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2025년11월23일 주일말씀 English sermon "Despite Thanksgiving" Habakkuk 3:16-19
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Sermon English Text AKFPC / November 23, 2025 Rev. Yongjin Park
“Despite Thanksgiving” (Habakkuk 3:16-19)
May the grace and love of God be upon you who is listening to God’s voice today in this worship.
Haeyoung Kim is a missionary has been serving to people in Africa. She is brave woman who has been against prejudice on the disabled and against severe fate. Her father was drunken man and had violent habit on his family. He has damaged his daughter’s back while his family abused his violence at her young age. Her growth place was damaged so she could grow normally and stopped her height under 137cm, a kind of disabled.
Her father committed suicide due to his fault in her childhood, and her mother had to get hard labor for family support. Her mother used to charge to the daughter about the death of father. She would have thought her life was wrong being. later her mother had died. She had to get job for a living in youth age. She has diligently learned knitted fabrics and her skill was great. She won prizes in national contests and in later world contests. She was recognized by people to be skillful person in the area.
One day she got an invitation from a vocation institution in Botswana, Africa handled by a Korean missionary to teach people there for job training. She accepted and entered to serve them and worked with them for 10 years. And she studied at Columbia University, New York. Now she has been serving in Kenya after completing her advance study and received the medal of South Korea government to honor her work spreading value of Korea culture and humanitarian contribution. In her books published she says, “It is okey for all of us to have a break time in life!” She says, “Everything is thanksgiving because God is making.”
Let us read together Habakkuk 3:17-18,
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
Habakkuk was a prophet in the age of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet of their nation, Judah destroyed by Babylon. His nation was almost broken down with no army
God be with all of you. Amen. and no economic power and diplomatic independence. All people were under great fear from Babylon invading their country with superpower to destroy everything that they have. They could not do anything before enemy’s superpower.
Then Habakkuk proclaimed them to give Thanks to God not because of their circumstance but because of God being with themselves. That is the best weapon of children of God to keeping their blessing under any circumstance.
If the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls. This is totally failed! There is no chance to recover.
But the servant of God says to us rejoicing because of God.
This means that let us give thanks to God under any kind of circumstance. Let us give thanks due to God is with us.
Thanksgiving is only strength and confession that we can do. Thanksgiving is another aspect of our belief to ask to God.
Verse 18 says,
“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
Rejoicing is reaction of those who gained what they really wanted. Those who have lost cannot rejoice but sigh or cry or resent. If they rejoice in that situation, they regarded to be insane.
But Word of God asks us to rejoice in hopeless circumstance in seeing God Almighty. We have a clear reason to rejoice. We are seeing God not me or world changeable. God is unchangeable.
Fail or pain want us to disappoint and to depart from God our Lord. But thanksgiving makes us to be close toward God. If we do not lose God in losing everything, we can keep everything in God who bless our life. So. Thanksgiving is our strength!
Unwise man exchanges God to world but wise man keeps God in losing world. Our life encounters everyday ups and downs, success and failure. But the way of blessing is to keep thanksgiving in every circumstance.
Job made his miserable life shine through thanksgiving under painful circumstances. Paul made his life great missional footprints for kingdom of God through his thanksgiving under various persecution.
Brothers and sister in the Lord!
Let us pour thanksgiving upon our life before God so that more thanksgiving will come to us. If we pour resent on life. More resent comes to us as well.
The widow of Zarephath has been blessed as plentiful food in severe drought when she yielded her last food to servant of God with thanksgiving heart.
When a little boy yielded a tiny lunch of two fishes and five loaves to the Jesus Christ in the Bethsaida field; he could see the miracle eating together food with over five thousand people there.
All these are graceful scenes that we cannot see without thanksgiving.
Let us give thanksgiving in any circumstance. Don’t miss Thanksgiving! It will make us recovered and blessed by the graceful God the Father in heaven.
A friend of mine in seminary was in car accident and delivered to an emergency room. He had to get surgery for survival. I visited him right at recovery room after his surgery. His first saying was “Thanks to God” once he awaked after anesthesia. I then thought I want to do as well if I might be similar situation.
Psalm 107:8-9 says,
“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”
God be with all of you! Amen.
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