Sermons

Through Jesus' healing of a man with leprosy, the situation in which Samuel could no longer pray for King Saul, and the history of Jeremiah crying out amid the people's rebellion, this passage deals with what 'despair' means for the maturing of faith. People can endure when there is hope, but holding on to hope for those who betray endless love and choose the world ultimately leaves one with nothing but emptiness. God knows that the nature of the world does not change, yet he revealed his wrath through judgment, and believers, too, should look to God's sovereignty rather than to people changing.

The sermon looks squarely at the deep hurt and frustration believers feel when they devote themselves to saving a soul and the other person does not change. It emphasizes that this despair is a feeling experienced only by those who have taken on the responsibility and made the effort, and that the beginning of true faith is not avoiding it or resenting it but acknowledging that reality. Believers must rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit rather than placing their hope in people, and only when they realize that the world is a place already under judgment can they stand on an unshakable rock. Despair becomes a step that keeps us from setting our hearts any longer on the empty world and on people, and leads us to depend wholly on Christ, our only hope.

The sermon asks whether believers have ever despaired because of people and circumstances that do not change, and whether they are still carrying that pain. Knowing that this despair can be left behind only by growing strong through the power of the Holy Spirit, believers are led to consider how they can set their faith right.

Today's passage deals with how believers' faith grows through various stages. It shows that Jesus Christ himself became a ladder for believers who stand on different steps of faith, from flower-garden faith to eagle faith. The foundation of this ladder is the astonishing love and sacrifice of God the Creator, who willingly accepted death on the cross to save sinners.

But we often take this astonishing grace for granted, and instead bargain with God for worldly power and honor or ask for the comfort of the flesh. Just as Adam and Eve stumbled because they failed to discern rightly about the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, and just as Peter trusted in his own strength and denied Jesus, we are still wavering amid Satan's temptations and the maze of the world. Though Jesus has the power to judge, he is patient in order to fulfill God's will of saving souls, and he stays by believers' side to the end, keeping them from stumbling.

Can we, rather than hesitating at the foot of the ladder and going along with the world, respond only to the love of Christ and climb the steps of faith with strength?

Using the image of an eagle that sheds its worn-out beak and talons, replaces them with new ones, and flies higher into the sky, this passage illustrates the spiritual perseverance and training that believers should have. It also shows how true faith is made complete through Moses, who went down from being a prince to being a shepherd in the wilderness and shed his pride, and through Abraham's obedience in offering his most beloved son Isaac to God.

The sermon points out that believers' maturity is not an easy process, and emphasizes that it requires hard training in overcoming one's own righteousness and human instincts and obeying God. In particular, it says that we must acknowledge God's sovereignty before our own devotion, and believe that when we obey God's word without complaining, God walks with us in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. It explains that, like Abraham's decision to offer Isaac, only when we entrust everything to God as he wills do we experience true resurrection faith and blessing.

We are led to look back on whether we have the kind of faith that can overcome the world's temptations and pride and fly high in the sky like an eagle, and whether we are ready to boldly lay down what is ours in order to carry out the mission God has given us.

This passage deals with the scene in which Jesus comes walking on the sea when the boat carrying his disciples runs into a violent storm. Gripped by the rough waves and the terror before their eyes, the disciples forgot Jesus' power and salvation and trembled with fear. But Jesus saves them and calms the sea, showing that he is the Creator.

The sermon emphasizes that for believers to overcome the waves of the world, they must not only confess their faith in their heads but show it through their actions in life. Just as Peter saw the waves, became afraid, and began to sink, we need the perseverance and training to depend on Jesus alone without being shaken by human weakness and emotions. We must also grow our faith not like a small boat but like a warship, and have a mature faith that quietly devotes itself and saves souls, like a deep river.

The sermon asks whether believers are keeping from spiritual sleep through laziness or idleness, and are being faithful unto death and showing the actions of faith. It also asks how they should prepare through perseverance, humility, and prayer to become a deep river and believers whom Jesus cherishes.

