Sermon Archive

March 31, 2024

Why Are You Weeping?

John 20: 1 – 18 

Praise the LORD!  Today is Easter Sunday.  We are celebrating the resurrection of our LORD, Jesus.  Easter is one of the biggest Holy Days for all believers.  As we observe the Season of Lent, we do all things in the hope of resurrection.  

However, people of the first century did not have the luxury of knowing what will soon take place after the crucifixion.  They were devastated, not understanding the resurrection.  Even though Jesus informed them before Jesus died, they still remained clueless. 

We know the story of the very first Easter morning and how Mary went to the grave of Jesus while it was still dark, not knowing exactly what to expect.  She clearly loved Jesus.  Without true love, who will go to the graveyard in the dark?  That would be crazy. 

Even after encountering two angels and seeing Jesus in Person standing right in front of her, Mary was still crying, still weeping.  Her eyes were  fixed inside the tomb, into that darkness in search of Jesus among the dead.  Her sadness blinded her from seeing Jesus standing in front of her, not able to recognize Jesus speaking to her. 

In despair, Mary could not take her eyes away from the darkness in the tomb.  Maybe she found comfort in that darkness, thinking that Jesus may be there even though Jesus may not be alive.  Maybe, Mary was too scared to take her eyes away from the tomb, too scared to face the disappointments in her limited mind. 

Don’t we do that sometimes?  When the darkness in our lives gets too big whether it comes at us through illnesses, broken relationships, losing loved ones, financial situations, or whatever it may be, we get lost in it.  When we don’t see or feel God or any positive signs from God in our lives and in our circumstances, we start doubting and questioning God’s love for us.  The truth is that the signs of God’s love are everywhere.  We just get blinded in our darkness. 

As Jesus stood in front of a weeping Mary, God’s very presence was everywhere.  Likewise, in our despair, our eyes get fixed in that darkness and are not able to see anything else.  We forget that God’s love for us does not change.  God’s love does not depend on our knowledge, our understanding, our situations or circumstances.  God’s presence and love are always with us no matter what.  However, we forget that, sometimes.  Then we get lost away from God. 

If we are going to get lost, we need to get lost in our LORD Jesus.  Why?  Because Jesus will show us the way to the light of life from that darkness, to really live life here in this life and in that life everlasting.  Thank God Mary came in search of Jesus even though she did not know how to get out of that darkness on her own.  Jesus came to her. 

However, sometimes we get lost in the darkness instead of light, away from Jesus.  We look for comfort in that darkness, even though comfort is nowhere to be found.  We look everywhere else except Jesus. 

Do you have any idea how many religions are out there where people worship what they created with their own hands or to worship anything they see?  There is a religion in Vietnam where people believe in absolutely everything.  In their place of worship, they have pictures of everything and anything, even the pictures of Elvis and John Lennon.  They even carved a whole rocky mountain into the face of an old man god.

Hindu worship all creation it seems.  They worship elephants, cows, monkeys, and every moving creature.  There are hundreds and thousands of people worshiping Buddha.  I like Buddha.  I respect Buddha.  However, Buddha was a human.  He died as a human.  He is not a god and never will become a god.  (Pictures) 

It's not easy surviving in this crazy, broken, and confused world.  Not only these false gods, but different understandings are also flooding our minds and our lives.  Everyone has different ideas and understandings.  This world is full of people who want us to believe what they want us to believe no matter what our God says through the Word of God, which is the Bible. 

There is a very interesting story which really happened about several years ago.  I believe in Thailand; a small village adopted a female god to protect them.  This female god has long white hair.  People in that village set up a small shrine with this god’s picture in a picture frame in front of a tree.  People came out to worship this god and prayed constantly, every day to this new god they discovered. 

Korean people found out about this and went to Thailand to learn the truth about this.  This picture of the goddess was extremely blurry.  They could hardly see the actual face of this goddess.  However, they took a picture of this goddess and sent it to Korea to study it with better technology.  Guess what?  They found out who this goddess really was. 

This goddess was a living person in Korea.  This female god was actually a man who is an actor.  His name is Sung Hoon.  You can google Sung Hoon and see what he really looks like.  In one of Korean dramas in ancient settings, Sung Hoon played a character with long white hair.  He could not believe that some people in one part of this world were worshiping him as a goddess. 

It is okay to get confused sometimes.  We will get overwhelmed and lost sometimes.  It is okay.  It will happen sometimes because we are weak human beings.  However, we cannot be confused or lost away from our LORD Jesus.  No matter how confused we get or how lost we get, we need to stay with Jesus.  We cannot walk away from Jesus no matter what happens. 

Life will not always make sense.  We are not supposed to know all things.  Personally, I don’t want to know everything, especially about my future.  How many people will live in sanity if they know everything that will happen to them in their future?  It’s okay to not know all things as long as you stay with Jesus.  Because our Jesus knows all things and everything. 

There are many religions out there that claim to hold the truth.  But we all know that only our God has the truth.  Only our Jesus can save us, to give us the true salvation.  Jesus said, “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through ME” (John 14:6).  Jesus is “the Way and the Truth and the Life.”  You can be confused or lost all you want as long as you are with Jesus. 

Jesus, Who is “the Way and the Truth and Life”, will guide you to the right way, reveal the truth, and will give you life even the life everlasting.  As long as you know Jesus and you are with Jesus, you are good.  Look at Mary.  She was so upset, depressed, sad, and miserable stuck in that darkness in the tomb where it is full of lifelessness. 

Mary even failed to recognize Jesus, who was standing right in front of her.  However, Jesus knew where she was.  Jesus recognized Mary when Mary could not recognize Jesus.  

Your lives are like puzzles.  Sometimes, you just can’t figure out where some pieces of your life fall into your present and future.  It is okay not knowing all the details about your life.  However, you truly need to know that our God knows.  Our God holds your present and your future.  If you put your trust in our Living God our Father, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit, our God will not just give you the way.  Our God will be your way, your truth, and your life. 

So, don’t try to figure everything out.  You will never know all things.  You simply need to know God, our Living God.  Feel free to weep.  Because our Jesus has the power to wipe your tears away and fill you with hope when you feel all hopeless.  Regardless of how you feel or what is happening in your life, there is always hope, peace, forgiveness, salvations, truth, and true life in Jesus, Only in Jesus. 

Because Jesus died for me on that cross and resurrected from the dead in three days, we are able to have a hope which goes beyond this life.  Thank God that God’s love for us does not depend on our circumstances or on our feelings and emotions.  When life comes at you hard, remember that you are the Easter people.  God knows where you are.  God knows what you are going through.  God understands how you feel.  

Find comfort in knowing that our all-knowing God is always there with you surrounding you with God’s ultimate, sacrificial love.  You may not see it.  You may not feel it.  Your eyes may be focused in darkness.  But always remember that God is there with you at all times no matter what.  God’s love for you will never leave you.  

Therefore, cling onto God.  Wait on the Lord, and cling onto Jesus with everything you have.  Your problems may not go away quickly enough, but you will certainly experience God giving you strength to face all things in such personal and amazing ways.  Praise the LORD!  Christ is Risen!  Christ is Risen indeed!  Amen.

March 24, 2024

She has Done What She Could

Mark 14: 1 – 9

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Passion Sunday.  Today, we remember the triumphal entry into Jerusalem before the crucifixion.  People came out and waved palm branches to celebrate Jesus (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:29-44, John 12:12-19).  It was such an important and significant moment that all four Gospels recorded this event.

People celebrated Jesus with such excitement.  People believed that Jesus Is the Messiah Who came with political power to defeat all their enemies, especially Romans.  Disappointment overtook them when Jesus failed to destroy Romans but instead Jesus died on the cross like a criminal.  They could not accept the fact that Jesus Was not a political Messiah but a spiritual Messiah Who came to save us from the sins of the world.

Disappointed people can easily become angry people.  All the shouts of “Hosanna” changed into “Crucify Jesus” once they realized Jesus would not give them what they wanted.  Praise the LORD that we know our Jesus Is the spiritual Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and our LORD and Saviour.  We know for sure that only through Jesus, we are able to enter into that Heavenly Kingdom.

We come with grateful hearts for Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and for the resurrection.  We praise God for the gift of salvation as we wait for Jesus to come back for the second time to take us home to that Everlasting Life in the presence of our Almighty, All-Powerful God.  

In order to make all these things happen, Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins.  Even though we kill and sacrifice all the animals in the world for the forgiveness of our sins, our sins could not be completely forgiven.  To save us all from sin and death, Jesus Who Is without sin, or any faults had to die in our place.  I’m sure all those innocent animals are grateful to Jesus as well.  They no longer have to die for our sins.

Knowing the journey Jesus had to take to that cross, Jesus willingly walked into Jerusalem.  Jesus knew those shouts of praise to Jesus would quickly turn into the shouts of murder.  Jesus knew those whom Jesus loved would sell Jesus out with a handful of coins, run away from Jesus, and deny Jesus.  However, Jesus loved them all as if they had not and will not do anything wrong.

Dying on that cross for our sins is the ultimate sign, the ultimate expression of God’s love for us, the human beings, God’s creations.  Jesus coming into Jerusalem was going to change the fate of all human beings.  This is why we remember Palm Sunday every year and celebrate the LORD Jesus.

By that time, Passover was coming right around the corner.  Passover was one of three major religious holidays in Jewish culture.  Passover was to celebrate God saving Israelites from the life of slavery in Egypt which took place for 400 years.  God moved the heavens and earth to give them freedom and bring them into the Promised Land.  The whole nation and all the believers from all over the world celebrated God for what God had done.

Now, Jesus Was coming into Jerusalem to save all humanity from the slavery of sin and death by dying on the cross.  However, today’s Lectionary Readings do not talk about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  The Gospel Lesson starts with the one who prepared Jesus for what Jesus Was about to do on that cross for us all.  

Now, all four Gospels talk about the life of Jesus.  However, they do not all talk about the same thing.  They each recorded the important event of Jesus which they felt led by the Holy Spirit to write.  Everything they wrote was important.  However, there are certain events that were very crucial and important that they all wrote about, such as crucifixion and resurrection of the LORD Jesus.

All four Gospels talk about this woman who poured a very expensive oil on Jesus (Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-50, John 12:1-8).  According to the Bible, what she had done was not that important to the disciples, but extremely important to our Jesus.  In fact, the disciples were mad about what she did to Jesus.

Each Gospel talks a little bit differently about this woman.  According to Luke, Jesus Was at a dinner party hosted by “one of the Pharisees” (7:36).  Luke tells us that an unnamed “woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus Was at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume” (7:37).  Before she poured the perfume on Jesus, “she stood behind Jesus at Jesus’ feet weeping, she began to wet Jesus’ feet with her tears.  Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them” (7:38).

What happened here with Jesus and this woman probably was the most scandalous of all four Gospels.  A woman coming and touching a man’s bare feet, wiping them with tears and then with her hair? (Luke 7:38).  That was not something that happened every day.  Not a common thing at all.  Then she kissed Jesus’ feet before she “poured perfume on them” in front of everyone.  Can you imagine what people might have thought about this situation?

Just like the disciples, the Pharisees were not happy about this at all.  They were especially upset with Jesus for allowing this to happen (Luke 7:39).  In return, Jesus rebuked them saying,

Do you see this woman?  I came into your house.  You did not give ME any water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You did not give Me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing My feet.  You did not put oil on My head, but she has poured perfume on My feet.  Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown.  But whoever has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:44-47).

I love the way Jesus defends her publicly and openly.  Women during that time did not have much worth or significance at all.  They were often treated as one of the properties which men own. They were the minority of minorities.  Yet, Jesus defends her in front of religious leaders who hold much power.  Jesus put those religious leaders in a proper place and lifted her up in front of everyone.  Guess who was more valued by Jesus here?  It was that insignificant and sinful woman.  She was more important, more significant to God than anyone else there.

Do you know what this reminds me of?  It reminds me of Jesus’ parable about sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46).  Jesus rebuked the one who had failed to feed the hungry or give water to the thirsty one, failed to invite the strangers and clothed them and ignored them while they were sick and in prison.  

Jesus pronounced punishment upon them saying, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46).  But to the ones who lived as good neighbors to the needy, Jesus said, “but the righteous to eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).  Failing to be a good neighbor by providing to the needy neighbors is a serious crime to our God.

That sinful woman provided for Jesus what those Pharisees failed to do.  At this dinner party, guess who received the forgiveness and salvation?  Those religious people?  No!  This sinful woman is the one, probably the only one who received forgiveness and salvation in Jesus’ Name.  Others, unfortunately, did not feel the need to be forgiven.  How sad is that?  This was the story of a woman who brought expensive perfume to Jesus by Luke.

According to John, Jesus Was at Bethany but not at Simon’s house but Lazarus’.  This took place after Jesus “raised [Lazarus] from the dead” (12:1).  Here, Martha and Lazarus’ younger sister, Mary brings “about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair” (12:3).

The disciple, “Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Jesus” got mad saying, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?  It was worth a year’s wages” (John 12:4-5).  The Bible makes it very clear that “Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it” (12:6).

