to the light, having love and passion that is equivalent to those of pastors.
You cannot do it with your own strength, so you have to receive the power of God that makes all things possible for him who believes.
Through this message, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become true teachers who will receive the power to keep and revive the souls.


Main

Dear devotees,
In order to become a powerful teacher, first of all, you have to arm yourself with the Word.
Arming yourself with the word is one of the most basic requisites to become a worker for God's kingdom.
You Sunday school teachers do not teach worldly knowledge, but the Word of God.
Unless you are armed with the Word physically and spiritually, you will have difficulties when you give counseling or advice.
You might want to say something, but you can't really express it with words, or you can't really offer a suitable example.
For those students who do not study hard, you cannot just make them study hard just by telling them, "Study hard! Why are you not studying hard?"
If you have learned the messages on the 'Keys to Studying Well' properly, you should have gained great power to deal with your students.
Even when you see so-called 'troublemakers', you can analyze them with the word and understand what they need spiritually and physically.
You first have to know the fundamental problem as to whether they innately have low intelligence, or they were raised in unfavorable circumstances, or they lack power to concentrate.
At the same time, you have to arm yourself with that word and learn it by heart.
Then, you can give the children more specific and direct ways to help them study better.
Also, for those students who have distractive attitudes in the worship services, you should not just scold them and tell them to focus on the worship service.
If you have the knowledge of the 'Lectures on Leviticus', you can explain to them about the spiritual meanings each procession of the service carries, and what kinds of blessings they can get by worshiping in spirit and in truth.
Of course, you should not just teach what is knowledge, but you should also worship in spirit and truth and enjoy the true joy of worshipping as well.
Then, the joy and value of the worship service that you have will carry over to the children, and they will also acquire the desire to worship in truth.
If you cultivate your heart with the truth, you can spread God's grace to others even though you may not be able to give a systematic sermon or you lack ability as a good speaker.
The Holy Spirit will teach you what to say from moment to moment.
But as you have the duty of teaching, you should not just say, "I can just cultivate my heart into spirit." You should also have well organized base of knowledge of the word.
This way you can receive the works of the Holy Spirit more easily.
Of course, more important point is to cultivate your heart with the word.
Only light can drive away darkness.
The brightness of the light will decide how much darkness it will drive away.
Even though you speak eloquent words in counseling, it cannot change the souls.
You can let the souls in your charge understand the truth and change their heart to the extent that you have changed your heart with the truth.
But I am not saying you should be discouraged and think like, "I didn't learn the word very well, so I guess I should just quit."
I am saying that it is such a precious duty given to you by the Lord, and thus you have to change yourself with the word with all your strength to fulfill this duty.
The reason why you haven't gone into spirit yet, although you have listened to so many messages, is not because it is difficult to go into spirit.
It is because you did not long for it and you did not try through each and every moment.
You received grace through the message, but you have not kept that grace to make it last.
You were praying to cast off the sinful natures you realized, but soon you forgot about it.
That is why you could not change to a significant extent even after a long time.
Now, I hope you will make up your mind once again. Check your heart and keep the Word every day.
When you pray, you should not just try to fill up the time of prayer, but you have to cry out with earnest longing to change.
If you fervently pray like, "Heavenly Father, I need to change through the word even just for the souls entrusted to me. I have to cultivate my heart with the truth. Have mercy on me and give me the power," then why wouldn't God hear your prayer?
Through this word and prayer, I hope you will be recognized as those who are truly able to teach.
Dear devotees,
In order to become powerful teachers, secondly, you have to fill your deficiencies of the body.
A deficiency of the body is a deficiency that you might have physically or spiritually because you did not go through what you had to go through while you were growing up.
This deficiency can be revealed in various areas.
Some people seriously lack willpower or determination to keep their hearts.
They might lack spiritual discernment between good and evil. Or they might be emotionally deficient, which is inability to sympathize or empathize with other people's emotions.
They might have certain appearances, clothing, behaviors, or manner of speech that are repulsive to you.
Of course, there are differences from person to person, but when the level of maturity is far below the ordinary level, we can say it is a deficiency of the body.
Teachers should be able to earn the trust of the students and set a good example.
Teachers should act in a way that the students would want to proudly introduce their Sunday school teachers even to the unbelieving worldly people.
Teachers should understand the students at their level and empathize with their emotions, so that the students can really talk to them.
