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First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Sermon Notes Sunday Service June 21 2026
Sermon Title–With A Father’s Heart
Text – Deuteronomy 4:1-8
Rev. Key Min Lee

The Bible reveals the Father’s love from creation to the return of our Lord. Yet human knowledge and experience are inevitably limited when it comes to fully understanding God’s love. The reason is our sinful desires. These desires prevent us from receiving God’s love as it is and instead lead us to interpret Scripture according to our own understanding and knowledge. As a result, rather than walking in the direction God desires, people end up living according to the path they have chosen and interpreted for themselves.
When we look at such lives, they are often filled with complaints, blames, grumblings and dissatisfaction. They continually wrestle with questions such as, “Is God really exist?” and live with frustration and discouragement.
Therefore, if we are to understand God’s love, we must receive the Word God has given exactly as it is, without adding to it or taking away from it (v. 2). To add or subtract from God’s Word means accepting only the parts that make sense according to our own knowledge and understanding.
God’s Word includes unconditional obedience. That is why the Bible declares that even though “heaven and earth may pass away, the Lord’s Word will never pass away” (Matt. 24:35); though “the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40:8); and “all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”(2 Tim. 3:16–17).
In other words, when we do not fully understand Scripture, we should not decide for ourselves what to accept and what to reject. Rather, we must live as those who have already received God’s promises, applying His Word to our daily lives.
For example, Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” The Bible clearly says that we have already received it. Then we are to believe. Therefore, we should pray, speak, and live as people who have already received what God has promised. This is what we call unconditional obedience.
Today’s passage records Moses’ final words before his death. With the heart of a loving father, he offers his last counsel to Israel. What kind of life did Moses live?
Moses lived a life of unconditional obedience. He applied God’s Word exactly as it was given to his life. He delivered every message God commanded him to deliver without leaving anything out. Even when God told him before his death, “You will not enter the land of Canaan. Joshua will lead the people into the Promised Land,” Moses humbly obeyed God’s Word. He demonstrated through his own life what it meant to submit to God, and he modeled that obedience for Joshua, the new leader.
Watching Moses’ example, Joshua became a leader who obeyed God until the very end of his life. In other words, God carries out His plans through leaders who lead by example. Never forget that each one of you has been called to be such a leader—a leader who demonstrates God’s truth through your life.
Moses also lived as a mediator between God and Israel. Through him, God even changed His intention to destroy Israel and turned His anger into blessing. In the same way, you are mediators like Moses. Through you, God opens and closes the doors of heaven. This means that you are not ordinary people.
Our lives, therefore, should be filled with the love of God. Furthermore, we are called to encourage people, understand them, and accept them. To do this, we must first live a life of unconditional obedience while also fulfilling the role of a mediator. Such people are not driven by their own desires. Rather, out of love for the Father, they live lives of complete obedience, submission, and sacrifice. They receive people with grace, seek to understand them, encourage them, and cover all of their shortcomings with the Father’s love.
We call such people parents - fathers and mothers.
In other words, the role of a parent is to lead by example, to serve as a mediator between God and their children, and regardless of what their children may do or how they may behave, to receive them with love, understand them, encourage them, and cover all of their shortcomings with God’s love. The Bible says, “Fathers, do not exasperate (provoke) your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).
No parent desires for their child to fail (Luke 11:11). Parents always want to give the very best to their children. The greatest gift Moses emphasizes is “walking with God.”
That is why Moses says, “Do not add to or subtract from the commands I give you, but keep the commands of the LORD your God.” When God’s people do this, those who do not know God will see the wisdom and understanding of His people and be led to glorify the living God.
In other words, the example you set through your life opens the way for your children to become sons and daughters of God who serve as the light and salt of this dark world.
Beloved brothers and sisters, we must possess both the heart of a mother and the heart of a father. We need the heart of a mother who nurtures and prays for her children in love, and we need the heart of a father who keeps his children from going down the wrong path by leading through example, encouraging them, understanding them, and accepting them.
When we have both of these hearts, the next generation will live lives that proclaim the reality of the living God. Then many souls will come to encounter the living God through our lives.
It is my prayer that such grace may be upon all of us. I bless you in the name of the Lord.

