Scripture: Daniel 12:3 Title: Sacrifice that shines like the brightnes…

Scripture: Daniel 12:3 June 12, 2011
Title: Sacrifice that shines like the brightness of the heavens Sunday Noon Service
3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

As we live, sometimes we make regrets. “Why did I do that at that time?”We feel sorry that we lacked the wisdom to make a good decision. Something we equally feel as we live is that we are silly. We lack wisdom.
So people seek wisdom. We seek a sorcerer, scholar, virtuous people, seniors, and elders. We seek professionals who are knowledgeable in a particular area. We look for the person who is at top of a particular area.

Dear everyone, what is wisdom? Many people desire and seek wisdom. However, when we actually open it up, we find that it was not true wisdom. When King Solomon, the wisest and the richest king in all history, was enthroned, he pondered how he could rule the country well and realized that he needed wisdom; so he asked for wisdom to God.

He sacrificed one thousand lamb, with a strong wish that “Although my wisdom is limited, let me rule these people with heavenly wisdom!” He received that heavenly wisdom from God and became the wisest king in history. That is right. What you and I need as we live in this age is professional knowledge and an eye that is able to discern the age. What is important is that we go beyond the wisdom in the general sense and reach the wisdom that the Bible talks about.

I pray in the name of our Lord that such wisdom and such insight will be given to us.
Let us read today’s scripture again. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.


Amen. It says “those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens [sky in Korean]”. The English Bible in NIV states:

3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens,

Here, the word used for “sky” is [Lakaah] in Hebrew, which is also used in Psalm 19:1. Psalm 19:1 says: 1 For the director of music. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.Here, the word sky is also used in the meaning of heaven. Therefore, we may translate the Korean script, “those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the [skies]” as “those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens.”

At least in today’s scripture, the reward of the wise is not something of this world, but something of the eternal world, the heavenly kingdom of God. In other words, there is a strong relationship between wisdom and heaven.
Dear Christians from all over the world! You came to Korea for Korean dream. Then, your hope is in your own country, not in Korea.

Although you are now living in Korea, you think in your mind that someday you will return to your country where your family and friends await. Today’s scripture says that the wise does not belong to this world but has his hope in the eternal heaven, and will shine in the heaven.

Dear everyone, who is the wise? The wise is not the one who has his hopes in this world, but the one who has his hope in the heaven. If he places his hope in heaven, although his life in this world may be difficult and challenging, then he must be a wise man.

Matthew 5:3 says: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Amen. Those who are poor in spirit are blessed, and that blessing is the heaven. Heaven is an invisible place. But it surely exists. Dear everyone, God is spirit. But God does exist. It is analogous to the fact that although our spirits exist, we cannot see them. Then, does it mean that we can never see or feel God because God is spirit? The Bible does not tell us so. Please look at Matthew 5:8.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God

Amen. God is a spiritual being. Although it is true that we cannot see God, who is a spiritual being, with our physical eyes, we certainly can see him with the eyes of our mind. The eyes of mind can also be put as the spiritual eyes.
Thus, there is an invisible world above the visible world, and what is invisible is more important than what is visible. Therefore, the Bible says in defining faith that believing without seeing is more blessed than believing after seeing.
The heaven is an invisible place, but it surely exists in real. We can see the heaven with the eyes of our hearts, and we can also see God when our hearts are pure. Hallelujah!

The interpretation of the phrase that “those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens” is supported by the phrase that subsequent phrase. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

Amen. It is said that those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens. Why will they shine? Brightness seems to have nothing to do with any bad thing. When people refer to holy, glorified, precious things, they express those things by saying “being bright.”

In today’s scripture, the praise “those who lead many to righteousness” is related to “being bright.” Then, what is meant by the word ‘righteousness.’The word righteousness means to be just or right. On the other hand, righteousness here is not a moral one, but a perfect or flawless one.Generally, crimes are defined under laws people have built up. The laws are Criminal law, Criminal procedure, Civil law, and Civil procedure. The definition is established based on those basic laws. However, this is just a general definition, but not a fundamental one.