Jesus defends Mary here as well.  Jesus said, “Leave her alone…It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial.  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have ME” (John 12:7-8).  Did you hear that?  Jesus said that Mary did this “for the day of My burial.”  

Mary brought comfort to Jesus as Jesus prepared Jesus-Self to suffer and die for our sins.  We all need comfort and encouragement when we are faced with the biggest challenges in life, and so did Jesus.  Jesus needed this.  What Mary did to Jesus may be a foolish thing to disciples, but it meant the world to Jesus.  Jesus treasured her because of what she did for Jesus.

Matthew and Mark have the same story about this incident.  According to Matthew and Mark, an unnamed woman came to Jesus while Jesus Was at “Simon the Leper’s” house in Bethany and poured a “jar of very expensive perfume” on “Jesus’ head” (Matthew 26:6-7, Mark 14:3).  In front of Jesus, people were saying, “Why this waste of perfume” (v. 4).  Really?  Pouring this expensive perfume on Jesus was a waste?

How would you feel if someone said that about you because an expensive gift was given to you?  “What a waste?”  That is cold and cruel.  They used the poor people as an excuse for saying this to Jesus.  Well, King Saul disobeyed God saying, “We did this for the LORD.”  That did not work for God.  Saul was rejected by God for that.  I actually know some folks who think giving money to the Church is a waste.  How unfortunate and sad is that?

Here, Jesus defends her as well.  Jesus said, “Leave her alone…Why are you bothering her?  She has done a beautiful thing to ME.  The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.  But you will not always have ME” (vv. 6-7).  Once again, Jesus tells them, “She did what she could.  She poured perfume on My body beforehand to prepare for My burial” (v. 8).  

Once again, Jesus mentions the burial of Jesus’ body.  What was about to take place in Jerusalem had to be heavy in Jesus’ heart.  Little after this, Jesus took three disciples and “went to a place called Gethsemane” and asked the disciples to pray.  The Bible tells us that “Jesus began to be deeply distressed and troubled” (Mark 14:33).  Jesus said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (v. 34).  Can you feel the heaviness in Jesus’ heart?

Dying on the cross was not a fun thing for Jesus.  Jesus struggled to walk that way.  Jesus prayed to God, “Abba, Father,…everything is possible for You.  Take this cup from ME.  Yet not what I will, but what You will” (v. 36).  Jesus honestly did not want to suffer and die on the cross.  Jesus asked God to take it away, but Jesus did it anyway in obedience to God's Word and for the love Jesus had for us.  Jesus Was troubled by what was about to happen to Jesus.

This is when those women brought that expensive perfume and anointed Jesus with it.  Jesus found such comfort in that.  Jesus needed that support, encouragement, and love to do what Jesus came to do for the world.  I heard some people say that Jesus Is God so that Jesus did not feel any pain.  I must tell you.  At that time, Jesus Was 100% God and 100% human being.

As God, Jesus had the power to do anything Jesus desired.  As a human being, Jesus felt every pain that human beings would experience.  That is why the cross was such a challenge for Jesus.  However, Jesus did it anyway for our sake.  Because Jesus loves us.  

What those women did to Jesus meant so much to Jesus.  Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, wherever the Gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told, in memory of her” (Mark 14:9, Matthew 26:13).  These unnamed women captured the heart of their God.

As other women who did this, do you think she was worried about the poor people or how the disciples would react?  No.  The only One she had in her mind was Jesus, only Jesus.  The disciples acted like they loved the poor more than Jesus does.  We all know that is not true.  She moved the heart of Jesus.  Guess Who remembers her more than anyone?  Jesus does!  Her name is written in Jesus’ heart by what she did to Jesus.

Do you know what the religious leaders were doing while this was happening?  They “were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill Jesus” (v. 1).  Guess who is more pleasing and acceptable to our God.  Those who follow all the religious rituals, rules, and regulations perfectly in the Name of God, yet wanting to kill Jesus, their God, or this unnamed woman who only thought of the need of Jesus?  We all know the answer.  This woman won the heart of God.

Let us be like this woman, the one who moved the heart of our God through her love and sacrifice for the LORD.  She could have sold that expensive perfume and used the money for herself.  Yet, she chose to anoint Jesus with the most precious thing she owned.  Thousands of years later, we are still talking about her honorable deeds as Jesus told us.

Live in such a way that our God would brag about you.  Be the one that God remembers forever.  Do not only expect God to touch your heart, to move your heart, but be the one who moves God’s heart through your devotions, sacrifices, and obedience to God’s Word.

Let your life be filled with God, filled with the wonders of God, filled with the love of God.  I’m sure God did not let her go empty handed.  I have no doubt that God blessed her tremendously.  May your life be filled with God’s blessings and go out and be a blessing to everyone around you in the Name of our LORD Jesus Christ.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

March 17, 2024

Know the LORD

Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34

Don’t you have dreams or goals of what you want to achieve?  What will be the perfect world for you?  Having a certain status, living in a certain type house, earning so much money, or enjoying practicing power, etc.?  Today’s Scripture Lesson talks about God’s perfect world.  Let’s see what God desires.

I will put My Law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know ME, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more (vv. 33b-34).

I used to attend a Bible Study where we read a Scripture Lesson then talked about what we learned about God from that reading.  From this Scripture Lesson which we just heard; we can learn a great deal about our God.

God said, “I will put My Law, My Word within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (v. 33).  Obviously, knowing God’s Word is very important to our God.  Knowing indicates more than obtaining knowledge, but obeying God’s Word.  God does not want us to just know it in our heads, but to remember and to know God’s Word in our hearts, and to live out God’s Word in our lives.

Don’t you have things written in your heart that you just cannot forget them?  For example, your family’s birthdays, your anniversary, the first day that you met your spouse or your child, etc.  Those are the things that are so special to you that you remember them by heart.  God wants to be that special One in our hearts, therefore, carry God’s Word in our hearts.

Then God said, “I will be their people, and they shall be My people” (v. 33b).  This is what God truly desired since creation, to be our God and for us to be God’s people.  You can easily say, “Sure, I am God’s and God Is my God.”  However, if you do not live like you belong to God, then how can you call yourself, “God’s people”?

For example, if your spouse acts like s/he is still single whenever s/he goes out into public without you, how would you feel about that?  I watched a movie about this on the Hallmark channel on TV a long time ago.  I cannot remember the name of it.  It was about a pilot who flies all over the United States.  He had one wife in one state, then another one in a different state.  Then he was marrying another young lady living in another state.

He was a handsome fellow.  Of course, all his wives were wonderful ladies.  They all thought that they were his only wife.  Why would they think any differently?  They were totally heartbroken when they learned the truth.  When we fail to live like we are God’s people, we are doing the same thing as this horrible husband did to his wives.

We fail to live as God’s people when we give our devotion, which rightfully belongs to our God, to something or someone else.  There are many other ways to live like we don’t belong to God, such as when we put something else before God; when we fail to Worship God faithfully; when we refuse to obey God’s Word; when our lifestyles do not please our God; when our decisions go against God’s Word, etc.

You don’t want your spouse to share his or her heart and love with someone else, then why would you do that to our God?  One of the major desires of our God is to have God as our God and to live as God’s people.  This was what God promised to Abraham, saying that God will “be your God and the God of your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7).

God said this throughout the Bible.  You can find God telling God’s people, “I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God” all over the Bible (Genesis 17:7, Exodus 6:7, 19:5-6, 29:45-46, Leviticus 26:11-12, Deuteronomy 4:20, 7:6, 14:2, 26:18, 29:13, 2 Samuel 7:24, 1 Chronicles 17:22, Jeremiah 7:23, 11:4, 24:7, 30:22, 31:1, 33, 32:38, Ezekiel 11:20, 14:11, 34:24, 30, 36:27-28, 37:23, 27, Hosea 2:23, Zechariah 8:8, 13:9, 2 Corinthians 6:16-17, 1 Peter 2:9-10, Revelation 21:3, 7).

God said it 33 times that I know of.  I can confidently tell you that God truly wants to be your God and wants you to be God’s people.  When you live faithfully and obediently to God’s Word, others can actually see God’s Word through your life.  That would be the Living Word of God coming out of you. 

When non-believers recognize God’s Word through your life, they will start questioning you.  “How can you be kind to a person like that?  Isn’t this the person who hurt you badly?  How can you be nice to such a person?”  “How can you be at peace in a situation like this?  Doesn’t this bother you?”  “How can you share that with others when you don’t even have enough for yourself?”  “How can you be happy for someone like that?”

What you do will not make any sense to those non-believers.  They will question your motives and actions.  They will wonder how a human being can live like that.  Then they will be thirsty for what you have and will long to have what you have.  They will want to become God’s people as well.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13).  What does the salt do?  The salt preserves things and stops it from becoming spoiled.  The salt will also make you thirsty.  You are called to live as salt in this life, so that you may cause others to be thirsty for what you have in Jesus.  When you bring that thirstiness out of people for Jesus, people will come to Church, looking for Jesus even before you ask them to come.

God also said, “No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know ME” (v. 34a).  Did you hear that?  God wants to be known by you.  You don’t have to pray or hope that God will know you.  God already knows you more than you know yourself.  You may say, “Nobody gets me.  Nobody understands me.”  I’m telling you; God gets you.  God truly understands you more than you can imagine.

However, God wants to be known by you.  When people are in love, they want to be known by each other on a personal and intimate level.  Imagine living with your spouse who knows nothing about you.  When you talk to him or her, you have to explain your point of view of why and how every single time.  You must wonder, “Don’t you know me by now at least this much?”  That will be too frustrating for me.

My David can tell me something that is not true and I will believe him.  However, I cannot hide anything from him.  He knows me so well that it is scary.  I would come home, and he would ask, “What’s wrong?” just by looking at my face.  If I say, “Nothing,” he will say, “We both know something is wrong.  Let’s not waste our time.  Just tell me.”

If I ask him for some cash, he even knows why I need cash without me telling him.  It is quite scary.  He knows me because he loves me.  I love him, but unfortunately, I don’t have that ability.  But he has the ability to see right through me.  Knowing each other at that personal level comes from love.  God wants to be known by us, which means God wants us to love God that personally, intimately, and deeply.

How does God understand our love?  Jesus answered this very clearly.  Jesus said, 

If you love ME, you will obey My commands…Whoever has My commands and obeys them, that person is the one who loves ME.  The one who loves ME will be loved by My Father, and I too will love that person and show Myself to that person (John 14:15, 21).

You don’t have to create ways to help God to know that you love God.  One way God understands your love is through your obedience to God’s Word.  Jesus also said,

Anyone who loves ME will obey My teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Anyone who does not love ME will not obey My teaching.  These Words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father Who sent Me (John 14:23-24).

You may say, “I love God so much.  God Is everything to me.”  However, if you fail to obey God’s Word, what you say has no power.  Your disobedience only communicates hate to God.  Jesus clearly said, “Anyone who does not love ME will not obey My teaching.”  The only way God understands your love is the obedience to God’s commands.  If you want God to know that you love God, Obey God’s Word!

Let’s go back to our Scripture Lesson.  God said, “from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more” (v. 34).  Do you think God finds pleasure in punishing people?  No way.  God said, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?  Declares the Sovereign LORD.  Rather, AM I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23).

The Bible also tells us, “The LORD Is not slow about God’s promise, as some count slowness, but Is patient toward you, not wanting any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9a).  God does not enjoy punishing people.  Rather, God longs to forgive everyone so that everyone can live with God eternally.  

God’s ultimate dream is to live with you eternally.  You are God’s ultimate dream, a purpose for creating this entire world.  You are what God desires the most.  You are the one God wants to bless more than anything.  You are God’s true love.  You are it!  Everything God did since creation was for you.  Yes, you!

You are the reason why God created this world.  You are the reason why Jesus came to earth as one of us and died for our sins.  You are the reason why Jesus resurrected.  You are the reason for God’s ultimate Heavenly Kingdom.  You are the reason.  You are the true love of God.  You are the reason for Eternal Life.

God loves you, and you belong to God as long as you are willing.  Stop playing games with God.  Go with the LORD.  Do all you can to obey God’s Word to convince God that you love God with everything.  God will bless you tremendously as God promised through the Word of God.

Let God’s Living Word come out of your life through your life of obedience and speak to those who do not know God so that they may become God’s people as well.  Let’s work hard at this.  When Jesus comes back to take us home, let us not lose any one person to the devil, but take everyone with us to that Heavenly Kingdom with the LORD.

May the LORD be your God and you be God’s people every day.  When Jesus comes back, may the LORD tell you, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful…Come and share your master’s happiness” (Matthew 25:23).  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

March 10, 2024

Saved by Grace

Ephesians 2: 1 – 10

This is what I’ve learned.  Justice means to receive what we deserve.  For example, you do the crime, then you do the time.  Mercy means you do not receive what you deserve.  For example, your bank telling you, “Even though you owe us $10,000, we will forgive you on this.  So, you do not have to pay us back the $10,000 that you owe us.”  Now, Grace means to receive what you do not deserve.  For example, the bank forgives you your tens and thousands of dollars that you owe, but it tells you, “We are going to give you $1,000,000 because we feel like it.”  That is what we call Grace!

