"증인, 자라나다" - 배연택 담임목사 - 2026-09-27 주일 예배 설교

Amen. Based on today’s message, I have chosen this title: "Witness, Grow." "Witness, Grow." This is the fourth and final sermon on the theme of "witness." Jesus said in Matthew 15: Matthew 15:11 "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." Amen. After saying this, Jesus continued to explain this statement from verses 17 to 20. Let’s look at verse 17. "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?" "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man." "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man." "But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." Amen. The content is very simple. What goes into the mouth is food. We digest this food and use it as nutrients for our bodies, and the rest is discarded. This is what Jesus is saying. Jesus speaks accurately. His parable is very clear. What is it? God has provided food for the weakness of the flesh, and that food builds our bodies, while the remainder becomes waste that is discarded. But now Jesus says that what comes out of the mouth defiles a man. This is His word. It is not what goes in that is dirty, but what comes out that is dirty, and He defines what comes out as coming from the heart of man. In other words, a person's thoughts and emotions are contained in the heart, and ultimately, they must be revealed through the body, and that is what defiles a man. It is not specified in detail. We do not know what kind of thoughts or emotions they are. However, human thoughts and emotions inevitably reside in our hearts, and ultimately, the thoughts and emotions that settle in this heart must be revealed outside the body. They are revealed through actions and words. God provides what people need and has given them one mission. That is to conquer the earth and the world, and in doing so, to govern and conquer our bodies and minds. Now, God did not tell us to conquer and govern food. God told us to govern and conquer the earth and living creatures, which includes governing my own body and mind. So God told us to govern our thoughts and hearts, and that will be revealed through the body. Our human thoughts and emotions inevitably reside in our hearts and will ultimately be revealed in some way. Examples of this include evil thoughts, murders, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, and blasphemy. These are phenomena that arise when human thoughts and emotions are unresolved, and ultimately, this is what defiles a man. Now, let’s think for a moment. If we hate someone, even if we do not tell them, they will immediately know. How do they know? Because that hateful emotion is stored in our hearts. And because of that hatred and those hateful thoughts, our actions, our gaze, and the tone of our voice inevitably reveal to the other person that we hate them. God made us that way. He made us human. God made it so that what is settled in the heart must inevitably be revealed outside the body. If we like someone, they will also know immediately. This is because our tone of voice, our gaze, and the way we treat them all reveal the love and affection we feel. So we nod our heads once again in front of Jesus’ words. Ah, that’s right. What comes out from our hearts truly defiles us. We confess that. The heart is the place where spiritual warfare occurs. As Jesus said, if we win in the spiritual warfare in our hearts, our entire daily life will be filled with victory and overflowing with joy. But if we lose in the spiritual warfare that occurs in our hearts, our daily lives will ultimately be defeated. Our actions and words will eventually become difficult. Therefore, when I looked at what is needed in a person’s heart to win this spiritual warfare, I realized that God’s word must be in our hearts. Yes. We need God’s word. When our thoughts and hearts are there, we must govern and conquer with this word, and when we resolve matters according to God’s will, what is revealed outside can be revealed through God’s word. In any situation, when we do not know what might happen, people of faith must first store God’s word in their hearts. Because we do not know when and what kind of spiritual warfare will attack our hearts, and we do not know how the evil spirits that destroy God’s people will deceive us. Therefore, filling our hearts with God’s word is the only way to protect ourselves and our faith. That is why the Bible says in many places, "Above all else, guard your heart." Yes. Guard your life and heart. This is what the Bible constantly says. Now, this order must never be reversed. You must not use the Bible upside down to assert your thoughts and emotions or stubbornly cling to your own ways. If such a thing occurs, you will face a situation far more dangerous than if you did not know God’s word at all. Do not forget this. To testify to the living God. I pray once again in the name of the Lord. I hope you will fill the field of your heart with God’s word and testify that Jesus is the Savior and testify to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Now, do you remember last week’s message? Last week, we talked about the lamp. Yes. The act of shining light. We shared a message titled "Witness, Shine the Light." Jesus is the light, and He has clearly shone in the lives of believers as our Savior. When Jesus came to this earth, our sins were clearly revealed. Our physical weaknesses were clearly revealed. All our lies were revealed. Moreover, it was clearly revealed that we cannot escape from sin by our own strength. It was also clearly revealed that no one can escape judgment before God. Not only