Importantly, a general application of laws has little to do with the laws of morality and consciousness, which prevent people’s minds from sinning. The Bible focuses on one’s mind and thought that might be the intent to commit a crime rather than the criminal behaviors. Even though you did not murder, if you have hatred against other people, this could be thought as in the same line of murder. This is how 1 John 3:15 interpreted sins. The principle of the Bible is that although you are not caught in theft, when you desire to steal your neighbor’s items it could be regarded as theft.

In other words, the arrest as theft is a visible behavior, but the intent to steal other’s item is a hidden fact. There is not only a visible world but also an invisible world which involves with the corrupted sins.

This standard is God’s one. Most people think that only when they are caught in the crime scene they are criminals, and when they get punished with fine or imprisonment they are criminals. However, according to God’s law, even though you have spent some time in jail your sins still remain.Only when the invisible sins disappear, we are free from the sins. The Bible says that we cannot free ourselves from the sins just with our strength.
Leading many to righteousness indicates that you have to realize that Jesus came to the world to redeem our sins and we can be forgiven with his precious blood.On our behalf, Jesus was crucified on the cross. On our behalf, Jesus was punished of our sins. Those who believe in Him can be given forgiveness and redemption and eternal life as gift.

The name Jesus means that He is the one who save His people from sins.He put an end to the problems of sin that men cannot deal with by dying on the cross. Before Jesus, in the old testament, symbolically, lambs were killed on the representative of those who sinnedIt should be taken it for granted that sinners have to be killed, but the lambs were killed instead of the sinners. And then, the sinners were forgiven.We should not forget this amazing story. When I cannot free myself from the sins, Jesus died on my behalf crucified on the cross.

We believe in this fact. And because we believe in this fact, we talk about this to others. To lead many to the righteousness is to accept the Lord, having realized that Jesus took care of the problem of sin which I could not overcome on my own. Salvation which we receive is very precious and valuable. There are people who still do not know about this. So we let them know about it    That is what leads many to the righteousness. Hallelujah! In summary, please evangelize. We do all kinds of things in order to evangelize.

How can one accept the gospel right from the beginning? We must embrace those who do not know Jesus by serving them as helpers and friends, so that they can accept the gospel. Also, we can serve them with our talents, such as professional skills and knowledge. That is true with the ministries of our church. In order to deliver the sermon, there are translators who translate the sermon. Also, there are interpreters who interpret the sermon from what is being translated into their own languages. Also, we conduct Bible studies in different country groups and language groups. Also, when they come to Sunday service, we prepare meal so that they can have omfortable, joyful, and happy meetings. We must go to grocery shopping during the week in order to prepare nearly 20 types of food. Also, with the various ingredients, we must invest a lot of time to cook.


Also, we provide assistance with delayed payment, human rights, job transfer, medical care, and social welfare, etc. Also, we provide transportation so that they can come to church conveniently. Cell leaders serve for the cell gatherings. Tutoring Korean, computer skills, and musical instruments, etc is all offered in order to lead many to the righteousness. Why do we do all that? So that you may be lead to the righteousness. Hallelujah!

The salvation which you and I received – that is the most important thing over everything else. What I am so grateful for is that God always fills our church and the members of our congregation with grace and blessings every year. God blesses especially the VIP Bible Summer Camp which takes place every summer with better conditions as it is repeated every year and fills us with joy and blessings. Last year, we rented a pension in Yangsan, which resulted in amazing grace and thankfulness, but this year will be the best by far. After I decided on the venue of the summer camp this year, I exclaimed this expression: “It’s a paradise~ Wow!”

I was so thankful to God. So I prayed, “What do you want to do, God, through this year’s VIP Bible Summer Camp?” Should I not realize what God wants to do and participate in his works?
Dear everyone!

I love you in the name of our Lord. You are the precious people whom God loves. You are the citizens of the heaven. You are the citizens of the Kingdom of God, and eternal friends who will live together in the heaven. If you have friends around you who still do not know God, please evangelize them. That will be your reward. You will shine like the brightness of the havens. I pray in the name of our Lord that such precious revelation and blessing will be with you all.  비밀 번호 건드리지 마라