Dear fellow believers, upon reading today’s Scripture passages, I feel as though I’ve just seen a movie called “The Rich Man and Lazarus.” Truly, as I saw these two people’s lives, I felt as though I was seeing a certain drama unfold. Unclear as to what kind of family background this rich man had, one thing which is clear is that he lived sumptuously as a great rich man without any indisposition, eating well and living richly until the day he died. Contrastingly, this beggar of poverty named Lazarus lived in true misery all throughout his life, although it is unknown how his household had fallen like that. He lived his life by sitting in front of the rich man’s gate and begging and by going through garbage bins and eating the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Like so, while in this world, these two men had led a life of two extremes.

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Dear brothers and sisters, we are going to have a look at Luke chapter 16.
In the previous chapter, there was a story of a man with two sons, one of whom came back after he had left home and wasted all his possessions with prodigal living. His first son complained about his brother. “How can you hold a feast with a fat cow for the son, who left with your possessions and wasted all, while you didn’t give a young goat to me, who have been serving you all these years?” He protested the unfairness of his father’s generosity and insisted upon his right. Then his father replied. “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found” (Luke 15:31-32). Through the story, God is telling His servants to work for Him with a sense of ownership.

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Today’s Scripture passage talks about a shrewd steward in a household. Through this parable, the Lord is asking us whether we should live as a servant of righteousness or a servant of man. The Lord said that the sons of this world are shrewder in their generation than the sons of light. He is telling that there are so many quick-witted people in this world who behave more wisely than God’s people.

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What will the world be like when the time of destruction comes? The Scriptures say, “They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” And the Scriptures say that it will be like the days of Lot. As in the end time, people will eat, drink, get married, and build houses, but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. The Lord says it will be like that when the Son of Man is revealed.

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Did you all enjoy your meal? As I said in the morning service, it is true to those who have been born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the more we serve the Lord, the more weaknesses we find in ourselves and the less self-righteousness we have. Since we are originally weak and imperfect, we get to realize fully what we had thought was our own righteousness and ability is nothing. Therefore, the righteous must live by believing in the righteousness of God and by acknowledging their insufficiencies of their flesh. This is the typical life of Christian who trusts and follows God’s righteousness.

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In today’s Scripture passage, the Lord said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” It’s so hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God that Jesus said that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Does this then mean that there really is no one rich in Heaven? Is it useless for the wealthy in this world to believe in Jesus? Are they not allowed to be saved from sin? The Bible writes that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. However, this passage has a spiritual meaning, and so in reality, there are many rich people in this world who have received the remission of sins to enter Heaven by believing in the righteousness of God.

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In the future, many people will accept Jesus who came by the water and the Spirit as their Savior when things become more and more difficult. However, I want people to return to God willingly and receive the remission of sins after recognizing their sinful nature rather than they come to receive Jesus as their Savior unwillingly because of difficult environmental condition.

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Warm greetings to all of you! The summer discipleship training camp starts tomorrow. Many saints are already at the discipleship-training center, and we are all quite excited about it. I ask you all to pray for the safety of everyone traveling to and from the center. Road accidents are particularly prevalent during the summer vacation season, leading to many injuries and deaths. So let’s all pray to God to watch over everyone traveling from our Churches all over Korea, to protect our saints and servants of the Lord, and to ensure their safety. And let’s also pray to our Lord to watch over each and every family.

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