that, but through the blood of Jesus on the cross, it was revealed that we have received forgiveness for our sins. It was revealed that we, who were destined to die, have received eternal life. Furthermore, it was clearly revealed that as we receive this light and welcome Jesus and live believing in Him as our Savior in the days to come, we have been given the time to live as children of God, with the authority of Jesus’ disciples, and as brothers of Jesus. So I tell you. If you believe in Jesus, the light of Jesus is already filled within those who believe. This means that the light within us must continue to shine and illuminate the places where we are and dwell. If God is the sun, then Jesus is the lamp that illuminates everything in our lives. Now He tells us to share that lamp with each of us and to shine our lives. Now, there is something important at this time. It is the question of where to place the light. Should we place it in a corner of the room we dwell in, or should we place it in the center of the room? Now, we must decide whether to place it on the lampstand or under the lampstand. He teaches that we must place the light in the center and lift the light high. So we must also follow Jesus and maintain the highest position at the center of all things. We must never place it under the lampstand. We must not shine only halfway. Last week, we shared the message to place Jesus at the center and in a high place. You may feel burdened when you hear this, and you may feel burdened again when you hear it. But you should feel burdened. That is because the light of Jesus has already been given to us. If we ignore this and turn our backs on the light, what will happen? What does the Bible say? It says that they love darkness. Sometimes there may be various situations and conditions. There may be various circumstances. We may try to make all kinds of excuses, but the Bible clearly says that they choose to remain in darkness. And ultimately, it says that they are led to be those who love darkness. Therefore, when we think of reasons and excuses, we must also examine that. Otherwise, even though we have the light within us, we may not only lose that light but also become those who dwell in darkness. Now, I declare this once again. Remember that you have light within you because you are called and believe in the Lord. You must shine that light. When I thought of specific examples of following Jesus, the light, and acting as a lamp, I thought of our missionaries, Missionary Yoon-tae and Missionary Kim Jeong-hyun. They had to leave early today because of a flight. Their case is a perfect example. I feel that God has sent them to us at the perfect time. I learned this while talking with the missionaries. They have served for a long time in Lima, the capital of Peru. During that long time, they have experienced all sorts of things. Because of their honesty and integrity, they have sometimes been taken advantage of. They have even been falsely accused. I am sure they were tempted to remain in darkness. They might have wanted to just pass by and ignore it. "If I do that, I can gain something." "I can get this help." I am sure they faced such temptations. But every moment they wanted to ignore or compromise, they stood there holding the lamp high in their hearts. Yes. As God’s people following Jesus Christ, they raised that standard high. As a result, they were expelled, surrounded by false rumors, and lived a completely isolated life in that town. Now, I thought they would share this story when they come on Friday. When I saw the video on Friday, they did not mention a word about their unfair treatment. At that moment, I realized. Ah, those who follow Jesus and hold the lamp high and set a high standard do not talk about their complaints. They do not speak of their complaints or dissatisfaction. Why is that? I realized that they must believe that Jesus has already died on the cross and that because they have set a high standard, there is nothing to complain about here. Upon closer examination, there were many things that included fear, but they walked the journey of holding the lamp and walking on water as the Lord called them. Now that the situation has somewhat calmed down, the fruits of faith and the fruits of the gospel they have sown are beginning to appear. Many children in that town are praying and calling God "Father" while crying. They say they truly long for prayer. They said they have been praying for over three years for the Lord to send them a prayer partner. Among them, they met the Dallas Central Methodist Church. Do you know what their prayer request was? They did not say, "We have no food." "We have no jobs." "Our families are struggling." They did not need someone to help them materially in various ways. Their prayer request was only one thing. "Please send us a prayer partner." That was all. At that exact moment, we happened to meet, and I was able to confirm once again that God sent us together to shine light and be witnesses here and there. I pray in the name of the Lord. Together with the missionaries who follow Jesus, shine the light, and hold the lamp high, I hope we too will hold this lamp high in our lives, in the Dallas Central Methodist Church, and in the various mission fields entrusted to us. Yes. Today is the last session of our witness series. I would like to share a message titled "Be a Witness" based on 1 Corinthians 3. Before sharing this, I would like to share a little more of my personal story. Um. This is a story from before I personally met the Lord. It is a story from my teenage years. While preparing