We live by Grace all the time and every day.  Some of us just have not realized it yet.  Sometimes, children complain saying, “It’s not fair.”  The response is, “Life is not fair.”  We say this when we do not get what we want.  Grace is not about getting what we want.  It is about receiving what we do not deserve.  Can you imagine everyone getting what they deserve before God?  I wonder how many of us will stay alive.

Life may not be fair, but our God Is.  The Bible tells us, “God causes the sun to rise on good people and on evil people, and God sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong” (Matthew 5:45-46).  God always has been and will be fair to all people good and bad.  We clearly live under God’s grace continually whether we realize it or not.

How can I explain grace to you?  I experience the grace of the LORD every time I write a sermon.  It is a challenge to come up with a new sermon every Sunday and a midweek message every Wednesday.  It is a miracle of the LORD that it happens continually.  Some pastors would ask, “How do you keep it fresh?”  I used to ask that same question.  

We have the same story for Easter and Christmas every year.  Every Sunday, how do you come up with unique and interesting sermons?  I really admired and respected pastors who have stayed at the same Church for 20, or 40 years.  Then I learned that it was not about keeping it fresh.  It was all about what God Was doing.

First of all, there will be no good sermons without God.   No matter how good the sermon may sound, it will not speak to people nor touch their hearts without God’s anointing.  Writing sermons is not about my abilities, but all about God working in and through me.  Therefore, I experience a miracle of the LORD every time I preach.  I experience the grace of the LORD continually and faithfully.

However, the biggest grace we all experience every day is God’s forgiveness for our sins.  How many of you would say that forgiving someone is easy?  In one of my previous appointments, we had a county sheriff and his wife in our membership.  Every time we talked about forgiveness, she struggled with that issue.  She also worked at the Sheriff's office with her husband before and had seen a lot.  She openly said that she will not forgive the rapists and pedophiles.

She struggled with the story of David rapping Bathsheba in the Bible.  She said, “I cannot justify what David did to Bathsheba.  That was rape.  I cannot forgive him.”  It’s so much easier to say, “You must forgive everyone” when it is not you who has to do the forgiving.  It is extra hard if you have experienced crimes in the middle of it or if you are the victim of such.  Forgiving someone is usually a challenging choice you must make.

Yet, God Who knows and sees everything that we do so freely and willingly forgives us from all of our sins consistently, all the time.  Our Almighty, All-Powerful Creator God came down as one of us and died for our sins “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8).  All we must do is ask for forgiveness in the Name of Jesus and we are forgiven.  This is the grace of the LORD in our lives.  

Just knowing that we will not die eternally for our sins, but will live with our God forever through Jesus Christ is enough for us to have a celebration every day.  No one deserves such grace.  Yet, God has done it all.  All we must do is ask for it and God will give it to us.  We truly are saved by God’s grace.  How wonderful is that?

We know what we are getting is more than what we deserve.  God’s grace is working all around us.  We are all good because of what God has done for us.  But how about God?  Is God getting what God rightfully deserves?  God made it very clear about what God desires from us.  God did not keep that secret from us.  You don’t need to look too far.  Look at the Ten Commandments.

The first four commandments are all about God.  Let’s look at them.  The first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before ME” (Exodus 20:3).  Second, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” (Exodus 20:4).  Third, “You shall not misuse the Name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses God’s Name” (Exodus 20:7).  Fourth, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8). 

Honestly, how many of those commandments do we faithfully and diligently keep?  I’m not even talking about all Ten Commandments but just the first four of them.  We all know God’s grace is wonderful.  We truly need God’s grace in our lives.  We cannot live without God’s grace.  I do not need to convince you of how wonderful our God Is and God’s grace in our lives.

Let’s take our eyes away from us and focus on our God.  Before we talk about what is fair for us, let’s look at what is fair for our God and what our God deserves.  God really did all the work for us.  Our God created the whole world and created us and even came down as one of us to die for our sins.  Don’t you think God deserves our praises?

Look around you.  Where is everyone?  Aren’t we all living under God’s grace?  Shouldn’t we all need to come and Worship the LORD faithfully and regularly?  When God told us to “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” I’m sure God did not mean for you to stay home and just remember it.  To remember means to participate and actively Worship God.

Over the years, Christians have developed this ill understanding of what Worship is all about.  The focus of Worship is no longer God but ourselves.  The usual complaints I’ve heard about Worship Service are “The sermon is boring…Don’t like the songs we sing…The Worship Service is not ending on time.”  All these complaints are about themselves, not about God.

Instead of expecting Worship Service to entertain us and to make us happy, we should be focusing on making our God happy.  Our God Is and should be the focus of all our Worship Services.  Pastors usually receive compliments about sermons when the message is more fun and entertaining.  And complaints rise when the sermon is too serious, too long, or talks about unpleasant things like sin too much.

Every Sunday, I pray for God’s anointing on myself, the message, and the ones who would hear the message.  My prayer is for God to speak through me to God’s people.  So that God’s Word would be heard, and God’s people would go out and live it.  Our main goals for Sunday Worship Service are to honor and praise God to make God happy and to take God’s Word and whatever God gives us during the Service with us to live it out in this world with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

I’m going to tell you this as nicely as I can, but truthfully.  Sunday Worship Service is not all about you.  It is not to entertain you or to make you happy.  It is all about our God, to make God happy.  While you worship God, you need to focus on making God happy.  Also, pray as hard as you can for God to speak to you and help you to live out what God commands you to do.

The desires for Worship Services that are focused on God will change the qualities of Worship Services and the way you worship God.  When I was attending and learning in seminary, I could not simply listen to a sermon without criticizing it.  I was so quick to criticize the message as soon as I walked out of the Service.  You know the second meeting that takes in the parking lot after a Service or a meeting?  I was in it.

Of course, you must listen carefully to make sure what you are hearing is in the Bible and goes with the Word of God.  However, I did not know how to listen or to receive the Word without criticizing the pastor.  Was that pleasing to God?  I don’t think so.  I stopped listening to other pastor’s sermons for a while.  It took me a long time to learn to appreciate how God speaks to me through those pastors with spiritual discernment.

If you struggle to Worship God regularly and faithfully, you will have such a hard time when you go to Heaven.  Because Worshiping God is something you will be doing eternally.  The Bible tells us that “four living creatures” (Revelation 4:8) and “the twenty-four elders” (4:10) surrounded by all the crowds of witnesses would cry out “Day and night” without stopping saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy Is the LORD God Almighty Who Was, and Is, and Is to come” (4:8).  

They would continue to sing, “You Are worthy, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being” (Revelation 4:11).  Worshiping God will happen eternally, forever, and ever.  Get used to Worshiping God here on earth.  You will be happier in Heaven when you get there.

Personally, staying focused is a challenge for me.  Trying not to lose my attention from listening to a sermon is a challenge.  Honestly, it is a challenge for me.  I’m sure I am not the only one who struggles with that.  However, as long as you are here and trying, you are good.  God knows our weaknesses and shortcomings.  God does not expect us to be perfect.  Praise the LORD for that.  God wants us to work toward the perfect relationship with God every day.

This is why John Wesley said, “You should strive toward perfection” meaning, every day make your goal to have the best, deepest, most intimate, and personal loving relationship with God.

Not all the people come to Church for the right reasons.  Some come to enhance their businesses.  Some come to look for a mate.  Some come to check out the new pastor or the programs.  This is why the Church gets almost full every time you get a new pastor.

People may come to Church for the wrong reasons, but it is far better for them to be here than not.  While they Worship God, God may speak to them and change their hearts to be devoted to God.  As I said, you will be blessed because you came.  

Please, don’t be one of those who cry out, “We need more people at Church on Sundays,” yet that person does not come, him or herself.  Or be a person who loves God more than anybody, yet only comes twice or three times a year, like on Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day.

Be a person who lives like one who knows God’s grace and properly Worship and honor God regularly and faithfully.  Be a person who is focused on pleasing God instead of demanding to be pleased.  Be a person who makes God proud and happy.  God has almost 7,000 blessings for those who make God happy through the life of obedience to God’s Word.

May the LORD cover you with God’s favor and blessings.  As you live out all God’s blessings, may you be a blessing to “all peoples on earth” in the Name of the Father, and the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

March 3, 2024

My Father’s House

John 2: 13 – 22

The Book of John starts from the beginning, before the creation.  He tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word Was with God, and the Word Was God” (John 1:1).  John skips the birth story of Jesus.  He goes straight to the story of Jesus being baptized by John the baptizer, the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus called some to follow Jesus.  

Then Jesus goes to the Temple of the LORD and clears out all those money changers and sales people.  This story is written in all four Gospels (Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-48).  Why?  Because it is important.

How we think about the Church of the LORD and treat the Church is very important to our Jesus.  Jesus takes it personally.  It doesn’t matter how big or small the Church building may be.  Jesus called it, “My Father’s house” (v. 16).  According to Matthew, Jesus said, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers’” (21:13).  In Mark, Jesus said, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (11:17).  

Clearly, the Church is “God’s house” which is “a house of prayer” for anybody and everybody.  In all four Gospels, Jesus accuses them of turning this “house of prayer” into “a den of robbers” (Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46, John 2:16).  Why would Jesus say such?  Let’s first look at the design of the Temple during Jesus' time.

The Temple during Jesus' time was the third and the last Temple.  They did not have Churches everywhere like we have.  There was only one Temple of the LORD.  During special religious holidays, all the believers from everywhere, all over the world would come to the only Temple to make sacrifices and to Worship God. 

The very first Temple of the LORD was built by King Solomon.  This third Temple was built by king Herod.  That is why this Temple was called “Herod’s temple” (Google).  It was “a restoration and expansion of Zerubbabel’s second temple.” 

Do you know how long it took to build our Church building?  A year or two?  The Temple in Jerusalem took 46 years to build (v. 20).  “The dimensions of Herod’s temple court were 1,550 feet by 1,000 feet – about 35 acres” (Google). 

This Temple was divided into three sections, outer court, inner court, and the holy of holy place.  The outer court is where the earthly parents of Jesus brought baby Jesus to be circumcised.  

That court was called “the Outer Court,” “the Court of the Women,” “the Court of the Gentiles,” and “the Lower Court.”  That was as far as the women and the Gentiles could come.  They were not allowed to go any further into the Temple beyond this court.  It was like they were allowed to hang out in the vestibule, the Church lobby but not allowed to actually come inside the Sanctuary.

This Outer Court was where Anna, “a widow” of “eighty-four” years old prophetess came to welcome and to worship Baby Jesus at the Temple (Luke 2:36-38).  Anna was staying here to worship “night and day, fasting and praying” without leaving the Temple.

The Outer Court was also opened to the salespeople.  The money used in public outside the Temple had pictures of the Roman emperor, which could not be used inside the Temple.  So, all the foreign money had to be changed into the proper money that was acceptable to be used for the Temple.  That is why they had money changers. 

That Outer Court was huge.  “It was a square courtyard, 288 feet on each side (for comparison, a football field is 360 feet long).  Within it stood four massive lampstands, each 86 feet tall” (Google).  In a place this big, Jesus driving out the salespeople, animals, the money changers, and accusing them of making God’s house into “den of robbers” did not make the biggest scene.  However, it was enough to cause those religious people to want to kill Jesus.

One of many wonderful things about our Jesus is that Jesus Was not scared or too shy to stand up for what was right in the eyes of the LORD.  Jesus would let everyone know what is acceptable to God according to God’s Word regardless of what was expected by the world with their manners, etiquette, social justice, or power dynamics.  No matter what happens or who is around, God always comes first for Jesus.  And Jesus let everybody know that.

This is why the world hated Jesus.  Jesus said, “The world hates you, keep in mind that it hated ME first” (John 15:18).  If you are a servant or a follower of the LORD, you can expect the world to hate you.  As God said, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8).  God’s ways are the opposite ways of the world.  What is acceptable to God is not always acceptable to the world.  Many times, it is offensive to the world.

God’s Words and God’s ways offend the world very frequently and easily.  The devil uses the offensiveness to make you go against God.  Offensiveness is one of the major weapons the devil uses against God’s people. If you get offended by the Word of God, you need to pray very hard asking God to help you to accept God’s Word as the way God wants you to accept it.  You cannot serve as God’s servant and be offended by what God says.  That will not work for God.

Jesus did not hesitate to offend the world if it meant to obey God’s Word.  Why?  Because to Jesus, God’s Word always came first before anything.  Jesus clearly showed us how opposite the way God thinks and the world thinks are.  What was the ultimate and most powerful thing Jesus did for us, all humanity?  Jesus died on the cross for all our sins.  What do you think that looks like to the world?  To the world, Jesus simply died a horrible death like the worst criminal.  Jesus Is a total failure to the world.

However, through dying on that cross for all our sins, God’s power was revealed through the life of Jesus.  What happened on the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus?  Jesus conquered death.  Jesus resurrected.  Jesus became the King of all kings and the LORD of all lords.  Jesus holds the power of life and death in Jesus’ hand.