Through the life of the apostle Paul, this passage deals with the spiritual crises and inner conflicts that people of faith go through. Before meeting Christ, Paul lived as a legalist, but after his conversion he gave up everything for the gospel and lived a life of bearing suffering. Yet he had to fight continually amid human weakness and the temptation of sin, acknowledging his shortcomings and depending on God's grace.

The sermon explains that in faith we experience both moments of fullness like a high mountain and moments of weakness like a deep valley. In particular, it emphasizes that we need the wisdom not to become proud when we are spiritually full, and to cry out to God when we fall into the valley of suffering. It also points out that to discern Satan's deception and false gospels, the leading of the Holy Spirit and an accurate understanding of the Bible are essential.

How should believers recognize the serious responsibility they bear, in that their words and actions can decide the life or death of a soul?

This passage deals with the third step of faith, the state of a 'sharp, low mountain', and sheds light on the process of spiritual maturity through the life of Joseph. It is the stage at which a faith that once seemed easy to grasp, the more one learns of God's word, comes up against the difficulty of putting it into practice and the danger of pride, and many believers stop or stumble here. Joseph, not understanding the dream and the mission God had given him, boasted about them and earned his family's hatred, but the passage shows that this was a refining meant to make him into a larger vessel.

The sermon warns against the pride of believers who boast of their devotion and knowledge and judge others. When a heart that bargained for blessings through a prosperity-seeking faith disappears as soon as it gains freedom, it reveals that this was a faith for self-interest, not true love. God wants believers who devote themselves not under compulsion or the leverage of rewards, but with hearts that truly love God and are thankful to him.

Now we must look back on whether our faith is for loving God or for receiving blessings. When we mature spiritually, go down to a low place, and live humbly, we will come to realize how God raises us up high.

This passage points out specifically what the 'stumbling blocks' are that hinder spiritual growth in the life of faith. The author points to bad habits commonly seen in people who fail, such as self-deception, unproductive behavior, discourteous attitudes, and confused priorities, and warns that these become the cause of rebelling against God and wasting one's life. In particular, through the example of Lot's wife, who heard of the coming destruction yet looked back and became a pillar of salt, and the failure of David, who let his guard down in the joy of victory and committed the sins of adultery and murder, it shows the fatal consequences of failing to break with the world and cast off human righteousness.

Going beyond simply pointing out sin, the sermon digs into the psychological background of why believers so easily stumble over these stumbling blocks. It explains how the reward mentality of giving offerings or seeking success through a prosperity-seeking faith, and the temptations of pride and pleasure that come in comfortable circumstances, bring about spiritual death. Comparing Jesus' words that those who believe without seeing are blessed with Thomas's unbelief, it emphasizes that true faith is pure trust, not human common sense and knowledge. Through the example of Achan, it also reminds us of how an individual's sin affects the community, and that the unseen God cannot be deceived.

This sermon leads the reader to reflect deeply on whether their faith is true obedience or has been reduced to a tool for worldly success and pleasure. To leave behind a showy flower-garden faith and climb the steps of faith by clearing away stumbling blocks, we should examine what greed and stubbornness have taken root within us now. Watch the video to see whether now is the time for the decision to face and clear away the stumbling blocks God has given, and what joy and growth can be experienced in the process.

Through Ezekiel's vision describing the water flowing out from the temple and growing ever deeper, this passage illustrates how faith grows from a weak stage to a mature one. It also contrasts eagle faith with flower-garden faith, emphasizing that we must have a solid faith that does not waver in spiritual battle, not a faith that settles into the world's splendor and comfort.

Rather than boasting of their own righteousness or material blessings, believers must move on to a mature faith that gives thanks unconditionally for God's love and the sacrifice of the cross. To keep from growing proud, as though building a tower of Babel, swept along by Satan's temptations and worldly greed, or from falling into a darkened spirit that takes sin for granted like Sodom and Gomorrah, they must develop spiritual discernment through the word of truth and fight sin with their free will.

What God wants is not a confession made only with the lips but an unchanging faith that believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness. How should we strive to cast off a flower-garden faith that can wither at a single frost, and grow into mature people of faith who stand tall toward God like a great tree in any storm?