for college entrance exams for the second and third time, I thought, "I am a failure in life." So when I finally entered college, I dedicated myself with the mindset of making up for the wasted time. As you know, what do college students in Korea do when they enter college? They want to play like crazy and seem to want to make up for the time they couldn’t play before. They go on blind dates every week, go on retreats every week... You seem to be looking at me. Yes. They go on blind dates every week, have group dates, and continue to play with department outings. What do the boys do all year? They just play until they go to the army. Yes. They study only after they are discharged. But what did I do? I entered college with the mindset that I was already grown up and studied hard while others were playing. I studied hard from my freshman year. I was truly dedicated to my studies. In fact, how did I do it? I sat in the front row of the classroom. Yes. When the professor finished the class and was about to take questions, I waited for that moment and prepared two or three questions to gain the professor’s favor. My friends told me to stop. I lived like that. I also studied hard, doing the preview and review that I hadn’t done in middle and high school. So as a result, my grades were good. Yes, yes. Yes. Because I did preview and review, it was really fun to answer during class. I don’t know why I didn’t realize that in high school. Yes. I also enjoyed asking the last question and engaging in lively discussions during class. I was originally a very passive type A, but from that time on, I started to speak and loved it. I liked debates and even enjoyed challenging others with my logic. So all of this was so interesting, and I really enjoyed reading many books and debating and discussing. You know, as this life continued, it wasn’t just my grades that improved. That wasn’t the end. Yes. The appearance of humility disappeared, and arrogance began to grow. As arrogance grew, I didn’t realize that it was arrogance. Because it manifested through my studies, I thought it was natural, normal, and reasonable. Because it happened within the framework of fair competition, I thought it was perfectly fine. But God broke that arrogance while I was studying abroad in the United States. God made me see the limits of my knowledge. He made me see the limits of my experience. In ministry, He showed me that the various worldviews and philosophies I had were just useless nonsense. I am not Paul, but God made me regard all the values I once cherished as garbage and worthless. In that state, while still enjoying conversations, I served at a Korean church in Charleston. Serving an immigrant church became a time to deeply understand the pain of immigrant congregants. In the immigrant church, especially when we did not have our own building, we often rented space from American churches. At that time, our hope was to eat Korean lunches made in a warm home. Yes. They said it smelled, so we were not allowed to use the kitchen, and in the end, they had to eat secretly or just go hungry. They were a generation that worked harder than anyone to build a church building. I can truly understand what they went through. They faced Americans all week long, and even when conflicts arose, they could not express their complaints or unfair treatment due to the language barrier. Even when they were insulted, they could not react, so what do they do when they come to church with wounded hearts? They fight. Yes. But I understand them. Because they can finally express all their emotions and thoughts in their mother tongue. When they are angry, they can pour everything out. So I came to understand why they fight in Korean at church. While talking with the congregants, I came to understand how oppressed and hurt they were. I felt that accepting and understanding the pain and wounds of immigrant church members was my ministry. God allowed me to enjoy conversations and debates during my college years, but I turned that energy into talking with the congregants and listening to their stories. I realized that listening until all their bitterness is poured out is an important part of immigrant ministry. So I became involved in mediating many disputes and debates among congregants. Even if it wasn’t a debate, I became deeply involved in situations where they needed persuasion. So a typical long meeting in the immigrant church became something I could enjoy and participate in without burden. Now, the important part starts here. However, after returning to Korea, when my illness was discovered and I went through treatment, I no longer enjoyed debates. However, the core part of my ministry philosophy is this. I am dedicated to fully listening to the stories of the congregants around me and embracing their pain and wounds. From my previous church to the current one, I thought this was the best ministry I could do. I have worked hard at this until now. I believed this was the ministry that a pastor should provide. A few months ago, when I was in Korea, I didn’t have enough time to hear the stories of the congregants because I wasn’t at church. So I had enough time to fill my heart and body with God’s word. A month has passed since I finished treatment and returned to the United States, and while catching up on church work and discussing issues with the congregants, I realized that my body had changed. At first, I thought it was the aftereffects of radiation treatment. I thought it was because my body had weakened. However, the important thing is that when I praise, pray, meditate on the Bible, or share