When you talk with the parents or the teachers in schools, I hope you will check whether you have the dignity and trustworthiness in your words, actions, and appearances.
We cannot say all deficiencies of the body are sins, but they cause something that is not gracious in the eyes of other people.
Also, these deficiencies of the body might become a big obstacle in casting away sins.
If you have any of these deficiencies, you have to realize them and change them.
I hope you will refine your facial expressions, attitudes, and habits in speaking, and other little things with the manner that is of the Lord.
Of course, it may not be easy to realize these things by yourself and cast them away.
You may not know what deficiencies you have, and even if you do, it cannot be filled easily because it has been formed and shaped since your childhood.
But as you arm yourself with the word and pray fervently, you will realize what deficiencies you have as though you were looking into a mirror.
Then, you can also receive wisdom from above as to how you can fill up those deficiencies.
Some of you might feel difficult to teach the students for you didn't get much education yourself.
You might feel difficulty in trying to learn something new.
With your own wisdom and power it might be difficult. But you can also fill it with the power of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of God.
I urge you to receive God's power in all aspects by trying your best to acquire physical knowledge as well, as it is necessary as Sunday school teachers.
Dear devotees,
In order to become powerful Sunday school teachers, thirdly, you must have perfect love.
To the extent that you arm yourself with the Word spiritually and fill up your deficiencies, you will cultivate the heart of spirit in you.
And to the extent that you cultivate the heart of spirit, your heart will be filled with spiritual love.
With that love, you can fulfill your duty powerfully.
Those who have fleshly love do not understand the standpoints of others. They just try to give what they think is good.
Also, they expect a certain reaction from others for they have given them something good, and they try to change others in a hurry.
But if others do not change as they expected, they get discouraged and give up on them after trying for some time.
If the adults treat the children with this kind of self-centeredness, the children will feel hurt even more and close their hearts more firmly.
If you love them spiritually, you will not be discouraged or disheartened just because others do not change as you want.
Even though they act with evil, you do not judge or condemn their behaviors.
You try to understand their hearts and why they are acting that way. Then you can try to fulfill their needs.
Even though it seems so difficult for them to change from how you ordinarily view them, you look at them with the eyes of faith and keep on helping them until they change.
Recently, many people have changed through the mini crusades on Sunday evenings, and I hear testimonies, especially from students.
Many of them seemed to have no chance for change, and they seemed hopeless.
Even some of those students themselves thought they were helpless and that God must have forsaken them because even their parents and teachers had given up on them.
But as they attended the mini crusades, their hearts began to change.
They felt my genuine interest in them; that I really wanted to fill their spiritual and physical necessities and to guide them to good heavenly places. And they opened their hearts.
Because they felt my love and desire to save them from Hell even by risking my own life, the word of God began to go into their hearts.
Even though they still have some desires for the world and they lack the power to change themselves, they are strengthened again because of that love engraved on their hearts.
Thinking of that love, their hearts melt down and they try their best to change themselves.
But fleshly love counts for nothing, no matter how much you give them.
It has to be spiritual love that can plant faith and life in them.
Even though you financially help them and pay attention to their stories, you cannot change them with fleshly love.
If you give them fleshly love, you may have some fruit for a moment but after some time you will find it's without any fruit.
Fleshly love will only plant flesh, disoriented feelings and emotions in the students.
Pastors and teachers must plant life and spirit in them, and planting flesh in them is not acceptable.
Therefore, I hope you Sunday school teachers will cultivate perfect spiritual love in your heart.
I urge you to change the souls and plant faith in them with that love.


Conclusion

Dear devotees, and other members,
We should receive the power of God that makes everything possible with faith.
You should not just think like, "The Senior pastor has the power of God, and that is why those children changed."
You should be spiritually challenged thinking, "I will be united with the shepherd in one heart and receive the power to save the souls."
It is not just for the teachers but also for the pastors.
You must have been thinking about what you have to do and what you can do for the students.
You must have thought of various methods and actually applied some of them.
But what you actually need is power.
I hope you will arm yourself with the word physically and spiritually, fill up your deficiencies of the body, and cultivate perfect love.
By doing so, you have to become spiritual warriors who can perform with the power of God.
Keep this message in mind and cultivate the requisites and qualifications of true teachers.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that the young souls in your charge will be filled with life just like each bud of the flower opened wide by the sunshine of spring.