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By Their Fruit You Will Recognize Them

6/15/2026

First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Sermon Notes Sunday Service June 14 2026
Sermon Title–By Their Fruit You Will Recognize Them
Text – Matthew 7:15-20
Rev. Key Min Lee

Matthew 7, as part of the Sermon on the Mount, teaches us how those who belong to
God's kingdom are to live in this world. The Lord’s concern is not merely what we do
outwardly, but what resides within our hearts. Our actions and way of life ultimately flow
from the condition of our hearts.
In other words, when Jesus Christ is at the center of our hearts, our lives begin to reflect
what pleases God. However, when self occupies the throne of our hearts, our lives will
naturally display the values and desires of this world.
In verse 15, Jesus warns us, “Beware of false prophets.” These false prophets are not
those who proclaim the things of heaven, but those who set their hearts on the world
and encourage others to follow its ways. Outwardly, they may appear to be servants of
truth, yet inwardly they are like ravenous wolves. The Holy Spirit does not dwell within
them; instead, they are influenced by the spirit of this world—a spirit that deceives and
leads people away from God (2 Peter 2:1–3). Like Balaam, they are driven by worldly
desires and lead God’s people into sin and compromise (Revelation 2:14).
This is why Jesus says in verse 16, “Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs
from thistles?” The Lord is teaching us that the fruit we bear reveals the spirit that is at
work within us. Scripture makes it clear that different roots produce different fruits.
The Apostle Paul, in the book of Romans, speaks of two kinds of fruit: the fruit that
leads to death and the fruit that leads to eternal life. When we were slaves to sin,
whatever fruit we produced ultimately led to death. But when we became servants of
God, we began to bear fruit that leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life
(Romans 6:20–22). God is concerned not merely with our activities, but with the kind of
fruit our lives are producing.
As we journey through life, the most important question is not simply what we have
accomplished. Rather, have we pursued love and borne the fruit of Jesus Christ? Or
have we followed the desires of the world and produced the fruit of the flesh? Those
who bear the fruit of Christ’s love become instruments of God’s grace. They bring
peace to the brokenhearted, freedom to the oppressed, and hope and joy to those who
are weary and discouraged (Luke 4:18–19).
Dear brothers and sisters, what truly matters is the fruit that our lives are producing.
Through godly fruit, many souls are comforted, brought to repentance, and drawn back

to the Lord. The fruit of our lives has the power to become a channel of God’s grace to
others.
Today, let us examine our hearts before the Lord.
What kind of fruit are you bearing in your life today?
Does your life reveal the fruit of Christ, or the fruit of the world?
May we be found bearing fruit that glorifies God and leads others into His everlasting
kingdom. Amen.

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Cross Bearing Life

6/8/2026

First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Sermon Notes Sunday Service June 7 2026
Sermon Title–Cross Bearing Life
Text – Matthew 16:21-28
Rev. Key Min Lee

Our sinful nature does not naturally lead us to empty ourselves and embrace the heart of Jesus. Instead, it drives us to take from others and fill our lives with the things of this world. As a result, those who do not understand the love of Jesus often become overwhelmed by sorrow, pain, suffering, and emptiness. In some cases, they even fall into depression or choose destructive paths that lead to the loss of life itself.

The process of breaking away from these sinful habits and desires is the training of emptying ourselves — in other words, the training of carrying our cross and following Jesus.

So why must we deny ourselves daily and live a life of carrying the cross? In Philippians 2, it says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” Though Jesus was fully God, He willingly emptied Himself, humbled Himself, and incarnated in the form of a servant.

Jesus chose the position of a Son who perfectly loved the Father and gave all glory to Him. This is the example Jesus showed us of emptying Himself and denying Himself.

One of the most beautiful gifts God has given humanity is the ability to choose. Therefore, with the love of God in our hearts, we must choose Jesus every single day and walk in obedience to Him.

An important truth is this: Satan tries to drag people toward destruction, but God, because He is love, never forces or drags anyone against their will. That is why we must choose love by our own free will and choose God daily. Choosing love and walking in it is the training of dying to ourselves every day.

When Paul said, “I die every day,” he was acknowledging the weakness and limitations of human nature. We may succeed one day and fail the next. Without the daily discipline of dying to ourselves, the enemy can find an opening and bring destruction into our lives.

Then what kind of training helps us deny ourselves daily and carry our cross?

First, we must live each day as if it were our last.

Second, we must continually train ourselves so that our words and actions are consistent with one another.

By choosing love and dying to ourselves moment by moment, we keep Satan from gaining a foothold in our lives. That is when true restoration begins.

I pray in the name of the Lord that this grace may be upon you and upon me as well.

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You Will Be My Witnesses

6/1/2026