God’s grace, I do not feel tired at all. It doesn’t matter if it lasts for three hours, four hours, or even ten hours; I am perfectly fine. However, listening to and sharing various hardships that arise in the ministry and relationships that I thought were important felt too heavy on my body. My back hurt and stiffened, and I felt something pressing down from my head to my toes. So I realized. I gained a new understanding that wounds and pains should not be kept in anyone’s body for long. As a pastor, I believed that I could sincerely listen to everyone’s stories, accept them, and resolve them through prayer. And I thought that was ministry. However, what I felt over the past three months and the past month was different. Wounds and pains should not come out of someone’s mouth or be poured out onto others, no matter how good the intention. That is not what God desires. Yes. Wounds and pains must be entirely offered to God in prayer, and that is the right way. No matter how good the intention, you should not store your wounds in my body. And I should not store my wounds in your body. These wounds must be entirely drawn out to God and burned in prayer. And what we should store in each other’s bodies is only God’s word. I realized that this applies to pastors as well. Let’s look at two verses. Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." The heart is the place where life is stored. Therefore, you must not store anything in your heart except God’s word. If you place the wounds and pains of others, or even your own wounds and pains, in the place where life is to be stored, your life will die. You must fill the vessel of life only with God’s word, and everything else must be burned to God through prayer. Proverbs 17:22 "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." The Hebrew word for heart is 'lev,' which means the inner person. This inner person is the heart. What I am talking about is what is in our hearts. There is an inner person. Now, the Hebrew word for soul is 'ruach,' which means breath, wind, air, and we mainly use this word when talking about the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the meaning of Proverbs 17:22 is this. If a person’s heart, that is, their inner being, is joyful, it is good for the body. If the breath of the inner being is cut off, that is, if the guidance of the Holy Spirit is cut off, the bones of the body, that is, the strength will decline. In the past, you know, I thought that this word simply meant I should guard my heart well. I only thought it meant not to harbor bad intentions or unholy thoughts. However, in my own physical pain, I deeply contemplated what true physical strength is. In that process, I realized that filling the body of a human being, created in the image of God, with God’s word is more important than anything else. Along with filling oneself with God’s word, what must be done is to care for the soul within my heart. We must never allow the breath of the inner being to be cut off. We must not harbor such worries. Or we must not store secular or human things in our inner being. That is why Jesus tells us. Yes. He tells us to guard our hearts and not to place other things in them. How can a person live life without worries? Can we easily shake off worries? It is not easy. But the Apostle Paul conveys this message. 2 Corinthians 7:10 "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." You must distinguish between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. How? This is how godly sorrow works. You worry, and that worry leads to repentance. "Why did I become like this? Why did I become like this?" As you worry, you realize, "Ah, I have something to confess to the Lord," and you move toward the path of salvation. However, there are things we cannot resolve. "Ah, why is that person like that?" "Why does he act like that?" We fill our hearts with these secular and human things. It does not get resolved. It stops the breath and ultimately leads to death. People realize their physical illnesses, receive treatment at hospitals, and change their eating habits and lifestyles. Right? You may have seen that. This is a common way for people to recover their health. The same goes here. As someone who has experienced spiritual pain, suffering, and trials, if God gives us the process of spiritual healing through the Holy Spirit, our lifestyle and eating habits must also change. However, unlike those with physical illnesses, God’s children often do not change their eating habits and lifestyles even while knowing they are sinners. They change very slowly. They should fill their bodies with God’s word and bring joy to their hearts, but they do not do this well. They are clumsy in distinguishing between the sorrow of the soul that dries up the bones and the sorrow that does not lead to repentance, and they lack interest and time to invest in this discernment. Why is that? Why is that? That’s right. It is because you have not yet reached a spiritually mature state. It is because you do not yet know how to do it. You have lived with secular values for 10 or 20 years and then suddenly met the Lord. Then this person is now a spiritual infant. Just because you suddenly realized something does not mean you are a mature believer. You must grow as an infant, but this process is being skipped. In today’s text, the word "wisdom" appears 26 times in 1 Corinthians, most of which are found in chapters 1, 2, and 3. Now, the word "wisdom" that Paul speaks of is well recorded in 1 Corinthians 1:24. Let’s look at it. "But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." This