This is why the Bible tells us,

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise: the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19, NIV).

The King James Version says, “And [God] will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent” (1 Corinthians 1:19).  God’s ways and the ways of the world cannot go together.  Because God’s ways are based on faith, but the world’s ways are based on facts.  To function in the ways of the LORD, you must become more daring.

Because you must function in faith in the LORD.  What does the Bible say about Faith?  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1-6).  Faith means to believe it before you see it.  Faith means that you know and know and know and know that something good will happen any day according to God’s Word because you obey God.

There is a Korean Hymn that God constantly reminds me of, especially when a doubt starts to rise in my heart.  It’s called in English, “Down in the Valley Where the Mists of Doubt Arise.”  This is a fancy way of saying it.  It literally says,

     Even though I do not see any evidence through my eyes

     will always walk in faith

     Even though I do not hear any clear voices

     I will always stand on the Promises of the LORD

     Move forward standing in faith

     Move forward, move onward, casting off doubt and fear

     Move forward standing in faith

     Even though there are no evidence for my eyes and ears

When doubt starts to creep in, the Holy Spirit reminds me of this song demanding me to trust in God, in God’s Word, in God’s promises no matter what.  As God’s servant, you cannot do ministry based on physical evidence.  When you start something in ministry, you cannot look at the statistics and percentages of success first.  Do that later on.  

The first thing you must do is to go to the LORD in prayers seeking the ways of the LORD.  You must find out if this ministry is what God wants to do, what God Is leading us to do, is God already working on this now?  Once you find out this ministry is already in God’s mind and God Is already working on this ministry, then you go and do the study of statistics or ways and opportunities to make it happen.  If you are on board with what God Is already doing, you will always come out successful.

You cannot have the mindset of the world and serve the LORD.  You must become like Jesus, always having God, God’s Word, and God’s way before anything.  When you start doubting, go to God’s Word of what God has promised us.  God promised many, many blessings to those who obey God’s Word.  If you seek after God’s way, God will show you God’s way.

Always get on board with God first then work hard and do all you can to serve the LORD.  As God’s servants and people, you cannot fear what the world will think of you.  With such fear, you will not be able to move forward with God.  You must learn to trust God with everything completely.  You will not fully experience God if you don’t.

Jesus said, 

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves ME must follow ME; and where I AM, My servant also will be.  My Father will honor the one who serves ME. (John 12:23-26).

As Jesus said, the seed must die first in order to make many fruits.  Death in this world always has a negative understanding, something that everyone wants to avoid.  However, in our walk with the LORD, death must take place.  If you want to truly move forward with the LORD, you must die to yourself first.  Give your willpower to the LORD,  You must give all your desires to the LORD to the point where the LORD God becomes your deepest, the biggest desire.

In order for something good to happen, things will get worse first.  Do not be discouraged.  As the seed must die first to make many fruits, the situation you are in may not look good at first.  However, you keep on going, keep on following God, keep on obeying God’s Word, keep on holding onto God’s Word, and keep on trusting God's promises while you continue to serve the LORD.

You will surely see the blessings of the LORD.  When those blessings happen, the whole world will see what God has done for those who faithfully obey God.  You will shock the world.  And the world will not be able to help itself but to put their trust in our God.  

God said, “They will be My people, and I will be their God” (Jeremiah 32:38).  Remember, God Is your God and you are God’s people.  Be daring to live as God’s people in this world.  Show how proud you are to be God’s chosen nation and show the world Who God Is that you worship.  God will bless you so much that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

February 25, 2024

Not Ashamed of the Gospel

Mark 8: 31 – 38

In today’s Scripture Lesson, Jesus rebuked Peter for trying to stop Jesus from doing what God has called Jesus to do.  This is where Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind ME, satan!  For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (v. 33).  Jesus also tells “the crowd with the disciples,” “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow ME” (v. 34).

Jesus taught a lot of life saving lessons here.  Jesus said, “Those who are ashamed of ME and of My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when Jesus comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (v. 38).

So, what must we do to not be rebuked by Jesus, to carry our cross to follow Jesus, and not to be ashamed of Jesus and God’s Word?  What did Jesus say to Peter?  Jesus said, “Get behind ME, satan!  For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (v. 33).  Peter fell for the temptation of satan because he set his “mind not on divine things but on human things.”  

When you put your mind off of God and godly things and then fill your mind with earthly, human things, you become a vulnerable victim of satan.  Filling your mind with Jesus is so very important.  This is why I say that you must be right with God first before you do anything.  When you are not with God with your mind and heart first, what you do will not be right with God either.

Remember the parable Jesus told us about the evil spirits?  Jesus said that “when an impure/evil spirit comes out of a person,” it will roam around looking for a place to settle (Matthew 12:43).  But when it “doesn’t find it,” it will say, “I will return to the house I left” (v. 44).  

When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.  Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.  And the final condition of that person is worse than the first (Matthew 12:44-45).

A mind that is not occupied by God, but by the world is wide open to temptation of the devil any time.  The devil will always take chances to mess you up so that you cannot, will not follow Jesus.  You want to follow Jesus.  You really want Jesus to be proud of you and not ashamed of you when you stand before Jesus.  In order to do that, your mind has to be filled with God and God’s Word at all times.

If you don’t know God or what God has said, you cannot fill your mind with God or to trust God.  You would not invest your time, your heart, energy, and life into something or someone that you do not trust.  Would you?  That would be foolish.

My constant prayer for our children is that they would know our God in God’s power and love.  If they truly know God in God’s power of what God can and will do, and know how much God loves them, why would they not put their trust in God.  Not to trust this Almighty and All-Loving God would be foolish.

Abram definitely knew God.  That is why and how he was able to trust in God’s promises even in the most challenging time.  God changed Abram’s name into Abraham because God has promised Abraham that God will make Abraham “the ancestor of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17:5).  God said to him, “I will make nations out of you, and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:6).

Same with Sarai, God changed Sarai’s name into Sarah for the same reason as Abraham.  Such wonderful and powerful blessings.  However, the challenge lies in their human levels.  Abraham was almost a hundred-year-old and Sarah about ninety years old (Genesis 17:17).  And they did not have one child together.  In order to become a father or a mother of many nations, you have to start with your child.  They were hitting a hundred years old with no children.

“Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?  Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’ (Genesis 17:17).  He was a very logical person to think in such a way.  It definitely was not easy for Abraham to believe in God’s Word.  Apostle Paul expressed this even more drastically.  Paul said Abraham was so old that his body “was already as good as dead…and the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (Romans 4:19).

Abraham probably looked at himself and Sarah and said, “No way!”  Looking at themselves, there was absolutely no hope for them whatsoever.  It would have been crazy to believe that he and his wife can and will actually have a baby at the age of hundred and ninety.  

However, the Bible tells us that Abraham “did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body” (Romans 4:19).  Abraham trusted in the LORD’s promises over and against all the challenges he was faced with.  Abraham’s faith in God “was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:22).

How is it possible for Abraham to have such faith in God?  Personally, I still want twin babies, but David usually tells me that I am crazy.  We are half their age.  And David thinks I’m crazy for wanting twins.  Abraham and Sarah were close to a hundred.  The Bible tells us, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14).  Really!  “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

The LORD said to Abraham, “I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”  Then what happened?  The Bible tells us, “Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him” (Genesis 21:2).

This tells us that the plans you make are not important.  What God plans is truly important.  If you can get on God’s plans, you will always succeed.  How do we know God’s plans?  In order to know God’ plans, you must know God first.

Abraham’s faith was not based on their physical bodies, situations, or anything they could see.  Abraham emptied his mind of all these earthly, physical things that he could see and touch, but only with what God has spoken.  That is what we call Faith.  

The Bible tells us, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  Faith means to believe in something before it happens.  You believe it first then you see it.  Faith means that you know and know and know for sure God will do what God said that God will do without a doubt even before you see or hear anything about it.  

Abraham believed that God would give him and Sarah a son even though Abraham was so old that his body “was already as good as dead…and the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (Romans 4:19).  He chose to believe in God anyway.

Faith starts with your mind.  That is why Peter was rebuked by Jesus saying, “For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (v. 33).  The Bible clearly tells us, “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – God’s good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).  In order to get in with God’s will and be right with God, it starts with filling your mind with God and God’s Word.

Please, do not misunderstand this as saying that as long as you fill your mind with God then you don’t have to do anything.  As I mentioned before, being obedient to God’s Word goes with obedient deeds.  Even though the Bible tells us, “You’re saved by faith, not by your works” (Ephesians 2:8, 9), the Bible also teaches us, “Faith without works/deeds is dead” (James 2:36).  If you do not carry out what you believe into action, what you believe has no power.  Faith and work go side-by-side.

In order to have faithful work, you must first have a faithful thought life.  You must always fill your mind with God and God’s Word.  The Bible tells us, “As man thinks, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).  In our human nature, we carry out what is in our mind.  When you fill your mind with godly things and kind thoughts, good things will come out of you.  However, when your mind is filled with worldly desires, ugly selfish desires will come out of you.

To be “fully persuaded that God had power to do what God had promised,” Abraham put his total trust in the LORD.  This trust started from within.  We really cannot underestimate the power of our God.  Our God Is the One “Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Romans 4:17).  You must believe God as Who God Is.

If you truly know your God as Who God Is, know God’s power, and God’s love for you, you would not only be proud to live as God’s people, but you would even be able to give up your life for the LORD.  

Do you know the song called; I Have Decided to Follow Jesus?  This song has a sad but powerful story behind it.  “The lyrics are based on the last words of Nokseng, a Garo man, a tribe from Meghalaya which then was in Assam, who converted to Christianity in the middle of the 19th century through the efforts of an American Baptist missionary” (Google).  He was an Indian man.  He recited these words as his family was getting killed one by one by terrorists.

He was forced to deny Jesus, or they were going to shoot his wife and children one by one.  These are the things he shouted out every time they shot one of his family members.

     I have decided to follow Jesus; no turning back.

     Tho’ none go with me I still will follow; no turning back.

     My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus; no turning back.

     The world behind me, the cross before me; no turning back.

All his members got shot, including himself.  He and all his family members kept their faith in God even to death.  Their faith in God is still living, recognized and honored by the world, and helping all of us in our walk with the LORD.  Nokseng and his family members truly believe in Who God Is, what God has promised, and in God’s power and love.  They truly believed in God.  I have no doubt that God welcomed them so proudly into that Heavenly Kingdom.  They certainly were not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus.

Have you heard of Cassie Bernall?  She went to Columbine High School in Colorado.  It was April 20, 1999.  She was only 17 years old.  She was killed on that day by two teenage boys with guns.  She was “asked whether or not she believed in God”.  Rather than being forced into denying God,  “she said, ‘Yes,’ before being shot during the massacre” (Google).  

She was a beautiful girl with blonde hair who loved God so much.  I have to say she was very proud to be a child of the LORD.  I have no doubt that God was so proud to see her in that Heavenly Kingdom.  She certainly was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus.

Whether you are proud to be God’s child or ashamed of the Gospel is not very hard to determine.  When you are ashamed of someone, you don’t openly acknowledge that person in public.  Do you freely and willingly talk about God to others in public?  Or are you too embarrassed or ashamed to do that?  How about praying?  Are you too embarrassed to pray even in silence in public before you eat?

You be the judge of yourself about how you really feel about your God.  This is not a simple matter to our God.  God takes how you feel about God very seriously and personally.  Jesus said, “Those who are ashamed of ME and of My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when Jesus comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (v. 38).

How much do you really know your God and believe in God cannot be hidden.  It all comes out through your words and deeds.  A person who truly believes in God’s love and power will not spend every waking moment worrying about everything in life.  A person who truly believes in God’s Word would not go out gossiping about other people’s business.  The one who loves God so much will not spread bad things about his or her Church, the pastor, and about the Church 

members.

How do your words, deeds, finance, energy, your relationship with others, your hobbies, and your lifestyle reflect on how you really feel and believe about God?  Please, take time to think about this.  This is very important to our God.  If you truly, truly believe in our God, it will come out of you so naturally.  

This is why my parents were frequently asked by total strangers wherever they go, “Are you Christian?  You smell like Christian.”  When you genuinely commit yourself to God, you don’t even have to try hard to show it.  People would recognize God living in you because your commitment and obedience to God became a part of your everyday life, your lifestyle.

I pray that every day you will commit yourself to God whether you are at work, at school, at home, wherever you may be and whatever you may be doing.  May the LORD always be proud of you in all you do and speak.  May you always walk in the favor of the LORD.  May through all you do and say, cry out the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world.  May God’s Name be honored and glorified through your life and your life be filled with God’s blessings.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

February 18, 2024

I Will Remember My Covenant

Genesis 9: 8 – 17

Today is the first Sunday in Lent.  Lectionary Scripture Lessons are talking about Jesus being baptized by John the baptizer “in the Jordan” then led into the wilderness by the Spirit of the LORD to be tempted by the devil (Mark 1:12).  The story right after is the worldwide flood during Noah’s time (Genesis 9:8-17, 1 Peter 3:20).  They all have to do with water and the crisis.

