하나님께 가까이 함이 내게 복이라(시편73:28)

Mayumi De La Cruz

19th Avenue Kindred

27 November 2018

Rev. Eun Suk Cho, Pastor

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

Matthew 5:3-6; John 14:1-2

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Matthew 5:3-6

Do not let your hearts troubled.

Trust in God; trust also in me.

In my Father's house are many rooms.

John 14:1-2a

Praise the Lord!

God welcomed our sister Mayumi to the Kingdom of Heaven, that she has longed to go. There is no tear, no sorrow, no pain, no solitude, but happiness in Jesus Christ.

The Tuesday, 13 November 2018, when we prayed together with Mayumi who accepted Jesus Christ as her, the raised her hands, and said, "I am happy!" The very happiness was a foreshadowing of the eternal happiness in which she came in, on the Thanksgiving Sunday in the night.

Mayumi joined us in the Tuesday Bible study in this hall. She came to Jesus nearer day by day. It was Jesus, actually, who came down to her, a lost shppe, to save her. As she read the Bible with us, she heard the voice of Jesus Christ, our Shepherd. Finally, two weeks before, she welcomed Jesus Christ as her Lord. She confessed her sins, and she asked Jesus to forgive the sins by the blood of Jesus Christ of the Cross. And she asked Jesus to lead her to the Kingdom of Heaven. God heard the prayer. Mayumi is now in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Listen to Jesus who taught us who are the blessed. The blessed are the ones who enter to the Kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew 5:3-12, Jesus taught us eight kinds of people, blessed to get the Kingdom of Heaven. Today, we had the first three.

The poor in spirit. Mayumi was poor in spirit. By the Holy Spirit, Mayumi turned out to be the fourth soil, the good one. In the Tuesday Bible study, two weeks before when Mayumi accepted Jesus as the Lord, she said: I want to be the good soil. I said to her if she accept Jesus Christ as her Lord, Jesus will make her the fourth soil, the good one, producing hundred times, sixty times, and thirty times. As many of us here are the witnesses, she became the fourth soil as she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord. It was possible when the Holy Spirit overwhelmed her.

The poor in spirit are the ones asking Jesus Christ all the times. Totally depending on the Lord, they pray constantly for all things.

The second ones, blessed, are the ones mourning, because they will be comforted. I have seen Mayumi weeping, here and there. At a certain afternoon, when I saw her weeping, I prayed for her. After the prayer, she said, "Now I am fine!" There in the Kingdom of Heaven, God will wipe away all the tears from her eyes. Hear the Word of God:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying: "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them, and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Revelation 21:3-4

The third blessing is: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

As all of you remember, Mayumi was meek, pure in heart, innocent, even simple. The Bible tells us who are meek: they are righteous by trusting in God. There is one righteous among human beings, however. All are but sinners. But Mayumi turned out to be meek in Christ Jesus as he became her Lord.

The fourth soil is the people who welcome the Word of God, Jesus Christ, and trusting in God in all of their lives. The good soil produces hundred times, sixty times, and thirty times. The life of Mayumi will be a case for all of us how a good soil produces. The lessen Jesus Christ taught us today in the remembrance of the life of Mayumi is: we all are the fourth soil, producing the fruits.

Let us praise the Lord, who saved Mayumi, and all of us. May God bless her family, especially her young daughter, and her friends including all of us so that they all be saved in the name of Jesus Christ. Let us all see her in the Kingdom of God, as God calls each of us in near future. God bless you all!

We thank God for giving us a story with Mayumi. Let us be faithful witnesses how Jesus loved Mayumi. How Jesus saved her. Also, let us witnesses of us all, how Jesus loves us. This is our story, and this is our song that we are to sing for the rest of our lives.

Jesus said, you shall not trouble yourselves. Trust in God, trust in Jesus. Because we have the home, eternal one, in the Heaven. No matter how miserable we have been in the world, let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and the perfector of our faith. Amen!

Prayer

Dear Father God, we thank you welcoming our sister Mayumi to your home. We know you cultivated the soil of her life to make the fourth, the good one. We want to share this story to all the people so that more people come to you as the fruits of this wonderful life of faith. We all want to be witnesses to share the stories you have been with us, cleansing the sins by your blood. In Jesus' name, Amen.