means that Jesus is the power and wisdom of God. In other words, the wisdom we need most in our daily lives is the life of Jesus Christ. We must embody that life within us. We must live our lives through that life, but we do not do this well. We do not even look at the life of Jesus itself, nor do we take it as our standard, and we simply confess with our lips that we believe in Jesus. Did Jesus argue with many people? It may seem so, or it may not. To be precise, Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons, spent time with sinners, and sometimes publicly rebuked the legalists, but that was not the main focus of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus constantly taught the word of God, explaining it and showing how to fulfill it. Although He spent time with people, He merely conveyed God’s will and helped them understand. He knew the pain of every person. He knew the situations and circumstances of the sick. And He knew the situations and circumstances of many others, not just the poor. Nevertheless, the words He proclaimed to them can be summarized like this: "Get up and walk." "Your faith has saved you." "Go and sin no more." "Follow me." That’s all. Although Jesus knew the circumstances of everyone, He never said, "I understand you." "Isn’t it hard?" "Aren’t you upset?" "I will solve it for you." "I will punish them." "I will take revenge on them." He did not get caught up in such trivial matters. "I understand your heart." "I will accept your hurting heart." He did not say that. He tells us to shake it off in faith and live a new life by following Him. But what about us? We hold onto people’s words, listen to their opinions, focus on their eyes, and worry about their evaluations. Most of our lives are like that. Especially in the church, it is even more so. We want to appear as good people, want to be called fair and just people, want to be evaluated as merciful people, and want to be heard as reasonable people. We desperately want to be told that we have great faith. Even if I didn’t think so, even if you didn’t think so, I was holding onto people’s worries, concerns, complaints, and regrets more than God’s word. I thought that was ministry and deemed it necessary for immigrant ministry. I should have brought everything to God and led others to do the same, but as a pastor, I suffered alone, holding everything inside me except for my prayer requests. This does not mean ignoring the pain of others. It means that I was lacking in bringing the pain of others to the Lord and fully entrusting it to Him. Don’t we often do this? "Oh, I heard that secret, so I will keep it in my heart." Yes. But if there is that wound or pain, I should not keep it inside me either. Let’s pray together. We must fully offer everything to the Lord and live by the words we have contemplated today. That is how it should be. Beloved, the greatest difficulty that appears from 1 Corinthians chapters 1 to 3 is conflict. "I belong to Paul." "I belong to Apollos." "I belong to Cephas." What is this about? It is about who is the authority among us. In simple terms, it is about who is more pleasing to the heart. By emphasizing authoritative figures, they want to reveal that they are close to that person. Now, the Apostle Paul addresses this situation. 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able." In summary, the saints of the Corinthian church were still secular. To be more precise, they were like infants. Look, the Corinthian church— the gospel was preached, and the church was established. They thought they were maturing. But when the Apostle Paul looked at them, he said, "You are like infants." The problem of the Corinthian church is similar to the problems of the modern church. First, they remain as immature children. They believe in Jesus. This is a problem that arises because the words and life of Jesus have not filled their hearts. In the past, we were very involved in the pain of others, but what about now? You know, in the past immigrant church—people said they knew how many spoons and chopsticks were in each other’s homes. We knew each other that well. But now, if you ask, no one knows. And when we look at why we don’t know— we no longer care. In the past, during difficult times, we shared everything, but now that we are somewhat well-off, we want to keep our distance. We want to have our own time. And yes, we want to live comfortably at a proper distance. This means that the immigrant community is changing now. To reach the fullness of faith, there must be an increase in conversations that fill each other with God’s word and share God’s wisdom, but because this is being filled with wrong things or disappearing, we ultimately remain at an infant level of faith. Second, everyone follows only those they like. "I follow Paul." "I follow Apollos." "I follow Cephas."