John the baptizer heard the voice of God the Father saying about Jesus, “You Are My Son, the Beloved; with You I AM well pleased” (Mark 1:11).  The experience of hearing the voice of the Almighty God alone is an overwhelmingly powerful experience.  God confirmed John about Who Jesus Is, the Son of the Almighty God.  John needed this experience.  Because his ministry was coming to an end as well as his life.  

John needed to remember the Words of God and this personal experience with Triune God to strengthen his faith to face all things and to come out victorious before the LORD.  John truly needed to remember Who God Is and what God can and will do, especially, when he was imprisoned by Herod, waiting to be killed (Matthew 14:1-12, Mark 6:14-29).  

For Noah, he and his family just survived the worldwide flooding.  He was trapped in that Ark with all those animals for forty days and forty nights fighting against the rainstorms, a crazy and smelly environment with animals all around him trying not to lose his life or his mind.

To make it through this deadly situation and to come out victorious, Noah needed to remember what God had spoken to him.  Before destroying all living creatures on earth, God told Noah, “I AM going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.  I AM surely going to destroy both them and the earth” (Genesis 6:13).  

God Was not asking Noah his opinions about this.  God Was telling Noah what God Was about to do about the sins of the world.  At this point, there was no hope for all living creatures, for both human beings and the animals.  God made it very clear that God Was going to destroy them all.  This is a very scary announcement of the LORD.

As the LORD told Noah, “I AM going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it.  Everything on earth will perish” (Genesis 6:17), God made a special, a lifesaving promise to Noah.

God said to Noah, “But I will establish My Covenant with you, and you will enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you” (Genesis 6:18).  Then God gave Noah a detailed instruction of how to build the ark to save their lives and the lives of chosen animals.

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.  And rain fell on earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:11-12).  As you can imagine, the rain stopped falling after forty days.  However, the water did not disappear right after the rain stopped falling.  The floodwater lingered around for a long, long time.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit many areas of the United States.  We have lost almost 2,000 people through this hurricane experience (Britannica, online).  It was ranked as the costliest and most devastating natural disaster in U.S. history.  This hurricane covered a huge part of Florida ``as a category 1 hurricane – a storm that, on the Saffir-Simpson scale, exhibits winds in the range of 74-95 miles (119-154 km) per hour, sustained winds of 70 miles (115 km) per hour lashed the Florida peninsula, and rainfall totals of 5 inches (13 cm) were reported in some areas.”

“The storm spent less than eight hours over land” then “quickly intensified when it reached the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico” (Britannica, online).  By August 27, Katrinia turned into “a category 3 hurricane, with top wind exceeding 115" miles (185 km) per hour that covered virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico.”  By that afternoon, the winds were blowing “in excess of 170 miles (275 km) per hour.”  

By August 29, Katrina turned into a category 4 hurricane covering 45 miles (70 km) “south of New Orleans.”  “Much of the greater metropolitan area is below sea level.”  By “the afternoon of August 29, some 20 percent of the city was underwater.”  And the water stayed there for a long time.  “1.2 million people left ahead of the storm.  However, tens of thousands of residents could not or would not leave.”

“By August 30, 80 percent” of that city was “underwater”.  

“By September 1 an estimated 30,000 people were seeking SHELTER under the damaged roof of the Superdome, and an additional 25,000 had gathered at the convention center.”

I’m sure some of you still remember that incident.  What was happening in New Orleans was constantly on TV.  Some of my Church members were sent to New Orleans to help rescue people trapped in their homes sitting in water through their companies.  I was watching it on TV.  Just watching those people struggling was overwhelming.  I cannot imagine what it was like to actually live there and go through it in person.

This was only a localized incident of flooding.  What Noah went through was a worldwide flooding experience.  The aftermath of Katrinia was simply unbearable.  Can you imagine the aftermath of the worldwide flood?  In Noah’s time, the water burst into the world from above and below the earth “in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month” (Genesis 7:11).

“By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry” (Genesis 8:14).  This means that Noah and his family and the animals were trapped in that ark for one year and 10 days.  Even though it rained for forty days and forty nights, it took over a year for the water to dry enough for Noah, his family, and the animals to come out of that Ark.

Even after they came out, the view of their sight could not have been pleasant.  Where did all the dead people and animals go?  They probably were lying all over the land everywhere.

When you are in a situation like that, it is very hard to find hope.  We need hope to continue to persevere and to move forward.  Who would invest their time and energy in something that would get them nowhere?  Especially, if you have never had such an experience before and do not know what the outcome might be, it is hard to be positive.

This is why we value experiences.  Companies would normally look for new employees with years of experience.  Because the people with such experience would know what to do in situations with crisis better than those who don’t.  My previous experiences in life and in ministry certainly have helped me greatly.

Whenever I am faced with complicated and challenging situations, I remember what God has done for men in the past.  Remembering what God has done for me, remembering Who God Is in my life helped me more times than I can count throughout my life.  In our walk with the LORD, remembering is extremely important.

When Jesus physically left us, what did Jesus promise us?  Jesus said, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

When God spoke to the Israelites, God often reminded them of what God had done in Egypt for the Israelites who were living there as slaves saying, “I AM the LORD you God, Who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exodus 20:2).  Moses told the Israelites to “Always remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand” (Exodus 13:3).

Remembering God and what God has done is so very important.  What we remember becomes the basis, the foundation of the life that you build on it.  We cannot live on foundations alone.  But you need the foundation to build a long-lasting home.  Your understanding is limited to what you experienced and what you remember.

My understanding of difficult times is not the same as your understanding of difficult times.  My understanding of success is not the same as your understanding of success.  Whether it was your difficult times or the time of success, you relate those words with what you have experienced.  It is very hard to fully understand each other when you only have words to exchange.  We human beings are not capable of understanding something which we have not gone through.

Counselors are taught and trained to empathize with what their clients have gone through even though counselors themselves had not experienced everything their clients had experienced.  It takes a long time to reach that level of professionalism to be able to work with clients.  They need help in order to help others.

We have a permanent Helper Who Is always with us Who Is the Holy Spirit.  Our Holy Spirit knows and understands everything.  The Holy Spirit will remind us of all that Jesus our God have taught us.  The more we remember, the more we will understand, and the wiser we will be.  We truly need to remember and truly know our God.

God gives us visual symbols all around us to remind us of Who God Is and what God has done for us.  The rainbow is one of the powerful signs of what God has done for us.  God said to Noah, “I now establish My Covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you – the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature on earth” (vv. 9-10).

When God set the rainbow up in the sky, God made the rainbow a Covenant between God and not only with Noah, but with “every living creature on earth” (v. 10).  It is God’s promise to the whole world saying, “Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth” (v. 11).  It is God’s promise to the whole world that God will never again destroy the whole world with a flood.

The rainbow is not just a pretty thing but a Covenant of the LORD.  Every time you see the rainbow, you should remember the promise God has made with the world.  Rainbow is a powerful sign of God’s love for the world.  Some groups of people use the rainbow to symbolize whatever they want people to believe whether it goes with the Word of God or not.  We, who are believers and followers of the LORD, need to claim our rainbow back.

The rainbow was given to God’s chosen people for us to remember Who God Is and what God has done for all humanity and living creatures.  God set up the rainbow for us to remember God.  God gave us the rainbow not only for us to remember but also for God to remember the promise God has made with all living creatures.

God said, “I will remember My Covenant between ME and you and all living creatures of every kind.  Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting Covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth” (vv. 15-16).

“So God said to Noah, ‘This rainbow is the sign of the Covenant I have established between ME and all life on the earth” (v. 17).  Whenever you see the rainbow, remember God’s power, what God has done for us all, God’s love for all living creatures, and Who God Is.

Every time you remember your experiences with the LORD, that becomes the living testimony of the power of the Living God to the world.  Read and study the Word of God so that you may remember everything that God has promised every time you run into different situations.  Every time you remember God, you will experience God’s power working and coming out of your life.  Then you will naturally put more trust in God, to come to know God more personally, and to love God deeply.

I pray that you will truly come to know God and God’s Word.  That you will allow the Holy Spirit to constantly “teach you all the things and will remind you of everything [Jesus] had said to you” (John 14:26).  May your life be filled with testimony and become the living testimony of Jesus Christ to the world, so that God’s Name will be glorified wherever you go.  And may your life be filled with God’s blessings every day.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

February 11, 2024

This Is My Son, the Beloved; Listen to Him!

Mark 9: 2 – 9 

Today is Transfiguration Sunday.  We celebrate Jesus being transfigured in front of three disciples up on the mountain while meeting with Moses and Elijah.  This story is recorded by Matthew and Luke as well.  They all share different details of what happened up on that mountain.  This story proclaims and reveals many truths about our God, about the Kingdom of God, and God’s plans for all humanity. 

Right before “Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves” (v. 2), Jesus told the disciples, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God has come with power” (Mark 9:1). 

What Jesus said to them here confused me for quite some time.  I used to think Jesus Was saying that some of them will stay alive until Jesus comes back for the second time.  Clearly, that was not what Jesus said here.  Because all the disciples have died and Jesus hasn’t come back yet.  Jesus said, “some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God has come with power.”  

They will Not stay alive until Jesus comes back for the second time.  However, they will taste the power of God’s Kingdom before they die.  That is exactly what happened during the Transfiguration.  As Jesus said, Jesus did not take all the disciples but just some of them, Peter, James, and John. 

Nobody died during this experience, but those three disciples experienced encountering Moses and Elijah who have died thousands of years ago.  Moses and Elijah must have very distinct looks.  Those three disciples recognized them right away.  In the awe of what they were experiencing, Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (v. 5).  Clearly, they recognized Moses and Elijah. 

While Jesus met with Moses and Elijah to talk about “Jesus’ departure, which Jesus Was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem,” the power and authority of God’s Kingdom filled that place (Luke 9:31).  Can you imagine how awesome that place must have been?  In amazement, Peter did not know what he was saying.  But he expressed that awesomeness in a short statement saying, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here” (v. 5).  I would have loved to be there as well. 

Through this experience, they were able to taste a little bit of the Kingdom of God.  First of all, they actually got to see what Jesus would look like in the Kingdom of God.  When Jesus came down to earth to live as a human, the looks of Jesus had to change to be adjusted to this world.  This world would not understand the true looks of Jesus.  In the power and authority of the Kingdom of God, Jesus’ true Self Was shown to disciples. 

The Apostle John saw what Jesus really looked like while he was “on the island of Patmos” receiving “the revelation from Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9, 1).  I’m sure it was a challenge to explain what he saw with our limited words, but he did his best.  This Is Jesus he saw.

The hair on Jesus’ head was white like wool, as white as snow, and Jesus’ eyes were like blazing fire.  Jesus’ feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and Jesus’ voice was like the sound of rushing waters.  In Jesus’ right hand Jesus held seven stars, and coming out of Jesus’ mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword.  Jesus’ face Was like the sun shining in all its brilliance (Revelation 1:14-16).

Matthew tells us, “There Jesus Was transfigured before them.  Jesus’ face shone like the sun, and Jesus’ clothes became as white as the light” (17:2).  Doesn’t Jesus sound like Jesus that John saw?  This is the taste of Heavenly Kingdom.  When we go to Heaven, we are expected to see Jesus in Jesus’ true Self, not in different colors and races.  I have seen pictures of Jesus in every race. 

Again, no matter what we want to believe, our God Is unique.  It means there is no one like our God.  Nothing or no one in this world can be compared to our God.  Our God does not fall into our categories such as genders, colors, race, etc.  I would love to say that Jesus Was Korean, but you know that’s not true.  Jesus Is God Who Is not limited to nationalities.  Jesus Is Jesus in Jesus’ True Self. 

What else did those disciples see?  They saw Moses and Elijah in person who were supposed to have died thousands of years ago.  This can only happen with our God.  Our God Is a Living and Eternal God.  Therefore, all God’s children will also live forever.  We, believers of the LORD, know this so well.  When we go to Heaven, we are expected to see all our loved ones who have gone home to the LORD before us and all the believers before us since the creation.  We will see them all because they are living with the LORD in that Heavenly Kingdom. 

Throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testament, our God Is referred to as “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” even after they died long ago (Genesis 48:15-16, Exodus 3:6, 15, Matthew 22:32, Acts 3:13, 7:30-32,…).  Why would God refer to God as the God of the ones who have died a long time ago?  Because all God’s people may die physically here on earth, but they live with the LORD eternally in that Heavenly Kingdom. 

Jesus said it very clearly, “Have you not read what God said to you, ‘I AM the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?  God Is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:31-32).  Because they are living with the LORD right now as Moses and Elijah are. 

This is not possible in this world.  In this world, once a person dies, that’s it.  That is the end.  There is no coming back from the dead in this world.  The world calls the one who comes back from the dead, a ghost or a zombi.  Jesus Is the King of all kings and the LORD of all lords because Jesus Is the only One Who resurrected from the dead and conquered death.  Only through Jesus, we will be able to meet all those forefathers and foremothers who have gone home to the LORD before us. 

