"To Abraham and His Seed" 9       This is an edited version of the lecture titled, "To Abraham and His Seed," which was preached on October 27th, 2007.   And said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree."   Genesis 18:3-4       How we stand before the gospelThere are times when we think to ourselves, "For what am I living right now?" We have these thoughts in our mind, "Today, at this moment, I am doing these things. What am I doing these for?" I'm sure that all of us have had moments like this when we have some time to ourselves while working, or traveling in a car. Of course, we all know the answer. If asked, "For what do you live?", we can open the Bible and easily recite the verse that says, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).We can ask another question. It says that we must do all to the glory of God, whether we eat or drink, but how exactly do we do this? We can answer this question with the verse of a hymn, "Let us spread the gospel with all ourselves and all our possessions" (Hymn 273)*. (*A literal translation of the Korean lyrics of hymn 273.  The English lyrics of hymn 273: "Till each remotest nation has learned Messiah's Name." ) We have a tendency to say what we read in the Bible, or sing what our ancestors in faith sang without thinking very much about the meaning in them. I spent some time thinking deeply about this matter. Time continues to flow before us, and there are many things happening within our fellowship. There are things that we must do, and things that we are doing now. All of these are important, but it made me pause to think. I thought we have been tasked with something, and we consider this to be the most important, but yet so easily put it aside. We come together and have fellowship because of the gospel. We talk about exercise and health, and have discussions on a variety of things because of the gospel. There was a day for every one of us when we knelt before God, and were given faith. There was a time when we promised before God that we would live walking along this path. However, whether due to lifestyle habits or perhaps because we are occupied with different jobs, we forget this promise. We just remember the day we were born again and the Bible verses through which we realized our salvation. However, we talk with our brothers and sisters about health, and all of the various other things that are occurring within our fellowship. We have to think deeply in our hearts just what power stands behind all of this and makes us gather and live together like this.The human body has a brain, and joints that work according to its commands. There are muscles attached to joints, and various organs that form the body. All of these parts move together and live in this world in the form of a human being. As we ourselves live this way in this world, we talk about training our bodies, clearing our minds and making ourselves healthier. However, usually we only think about our feelings or sentiments, and rarely, if ever, think about the blood flowing in our bodies that gives us life, other than maybe when we have a nosebleed. We always place more importance on how we feel.Something similar also happens in our lives as we live within fellowship. Just as there is blood in our bodies that gives us life, the gospel is hidden behind our numerous works. And unless we open our mouths, this gospel stays hidden. When we begin to follow our own thoughts and our lifestyles, a force begins to exert itself within us that pushes the gospel even farther away. Genesis chapter 18, which we will begin studying now, may appear to be a simple story where Abraham received the angels and God. However, for people who claim that they are born again, the actions taken by Abraham here must also occur in their lives. Let us read Genesis chapter 18.   Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. "Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. "And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant." They said, "Do as you have said." So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Qui

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