—what does this mean? Yes. This means that I become the standard of evaluation myself. "I like this person." or "I like that person." This is a habit of a child. In other words, the Corinthian church failed to share and proclaim God’s will, focusing only on what benefits them. This atmosphere was very prevalent in the church. Instead of filling themselves with God’s word and the life of Jesus, they filled themselves only with their interests, hindering their growth. Now, the Apostle Paul points out a third problem in this Corinthian church. He presents a solution. Verse 9. "For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building." Amen. If you are God’s field, you must plant God’s word. If you are God’s building, it must become a place where prayers are offered to God. Yes. We all know this clearly. But the problem is that without God’s word and the life of Jesus, they only contain the thoughts, emotions, words, and actions of people, and they only like what they like. At the same time, if you realize this, it is also a solution that resolves everything immediately. The first problem we face after gaining faith. After believing in Jesus Christ as the Savior and knowing that heaven exists, the first problem we face is whether we will remain as infants or grow. This is the first problem. Beloved church members, remember the words of Proverbs 4. We must guard our hearts with God’s word. We must remember the words of Proverbs 17. We must bring joy to our inner being with God’s word and ensure that the breath of our inner being does not cease. We must not harbor worries and concerns that can cut off the breath of our inner being. And like the words in Matthew 15, we must constantly check what is stored in our hearts so that we do not defile our bodies. Above all, as it says in 1 Corinthians 3, we must not remain as infants. There must not be foolishness that prioritizes human relationships over our relationship with God or emphasizes humanism, rationalism, moralism, and ethics, putting people before God. The world may call you an adult, but you must not remain as an infant in God’s kingdom. Do you want to be respected in human society? Or do you want to gain respect as a child of God? You must discern and decide. Beloved, I will now conclude the sermon. In doing so, before finishing, I would like to share my commitment in front of you. I am also a member of the community that is the body of Jesus. As your senior pastor, I will now make a decision and commitment in front of all of you. I will listen to your prayers. I will listen to your worries and concerns. I will surely listen to your pains and wounds. I will pour out my heart. But it will be different from before. As God leads, we will go before Him together, pour out everything, and fill our hearts only with God’s word. I will listen to your prayers, care about your lives, and listen to your wounds and pains, but in the process of listening and processing, I will testify to God’s word and lift all wounds and pains to God in prayer. We will no longer hold onto that. So I hope you will no longer hold onto that either. Our church will have many gatherings, and we will fill those gatherings with God’s word even before they start. We will prepare only through prayer. We will share and convey only God’s will concisely. I ask the church leaders. You must join me in this work. There must be enough time to share prayer and the word, and there must be limited sharing of opinions and comments. Otherwise, we are likely to remain in a state of immaturity, merely exchanging opinions and hurting each other’s feelings. It is more important and necessary to be called a faithful believer, a pure and holy person, and someone who has grown to the fullness of faith than to be called a good pastor, a kind elder, or a reasonable leader. Therefore, I earnestly ask all of you to stand in such a position. As we set the vision for next year, we will specifically focus on the ministry of the word and prayer for the restoration of all worship. The service ministry will only proceed as a place to share grace. Also, in small group meetings, if possible, I ask that stories of complaints, grievances, pain, and suffering be burned in prayer, and that the same stories not be repeated. Because that blocks the breath and heart of our inner being. Yes. That prevents God’s word from changing us from within. So I ask you this. Yes. If you feel even a little bit of dissatisfaction or discomfort, rather come to this altar. Come to this place of worship that God has allowed, pour out everything before the Lord, and return. And pray, "Lord, I do not want to remember this." I ask you to pray, "Lord, help me forget." God has begun a new work. And I believe that because God has begun this new work, the Dallas Central Methodist Church will grow to be a church that is light and salt, a church that is a lamp, and a church that is a witness. Amen. Even if there are rough waves and winds that we do not know, we will be the temple established by the Lord. We will be disciples who seek and follow the cross. I believe that all of you will become holy people belonging to Christ and God and achieve growth in faith. Amen. Let us pray. God, thank You. We give thanks, praise, and glory for allowing us to take another step toward You in our journey of faith. You have done this work. Through the cross of Jesus Christ, we have received light and become lamps ourselves. Thank You so much. And now, through this lamp, You command us to shine upon our neighbors and ourselves. You command us to grow from spiritual infants to mature adults of faith. God, we now accept this command and will move forward. Please guide us with Your word so that we may know where we stand. Help us to govern and check our bodies and hearts with God’s word, to let go of what we should not harbor, and to present all requests to God through prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving, so that we may keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. As a chosen temple to carry the name of the Lord, may we fill the church and our bodies with things that are true, noble, right, and pure. Thank You, God. Thank You for starting a new work. We expect and wait for God to accomplish this new work. Lord, be with us and let us experience the joy of growth. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.