After this experience up on that mountain, they could not have denied Jesus as their LORD and Saviour.  Jesus proved Jesus-Self as the Son of God, God God-Self.  Not only this, but those disciples also heard the very voice of God the Father saying, “This Is My Son, the Beloved” telling us Who Jesus Is (v. 7).  Then there was a command from the LORD to “listen to Jesus!” 

To listen means to do what has been told.  Listening and doing go side by side.  If the one who listens fails to do what has been told, then that person did not truly listen.  The same applies with being right with God.  I emphasize being right with God before anything and being obedient to God’s Word quite often.  In order to remain right with God, you must obey what God said in the Bible. 

There has been some confusion about being right with God.  Who says that being right with God means to sit down, do nothing, and simply think about God all day long?  You cannot be obedient to God without actually doing the work.  Do you seriously think reading and studying the Bible is all it takes for you to be right with God and be obedient to God’s Word?  That is not what I said. 

Then you did not understand what obedience means.  You cannot be obedient without actually doing the work.  The Book of James said that faith without work is dead (2:17).  To show your obedience, the work must follow. 

Jesus told us a parable of two sons (Matthew 21).  The father asked the first one, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard” (Matthew 21:28).  The son refused to do it, “but later he changed his mind and went” (v. 29).  “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing.  He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go” (v. 30). 

This is what Jesus asked about those two sons, “Which of the two listened to the father?” (Matthew 21:31).  This means, “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”  The one who listened to the father is the one who actually did the work as the father told him to.  To listen is to do what has been told.  There is no obedience without doing the work. 

How many of you ladies want your husband to tell you “I love you” all day long and do nothing to help you nor give you anything good?  The words are cheap when no actions follow.  Korean people actually think the man who says “I love you” all the time is shallow.  

They believe that real love needs to be shown through actions.  You must feel that person’s love through that person’s actions, devotions, sacrifices, and admirations even before the word, love, is mentioned.  Because they believe that love without appropriate actions is no good. 

The same thing applies here with listening to Jesus.  God clearly told us to “listen to Jesus” (v. 7).  After hearing this command, God expects us to do something about it.  What are the things Jesus taught us to do?  Jesus told us to forgive as many times as we can even though that person may not deserve your forgiveness (Matthew 18:22).  Jesus said to forgive “not seven times, but seventy times seven.”
Are you forgiving? 

Jesus taught us to be a good neighbor to others even though you may benefit nothing from being good to that person.  Remember the story of the Good Samaritan?  There was a man who “was attacked by robbers”, lying by the road half naked and half dead (Luke 10:30).  Which one did Jesus praise?  Was it a priest or a Levite?   They were so committed to serving God at the temple that they did not have time or energy to stop to help this dying man?  

Was it a Samaritan man who had nothing to gain from helping this dying man, yet took his time, energy, and money to help this poor dying man?  If this dying man was a Jew, it would have been even more challenging to help this guy as a Samaritan man.  Because Jews thought so little of Samaritan people.  They even called Samaritans, dogs (Matthew 15:27).  

Do you seriously think that helping someone who thinks and treats you like a dog would be easy?  It would be like helping your enemy who hates you.  Loving your enemy is also what Jesus commands us to do.  What did Jesus ask people about this?  Jesus said, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” (Luke 10:36).  The answer was, “The one who had mercy on him,” the Samaritan (v. 37).  Jesus’ response was to “Go and do likewise.” 

To listen to Jesus and be obedient to what Jesus tells us to do, we must be like this Samaritan man who gained nothing from helping, yet lost his money, time, and energy.  We are called to be neighbors to those in need, even to total strangers.  Jesus said, “Go and be a neighbor like this generous and kind Samaritan man.”  Being a neighbor to those around you is being obedient to God’s Word.  Are you being a neighbor to others? 

Through Martha and Mary, Jesus taught us not to lose ourselves in the busyness of life but focus on what is really important, which is the Word of God.  Jesus praised John the baptizer and taught us that worldly success is not what God desires.  The acts of obedience and sacrifices you make in the Name of the LORD is what God desires and honors (Matthew 11:11). 

Such teaching goes with a command to carry your cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23).  The cross represents sacrifices.  The cross is where Jesus sacrificed absolutely everything for us.  Through such sacrificial death, resurrection took place.  Resurrection could not have taken place without suffering and death on the cross.  

In this world, only the losers suffer and die on the cross.  According to this world, being successful means to rise up higher than others with your education, career, money and power for whatever it takes, without suffering.  Only then, you are considered successful.  Successful people have more people working under them, more people to serve them, and have the power to tell others what to do.  It’s like, “Don’t you dare tell me what to do.” 

One of the ugliest things I have seen is the presidential debates and debates among other politicians.  People say that the president of the United States is one of the most powerful persons on earth.  In order to take on that position, individuals would cut each other down and do all they can to make the other party look bad.  Such behavior certainly does not go with the teaching of our LORD Jesus.  One author said in his book (Can’t remember which),

I cannot stand presidential candidates cutting each other down and making a fool out of themselves.  I want to have a person running for president come out and say, “I understand that politicians including presidents are not perfect and they have made many wrong decisions.  I will not promise you things for the sake of making promises to make me look good.  However, I can promise you that I will work hard not to repeat those wrong choices the previous presidents made and do my best to improve the lives of the people of this country the best I can.”  Then I would vote for that person without any hesitation.

Doesn’t that sound more Christian than the way people do in politics?  The important question here is this:  Are we being good neighbors to those who have no associations with us who could not benefit us at all?  To be a good neighbor is so very important to Jesus, our LORD.  Are we living out the teachings of our LORD Jesus in our daily lives?  Are we being obedient to God’s Word in everything that we do?  Are we truly listening to Jesus as our God the Father commands us? 

Whether to listen to Jesus or not is totally up to you.  You must make that choice in your life every day.  God commands us to “serve the LORD your God” whether it is through serving others by being good neighbors, to serve at Church through ministry, or in your field of work, through studying, whatever way it may be (Exodus 23:25-28). 

I pray that you would serve the LORD faithfully as the LORD teaches us.  May all your work be acceptable to our God as obedient to God’s Word.  May all that God promises you through God’s Word come to reality in your life as God said,

Worship and serve the LORD your God, and God’s blessing will be on your food and water.  I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land.  I will give you a full life span. (Exodus 23:25-26)

Praise the LORD!  Amen.

February 4, 2024

The LORD Is the Everlasting God 

Did you know all the major holidays in America and in many countries are about our God?  Obviously, Christmas and Easter are all about our God.  St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day are also Christian holidays.  St. Patrick spread the Gospel of Jesus to the people in Ireland.  St. Valentines willingly died to save a person who was supposed to die for his crime.  Thanksgiving is a time to thank God with celebration.  How about Halloween?  Halloween means, Holy Eve.  Halloween is the day before All Saint’s Day, Holy Eve. 

These are the special holidays that many people from all over the world celebrate, including non-believers.  I’m telling you.  So many people celebrate God, yet don’t even know it.  That is sad ignorance.  It happened in the Bible as well.  Apostle Paul was traveling through Athens (Acts 17).  

According to the Bible, “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” (Acts 17:21).  Isn’t this funny?  We certainly do many other things besides talking about different ideas.  However, coming up with new ideas about religion, especially about our God is more popular today than ever.  Those new ideas are even changing our Gospel. 

There was a movie called Dogma.  In that movie, God Is a white woman.  They had a 13th disciple.  He said that he was not recognized because he is black.  Chris Rock played that role.  The angel Gabriel talked about the traumatic experience of explaining to a child Jesus about what Jesus had to do to save the world.  A white lady who was supposed to be a female descendant of Jesus talked about faith.  Chris Rock who is a 13th apostle tells her, “No, don’t say faith, but ideas.  It is not faith, only ideas.”  

That movie made fun of our God and faith big time.  Unfortunately, we still do that with our ideas.  This movie was saying that what we believe has nothing to do with faith but a bunch of ideas we made up in our heads.  These ideas are changing our Gospel. 

Apostle Paul said, “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD” (Acts 17:23).  Apostle Paul continues, “So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship.”  

Remember a picture of a female god from one of the little towns in Thailand?  Someone downloaded a blurry picture of a female god from a computer which they believed was protecting their town.  They set up a little shrine under the tree with that picture.  People diligently came to pray to this female god.  Korean people did an investigation on this unknown god. 

This female god was a Korean male actor.  That picture was from one of the roles he played where he had long white hair.  That picture was so blurry that they could not tell whether it was a picture of a man or a woman.  Because of the long hair, they decided that it was a woman god.  When they learned the truth, one man said, “She was a very good god.”  The actor did not know what to think about this.  He just laughed about it. 

Let us not be ignorant, especially when it comes to God we worship.  Can you feel the frustration our God might be feeling when God sees all this ignorance?  Praise the LORD.  This ignorance can be fixed.  We simply have to educate ourselves and others through the Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit.  Apostle Paul knew exactly what he had to do.  That is why he said, “and this is what I am going to proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). 

The Bible tells us.  “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15).  If you truly come to know God as Who God Is and with your willingness, you will become that beautiful person in the eyes of the LORD “who brings good news” to others. 

This is what I pray for, especially for our youth that they would truly know God.  For us, believers of the LORD, cannot stop at knowing our God.  We are called to be the ones who bring the Good News of our LORD Jesus Christ to others who do not know our God.  Are you sharing the Good News of Jesus to others?  We are called to share.  In order to do that, we must learn about our God first. 

First of all, we must know that our God Is unique.  Unique means that there is no other like it.  There is nothing out there to compare it to.  God even said, “To whom, then, will you compare ME, or who is My equal?” (v. 25).  Our God Is unique means our God does not fall into any categories in this world.  God stands God alone.  There is nothing and no one like our God in this whole world and beyond. 

Jesus called God, the Father.  The Almighty God Is the Father to our LORD Jesus.  The wonderful thing about our God is that our God will be a Father to you or even a Mother to you according to your needs.  However, it does not mean that our God Is male or female.  Gender belongs to the creatures which have been created by God.  God does not belong to our gender.  Our God Is not a man or a woman. 

Our God Is Spirit.  God does not have a physical form like the created things.  This is why God demanded us, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” to worship (Exodus 20:4).  

No matter how beautiful or awesome your handmade figurine looks, it will never be nor even represent our God.  Our God does not have forms.  Our God Is Spirit.  Anything you worship with physical form in it would be nothing but idol worshiping.  God made it very clear that “I, the LORD your God, AM a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate ME, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love ME and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6). 

What physical symbol do we have to remember Jesus, our LORD that many of us carry with us?  It is the empty cross.  We usually have a cross on top of Church buildings, inside a sanctuary, or wear it on our neck.  Our with is an empty one because Jesus did not stay there but resurrected from the dead.  To have a cross is to follow the footsteps of Jesus remembering what Jesus has done to give us eternal life.  It is to remember our LORD Jesus.  The cross reminds us of what God has done for us through Jesus , not representing Jesus. 

Remembering what God has done for us is extremely important in our faithful walk with God.  One of the major works our Holy Spirit does is to remind us of what Jesus has taught us.  Jesus said, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26).  The cross is there to remind us of what God has done through our LORD Jesus, to remember Jesus. 

Our “LORD God Is the Everlasting God” (v. 28).  Does anything last forever in this world?  Nothing lasts forever in this world.  Everything will come to an end by a certain time.  No matter how beautiful or rich and powerful, everything will age and eventually come to an end.  However, our God “Is the Everlasting God.”  If you want to live forever, eternally, you must stay very close to our Triune God.  Only through Jesus, are we welcomed into that Everlasting Life. 

Too many times, we underestimate the power of our God Almighty.  Remember, our God created this whole world.  Our God has the power to create all things and to destroy all things.  Nothing escapes our God.  Our God Is able to do absolutely all things, everything.  Today’s Scripture Lesson spells it out for us.  

It says that our God “stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in” (v. 22).  Seriously, who else can do that?  Our God “does not faint or grow weary; God’s understanding is unsearchable” (v. 28).  There is no way we can figure God out with our worldly logic and knowledge.  We only know God as little or much as God allows us to know.  That’s it. 

I think many Christians believe that our God has more power than we can begin to imagine.  However, too many believers wonder “I’m sure God would use God’s power to help you, but not sure if God would do it for me.”  Why?  Because I am not good enough to receive such a blessing.  I can empathize with such thinking because I used to be one of them. 

When we believe in God Almighty, sometimes we fail to believe in All-Loving God.  God blesses you not because you are good, but because our God Is Good!  God does not bless us solely on our performances but based on God’s love and grace for us.  If we all get what we deserve all the time, seriously, how many people will be alive?  We would all deserve to be punished and die. 

In the Old Testament time, one man got caught “gathering sticks” “on the Sabbath day” (Numbers 15:33).  You know what God said about Sabbath.  “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy…On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8, 10).  God told Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp” (Numbers 15:35) just for gathering sticks on Sabbath day.  Many Christians not only work on Sundays but also do not even come to Church to worship God. 

