World Mission Society Church of God

Ascension Day Service 2013

Nation |
Date | May 09, 2013

On May 9, the Ascension Day service was held in the Church of God all over the world simultaneously. The day is the feast to commemorate the ascension of Christ on the Mount of Olives on the 40th day after He was resurrected from death on the cross in three days. It originated from the work of Moses: Moses went up to Mount Sinai to uphold the will of God on the 40th day from the day when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea after the Exodus.

The members of the New Jerusalem Temple had a joint service with the members from nearby regions at Hwangsaewool Park in Bundang, where there was warm sunshine and white flower petals were blown by the wind like snowflakes. After the morning service, they had a pleasant time, sharing delicious food in the great nature that God created.

Mother gave thanks to God the Father for allowing His children to have the hope for ascension by showing them the example of resurrection and ascension 2,000 years ago. Mother prayed that Father would answer all the prayers offered by the children during the prayer weeks for ten days after the Ascension Day, so that they would receive overflowing blessing of the Holy Spirit. She also asked Father to clothe the children with the power of the Holy Spirit and let them preach the gospel throughout the world so that all humankind would have the hope for ascension.

Through the services in the morning and afternoon, General Pastor Kim Joo-cheol gave sermons about the origin and the meaning of the Ascension Day, and about the mission that God’s people must carry out. He said, “It is to give the hope for ascension to us as well as to the disciples that Jesus Himself showed His ascension and taught that He would come back in the same way they saw Him go into heaven” (Ac 1:6-11; 1 Th 4:13-18). He said with emphasis, “We, who are given the amazing blessing of ascension, must not lose hope for heaven until the end, and stay in the arms of God the Mother, the source of life, in order to fulfill ascension.”

Pastor Kim Joo-cheol encouraged the members: “The last will which Jesus left just before He ascended was, ‘Deliver the gospel to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!’ In other words, ‘Preach!’ Following the will of Jesus, the children of God must be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit and take the lead in preaching the gospel of the new covenant as the witnesses of Elohim God and as the people who are entrusted with the gospel by God” (Ac 1:6-11; Mt 28:16-20; Mk 16:15; 1 Th 2:3, Eze 3:17). Then he continued with a request: “Preaching is a great work with the tremendous responsibility of changing one person’s future and destiny. By remembering that the gospel that we deliver today will be the turning point for someone to change his or her unfortunate fate into a happy one, let’s become the children who preach the love of Elohim God to everyone that we meet.”

In the time of the early Church, the saints earnestly prayed for ten days from the Ascension Day until the Pentecost. Then they were clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit and completed the great world evangelism. Moreover, there happened amazing works such as 3,000 or 5,000 people accepting God in a day. With the desire that the same power of the Holy Spirit would be repeated today as it worked before, the members throughout the world asked for the power of the Holy Spirit in the early mornings and evenings for ten days, starting from the evening of the Ascension Day until the Pentecost with one mind and one heart.