Once again, I wonder how many of us will be alive if we receive what we deserve.  Praise the LORD.  Our God does not only function on justice but heavily on grace and mercy.  God longs to forgive us but hesitates to punish us even when we deserve it.  God waits so patiently for us to come and ask for forgiveness.  God does not look forward to punishing us but to spend eternity with us. 

Remember Nineveh?  God’s plan was to destroy them for their sins in 40 days.  They deserved to die for their sins for sure.  However, God Was so quick to forgive them when they repented before the LORD.  However, Sodom and Gomorrah received punishment.  God Was willing to save their lives if they had ten righteous people in those cities.  They did not even have ten people who were right with God.  Those cities no longer exist.  How sad!  So sad! 

You want to be blessed?  You want us to have a successful ministry?  We must be right with God first.  We must be the people who truly know Who God Is and who we are in our God.  Not only that.  We must be the people who proclaim the Good News of our LORD Jesus Christ to others.  I don’t mean for us to go out into the street and raise your Bible high to start preaching out loud.  You can do that if God Is calling you to.  Not all of us are called to do that. 

You can preach the Good News through your kind words and deeds even without mentioning what is written in the Bible.  When people experience your goodness and mercy, they will experience God in their lives.  They will want to know God. 

The purpose for everything we do must be spreading Good News of Jesus to the world according to God’s will.  When we have special events at Church like Easter Egg Hunt, serving special meals, VBS, Craft Show, and even yard sale, the major purpose for doing all those should be to bring salvation to all God’s people in the Name of Jesus. 

All Churches are in the saving business, to save all humankind from sin and death.  It can only be done in the Name of Jesus Christ.  This is how we represent Christ to the world.  The more people are saved, the Church will automatically grow.  Do not focus so much on bringing more people and money in  These are only side effects.  When lives are being saved, everything else will grow automatically. 

If we are doing what God truly wants us to do, God will supply all things for us to continue to do what God has called us to do.  In that case, our work will not be in vain.  We will be able to actually see and experience the fruit of our work.  Then the world will see God working in and through us.  They will praise our God and learn to put their trust in our God. 

Being in God’s business, knowing our God is the most important thing.  We must know Who God Is, what God desires, how God works, and who we are in our God.  Instead of demanding God to bless us in what we do, we must learn to join God in what God Is already doing.  Then the blessings would follow automatically. 

At my previous appointment, we were serving in two Churches.  One Church already had two Bible Studies going.  The smaller Church said that they never had a Bible Study.  I didn’t know what to believe.  I didn’t see too much desire to have Bible Study.  After several years of trying, God really put it in my heart to start the Bible Study at that Church.  The problem was that we did not have any free days.  We had some kind of meeting almost every night. 

So, I asked the Church members to look for what God Is already doing around them.  Search for God through the Bible, the Word of God, and look around to hear what God Is doing.  No one seemed to receive anything from God.  We patiently waited and watched.  One lady asked me after the Worship Service, “Why do we have to meet at night?  I don’t even like coming out to drive at night.  Why can’t we meet in the morning?”  God Was speaking to me through her. 

There was the answer right there.  We started to meet on Wednesday mornings.  We had about seven or eight people coming faithfully.  We even had a few people from other Churches attending.  We struggled sometimes to keep it going, but we faithfully met to study the Word of God.  I was told that now they have twenty some people coming to that Bible Study including people from other Churches.  

I’m telling you.  If you do what God wants you to, what God leads you to do, God would be forced to bless you.  In time, you will be able to experience God’s tremendous blessings as a result of your obedience to God’s commands. 

I pray that you be the person who truly knows our God, and to obey God, to bring Good News to those who do not know our God.  May God’s blessings be revealed greatly through your life and through the life of this Church that all the people around us may desire what we have in our relationship with God.  We can all be one family, one body in Christ to receive that Everlasting Life from our Everlasting God together.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

January 28, 2024

May Not Cause One of Them to Fall

1 Corinthians 8: 1 – 13

Today’s Scripture Lesson talks about relationships with others, especially with believers, as a follower of the LORD.  What we do and say affects others and our relationship with God.  Doing and saying things with good intentions does not always make all things right in the eyes of the LORD or is helpful to others.  For our words and deeds to be acceptable to our God and be helpful to others, we must be educated through God’s Word with the help of the Holy Spirit.

What our Scripture Lesson here talks about is one of the biggest complications the believers of the first century were faced with.  It has to do with the knowledge and what they believe.  You may have the right knowledge and belief.  However, it is hurtful and not acceptable to our God if you use them to cause even “one of [the believers] to fall” away from the LORD (v. 13).  The Bible tells us that “you sin against Christ” when you “become a stumbling block to the weak” in their walk with the LORD (v. 9).

Let’s see what happened back then.  Many baby Christians were formally idol worshipers.  Idol worship was deeply rooted in their society.  Many of those idol worshipers became the followers of Jesus.  In their minds, those idols still existed.  However, they made a choice to worship and trust our God instead of those idols.

Therefore, they were very conscious about how other Christians behave regarding existing idols.  Mature Christians knew that idols were nothing but handmade items like what our crafty ladies make.  They knew idols had no life in them, but not to the new believers.  In the new believers’ minds, idols were living gods even though not as powerful as our God.

Here is the challenge.  All the meat sold in the marketplace was sacrificed to the idols before they came out to the marketplace.  If you are convinced those idols are lifeless objects, you will have no problem eating the meat from the marketplace.  Because sacrificing to a piece of stone or wood would not make any difference to them.  However, it will be a different story if you believe in them.  

The new believers believed that you should not eat the meat because eating it means you are betraying God they are worshipping, now.  Eating meat must not have been too big of a deal to the ones who knew the truth.  To the baby Christians, their loyalty and commitment to this new God is at risk simply by eating the meat which has been sacrificed to the idols.  To them, you should never eat such meat.  Because it means you gave into the idol worshipping.

Can you feel the struggles here between mature Christians and baby Christians?  The mature Christians can tell the baby Christians that idols are just figurines without any life in them.  They are just human-made objects.  It’s not that easy for the baby Christians.  If the baby Christians choose to eat the meat, they would struggle with guilt.  Then it becomes sin against God.  And guilt is not from our God.

What mature Christians believe and say are not wrong.  They are absolutely right about idols.  However, what they are saying and doing is becoming a “stumbling block to the weak” in their walk with the LORD (v. 9).  Then it becomes sin on the part of the mature Christians. 

This is why Apostle Paul said, “if food is a cause of their falling, I will never again eat meat so that I may not cause one of them to fall” (v. 13).  Apostle Paul is choosing not to eat meat ever again rather than sinning by causing others to sin against God.  We, Christians, need to watch what we say or do even though we may be so right.  One of my dear friends told me, “Love means acting on behalf of the other’s benefits before mine.”  We need to learn to practice such love of thinking of other’s well-being before ours.

Apostle Paul tells us in today’s Scripture Lesson saying, “We know that all of us possess knowledge.  Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge, but anyone who loves God is known by God” (vv. 1-3).  Being known by God means to be accepted by our God (vv. 1-3).  

You never want to be the one who causes another person to stumble but be a person who is acceptable to our God.  Jesus said, “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble” (Luke 17:2).  This is how God feels about those who cause others to sin against God.  God takes it very personally.  Make sure what you say and do does not cause others to sin against God.  God Is watching us very closely.

This is a true story which happened in India.  When the British people had power over India, many of them lived in India.  They built their buildings and even Churches.  One Englishman was sitting in front of the Church.  Then he saw a small Indian man walking towards the Church.  He ran out to that Indian man and said to him,

“What do you think you are doing here?  Who told you that you can come here?  Get out of here and get lost.  And don’t come back again.”  That little Indian man was Gandhi.  He was coming to Church to learn about Jesus.  He was looking for a religion for his people.  If Jesus Was a good God, Gandhi was going to lead his people, the whole nation to Jesus.  However, after meeting that British man at the Church, Gandhi said, “If Jesus Is like this man, I am not going to lead my people to this Jesus.”

Because of that one ungodly, prideful, arrogant, and unkind man, God has lost the whole nation to Hinduism.  I was told that Hinduism is not a religion but a lifestyle.  Hindus worship everything and everyone they see.  They have a temple where they worship many famous people who have died including Elvis, Beetles, Marlyn Monroe, etc.  They worship every animal they see including cows, monkeys, and even rats, etc.

A whole nation is lost because of that one man.  I would never want to be that man.  I cannot imagine what it was like for him to face God Almighty about this.  Being responsible for losing a nation and being confronted by God Almighty about that would be a nightmare for me or for anyone.  How scary and sad!

We, Christians, need to be careful in dealing with other people.  Whether you like it or not, you represent Christ Who lives in you.  People who do not know our God will judge all Christians through you.  This is why some nonbelievers who had one bad experience with one Christian would say, “All Christians are hypocrites and liars.”  It’s not fair to you, but it’s the way it works.

One of the biggest mistakes Christians make in the Name of God is to speak on behalf of God of something that God has not spoken.  We must be very careful about what we say in the Name of the LORD.  Speaking the words in the Name of God which God has not spoken is a serious crime to our God.  God told us in the Bible, 

“Anyone who does not heed (pay attention to, listen to) the words that the prophet shall speak in My Name, I Myself will hold accountable.  But any prophet who presumes to speak in My Name, a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die” (Deuteronomy 18:19-20).

When a person speaks on behalf of God when God has not spoken to that person, it hurts many, many people.  I just watched World News talking about a pastor who clearly started cult in Kenya.  He was a taxi driver who claim to talk to God directly in Person.  He claimed that only way to meet Jesus is to starve yourself to death.  Children must die first then the adults. 

He moved his followers to a forest away from the regular society.  So far, the authorities have discover over 400 bodies buried in that area.  About two hundred of them are children.  They clearly died from starvation.  One father said that his wife took four of their children and follow this pastor.  They are all deal.  Something like this happens too often when a person claims to speak in the Name of the LORD when God has not spoken.  This is very scary in so many levels.

Personally, I do not want to be confronted by our God for something I did wrong or to die for the wrong I have committed.  Therefore, always pray for me that I will only speak the Word of God and nothing more.  I want you to know this does not only concern the pastors or prophets.  It concerns all the believers.

I have heard so many Christians use these phrases to comfort the ones who are going through a hard time.  “God Is only testing you.”  “You shouldn’t be upset.  You should rejoice.  God Is trying to make you grow through this.”  “You should not be sad but rejoice.  Your loved one is going to Heaven.  “If you pray harder, your loved one will get better soon.”  “Your loved one died because you did not pray hard enough.”

The leaders of this one Church were telling one of their members who was going through divorce, “Don’t worry.  Your wife is a Christian woman.  She will come back.  You should not worry but just believe.  She will come back for sure.”  Guess what?  She did not come back.

I really want to ask those who say these things to the ones who are struggling, “Did God really tell you to say that?”  “Has God spoken to you?”  “Where did you get that information?  From God or out of your head?”  You better not be speaking in the Name of the LORD unless God has spoken or commanded you to speak such.

When people ask something about God or about certain situations, it is okay to say, “I am not sure what God Is trying to say or do here. I need to seek advice from the Holy Spirit through the Bible and from my spiritual leaders about this.”  If you do not know, do not try to come up with an answer.  If you don’t know, you don’t know.  Be honest about it and do not make up an answer for it when you have no idea what is going on.  It will not help the others.  I will only hurt them.

I would usually tell others, “I cannot speak on behalf of our God since God has not spoken to me about this.  I can only tell you what the Bible says about something like this and what I personally think about this.  You need to figure out what God wants from you through all these.”  It is completely okay to be honest.  God did not call you to know it all.  You are not called to be god.

In fact, stay away from those who claim to know it all.  No human being would know everything.  Only God does!  The Bible tells us very clearly.  “Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge” (v. 2).  The Korean old saying says, “As the grain matures, it humbles itself by lowering its head.”  This is saying that the maturity of human beings is shown through that person’s humbleness.  

True knowledge and intellect would only prove how little we know and how much more we need to learn.  Such understanding can only humble us.  People who stay proud of what they know and look down on those who do not obtain such knowledge have so much more to learn.  This is why the Bible tells us, they do “not yet have the necessary knowledge” (v. 2).

We are all called to be and to live as God’s people.  God promised Abraham by constantly saying, God will “be your God and the God of your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7).  Also said, “I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).  God Is our God and we belong to God.

God told Abram before God blessed him, “I AM God Almighty; walk before ME faithfully and be blameless.  Then I will make My covenant between ME and you and will greatly increase your numbers” (Genesis 17:1-2).  Abram was called to “walk before [God] faithfully and be blameless.”  ONLY THEN he was able to receive the covenant from the LORD which came with amazing blessings.

Do you want God to make a covenant with you and bless you for all the generations?  You must “walk before [God] faithfully” and live a life that is blameless before the LORD.  You must be obedient to God’s Word and be right with God.  Then you will become the perfect instrument for God to use and be a vessel to receive tremendous blessings from the LORD.

Do not ever act or talk deadly foolishly like that British man who caused a whole nation to fall away from the LORD.  Be a person who brings many lives to the LORD.  As God blessed Abraham, let “all peoples on earth – be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

Be a person to obtain all the blessings from God and also be a channel of God’s blessings for everyone around you.  Imagine how happy and proud God will be about you and everyone around you as well.

May you faithfully and carefully walk with the LORD every day.  May only God’s Word come out of your mouth.  May all those around you recognize God Who lives in you.  May you be the channel of God’s blessings to everyone around you.  May God’s Name be glorified through your life every day.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

January 21, 2024

Speak LORD, for Your Servant is Listening

1 Samuel 3: 1 – 20 

This year’s Easter is in March.  It is coming very quickly.  Before Jesus started the ministry, John the baptizer came and prepared the way of the LORD.  Now, we are waiting for Jesus to come back for the second time.  We know Jesus will come back for sure.  We just do not know exactly when.  Jesus can come back tomorrow, in ten years, or in one hundred years.  Nobody knows.  Therefore, we must prepare ourselves to receive the LORD whenever Jesus wants to come back. 

Jesus and the disciples constantly warned us about this, telling us to “stay awake, because you do not know on what day your LORD will come” (Matthew 24:42), “keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13), “watch and pray” (Matthew 26:41), “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when” (Mark 13:35), “Watch out! Be on your guard” (Luke 12:15), “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith” (1 Corinthians 16:13), “Be alert, be on watch!” (1 Peter 5:8-9), and so on. 

God really does not want us to miss it.  God Is warning us about this all over the Bible.  Missing does not mean missing Jesus when Jesus comes back.  No one will be missing out on that because everyone will see and know when Jesus comes back.   God does not want us to miss out on the chance of going home with the LORD.  We must prepare ourselves to be ready to go home with the LORD when the time comes. 

Don’t we all want to be perfectly ready to go home with the LORD on that day?  The Bible tells us, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).  We want to be fully ready for the LORD, but it’s not easy.  The devil tempts us in every way possible.  Sometimes, we do not even know we are being tempted by the devil because we are so convinced that what we are doing is right regardless of what God thinks of us.  Then how can we discern what is God’s way and what God desires and what is not.

The best way to prepare ourselves is to listen to God.  Many people claim that they have heard something from the LORD.  How do we distinguish whether what we heard is from God or not?  It is very simple.  Go to the Word of God, the Bible.  If what you feel you heard from God goes against the Bible, it is not from God.  If it goes with the Bible, the Word of God, then it is from God.  

How do we know this will work for sure?  It has to do with the character of our God.  God will never go against what God has spoken.  There was a time God took back what God said for the sake of all the people.  For example, God told Nineveh through Jonah, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4).  Yet, God did not destroy them, but forgave them because they repented.  

Even in this situation, God did not go against what God had spoken.  Because God also said, “I, the LORD your God, AM a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate ME, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love ME and keep My commandments” (Deuteronomy 5:8).  According to God’s Word, God Is always willing and ready to forgive people whenever they turn from their wicked ways and willingly go with the LORD by keeping God’s commands. 

We are worshiping God Who always keeps God’s Word.  Therefore, we can always confidently trust in God’s Word.  If you want to be right with God and be fully ready for the coming LORD, you stick with God’s Word.  Do not change God’s Word according to your convenience.  Do not pick and choose which Word of God you are going to honor and keep and which one you are going to ignore.  Just trust in God’s Word all the way. 

As the Bible tells us, we need to “Watch and pray” all the time “so that you will not fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).  Unfortunately, we will run into times when everyone else can see what the devil is doing except ourselves alone.  The only way to avoid that is to stick with the Word of God and “watch and pray.”  It is crucial that you always keep up with this, “Word of God, watch, and pray” nonstop. 

The devil, who tempted Jesus, will always look for the opportunity to tempt you.  No one is exempt from this.  Devil’s job is one thing, one and only to keep us away from our LORD so that we will not end up in the Heavenly Kingdom with the LORD forever.  This is why Jesus and the disciples of Jesus continue to warn us saying, “Watch out.”  

The Bible tells us, “Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully” (2 John 1:8).  When we allow the devil to get the best of us, we “lose what we have worked for” in the Name of Jesus.  We will lose our rewards for the work we have done.  We can never let that happen.  In order not to lose the reward God has for us, we must learn to recognize the devil when it comes at us. 

So, how do we recognize and get rid of the devil when it comes to us?  All the answers are in the Bible.  The Bible tells us to “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and it will flee from you” (James 4:2).  The only way we can beat the devil is to submit ourselves to God completely.  When we walk with God, doing all things obedient to God’s Word constantly, the devil will get so tired of waiting for a chance to get to us.  It will be bored to death and go look for someone else to tempt. 

When you know the Word of God so well that it becomes like your second nature, you will not need a three or four-part sermon series to convince you that what you are doing is what God desires or not.  You will recognize it right away.  The Holy Spirit will not allow you to miss it.   

For example, when you talk about something or someone that you should not have, even after you start to talk, don’t you get these uncomfortable feelings like something is wrong?  That is what we call the Prompting of the Holy Spirit.  Do not ignore those uncomfortable feelings.  They may be a warning from the Holy Spirit. 

Did you know that God Is always talking to you?  God Is constantly calling you, trying to get your attention.  Just like a boy Samuel, we do not always recognize God when God calls us.  How did the boy Samuel learn to recognize God’s calling?  He had to be educated.  Priest Ely had to teach him how to recognize and respond to God’s calling.  We all need to learn to recognize God’s calling.  So that we may say to God, “Speak LORD, for Your servant is listening” every time God speaks to us (v. 10). 

No one is born with such abilities.  We all need to allow God to teach us how to do many spiritual things even when we feel like “I know it well.”  In God, we can always receive more instructions to get closer to God and to be right with God.  We need to remain under God’s power and authority by trusting and living God’s Word.  

The Bible promises, “The LORD will keep you from all harm – the LORD will watch over your life, the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:7-8).  Who does not want this?  I pray for this over my children, my family, my Church, and for all God’s people everywhere.  I’m telling you.  We need to stay as close to God as possible.  And this is not possible away from God’s Word. 

The Bible tells us, “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13).  Why?  Because the LORD Is always with you.  You do not have to fear anything.  The prophet Micah said, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD.  I wait for God my Saviour, my God will hear me” (Micah 7:7).  Can you feel the sense of confidence knowing that “my God will hear me”?  Such faith will defeat any fears. 

Apostle Paul encourages us, “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6).  Paul is talking about laziness.  In order to be fully ready for the coming LORD, we cannot afford to be lazy.  We are called to do extra.  Spiritual laziness is sin according to the Bible.  God does not accept spiritual laziness, even physical laziness. 

When God created Adam, God put him in the garden to work as a gardener.  Adam was responsible for taking care of that garden.  The Bible says, “If a person will not work, that person shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).  The Bible also said, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).  Did you hear that?  God Is seriously against laziness and serious about doing the work God has called us to do such as look out for your own people and your neighbors. 

In order to be fully ready to receive the coming LORD, we need to go with God’s way and resist the ways which go against God’s Word.  The Bible tells us, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teachings you have learned.  Keep away from them” (Romans 16:17). 

Who causes the divisions?  The ones who complain will definitely cause division.  Talking about things is not bad.  We must learn to talk about things in healthy ways.  Talking things out is so important.  That is why we pay so much money to go talk to counselors and such.  If you must talk about some negative issues happening in your life, find a person or a group of people that you know care about you and will pray for you. 

We call them Prayer Partners.  I have my prayer partners.  We all need prayer partners.  We, Christians, not only need someone to hear your concerns and complaints, but also need someone to pray for you.  Do not be the one who causes divisions by talking bad about people or Church to many others, but search for a person or a group of people who will listen to you and pray with and for you.  They must be the ones that you can trust.  Jesus said, “This kind can come out only by prayer” (Mark 9:29).  Prayers are much needed. 

Another thing you need to watch out for is the false teachers who teach against what is written in the Bible.  Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15).  It is not hard to distinguish them.  Listen to what they say and see if what they have said goes with the Bible or against the Bible. 

We are living in a time where social justice is rising above the Bible.  To many people, the Bible is no longer the Gospel but social justice.  If the Bible goes against the ever changing understanding of social justice, then the Bible is no longer the Word of God.  That is why so many people including some pastors say  the Bible is not the Word of God but only a book written about God.  

The Bible clearly teaches us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). 

Think about social justice issues throughout human history.  They have been changing constantly and are still changing.  However, God’s Word, the Bible has not changed.  God’s Word is the same as before.  Our God is the same as before and will always be the same God.  It is totally up to you to decide which one you will choose to trust and follow.  

As the Bible tells us, in order not to go with the world and not to go against God’s Word, you need to start it with your mind.  You must “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” with God’s Word.  Only “then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). 

How to be fully ready to receive the coming LORD is all given to us through the Word of God, the Bible.  Now, you have to make a choice.  How much time and effort you put into knowing God through the Word of God will determine the quality of your relationship with God.  It calls for extra time and effort.  

Do not be like those foolish virgins who only did what they absolutely had to do and no more.  Wise ones who put in extra effort to provide extra oil until the bridegroom came got into the marriage feast of the Lamb.  However, those foolish ones who refused to do anything extra did not get in but were rejected by the LORD.  Be the wise one to invest your time and energy into our LORD. 

I pray that you may live as the wise ones who seek after God with everything you have with the help of the Holy Spirit.  In doing so, when Jesus comes back, we may all be gladly welcomed by our LORD.  Not only that, in our faithfulness, we may take all our loved ones and those around us with us.  When Jesus sees us, may the LORD praise us saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant; Enter into the joy of your LORD” (Matthew 25:23).  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

January 14, 2024

You Are My Son, the Beloved

Mark 1: 4 – 11 

We have talked about John the baptizer numerous times, yet he is in today’s Scripture Lesson again.  John’s ministry lasted for only about six months.  However, his role in God’s plan of salvation for all human beings was so important.  We cannot avoid him.  I’m sure he devoted himself to the LORD even before he came into ministry to prepare the way of the LORD Who Was coming after him.  His complete devotion, obedience, and commitment to what God called him to do has touched and changed the lives of so many way back then and still today. 

We can learn so much from John.  He is proof that what God desires and what God can do is not about how long or how much we do, or what we bring to God.  God already has everything and has the power to provide everything.  What God Is looking for is our faith in God.  You cannot nor will not be committed to someone that you cannot trust. 

When you put your complete trust in God, only then are you able to completely commit to God.  When you do that, God will use you and whatever you place in God's hand whether that is money, your career, talent, or even your dark past, whatever it may be, God will use it to change the world for good. 

Do you want to be used by God?  Do not look at what you have or don’t have.  Just keep your focus on God, what God Is doing and what God Is saying through the Word of God.  Do all you can to obey God’s Word whether in giving, sharing, serving, studying, working, worshiping, or in dealing with people.  Do it all to bring glory to God as you do all things the best you can.  Then allow God to lead you, guide you to what God desires from you.    

What God can and will do through a faithful committed person or through a group of people is limitless, endless.  Do you want to experience God in such powerful ways?  Do you want our Church to be a part of God’s powerful work which will change the world?  It starts with you.  It all depends on your relationship with God, your knowledge of God’s Word and your willingness to obey and live out God’s Word.  Then the world will not be able to stop God from doing mighty things through you. 

As important as John the baptizer’s role was in God’s ultimate plan for all humanity, John was not the center of God’s work.  The One Who Was going to make all things possible Was none other than God, God-Self through Jesus Christ our LORD.  Jesus Is the One Who Is in the Center of God’s ultimate plans to bring salvation to the whole world. 

If you take Jesus out of the Bible, the Bible no longer has the power of God.  Everything God promised throughout the Old Testament time could only be fulfilled through Jesus.  What all the prophets of the Old Testament were prophesying was about Jesus.  Jesus Is the fulfillment of everything God said through the Old Testament. 

This is why Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).  On that cross, what did Jesus say?  “It is finished” (John 19:30).  Jesus Is the fulfillment of the whole Scripture of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. 

I heard this one bishop say, “If Jesus Is the Son of God and your LORD and Saviour, that is good.  If Jesus Is not the Son of God nor your LORD and Saviour, that is good as well.”  What this bishop said is that it is okay for you to choose to believe in Jesus as Who Jesus Is or not.  What you believe about Jesus is not that important.  It will not make any difference as a Christian.  Do you hear what is so wrong with this? 

I am going to make this very clear to you.  If Jesus Is not the Son of God nor your LORD and Saviour, you are wasting your time here.  No one can claim to be a Christian without believing and accepting Jesus as Who Jesus Is.  No matter what anyone says, Jesus Is the only way to true salvation.  Jesus Is the Only One Who has the power to take us into that Heavenly Kingdom.  There is absolutely no other way than Jesus to get into that Eternal Life.  Jesus Is It!  

Denying Jesus is to go against our God because Jesus Is our God.  The same thing goes with God’s Word.  The Bible clearly tells us about this.  According to Gospel John,

In the beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was with God, and the Word Was God…The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only Son, Who came from the Father, full of glory and truth. (John 1:1, 14) 

The Word of God makes it so clear.  “The Word” of God Was there “in the beginning.”  That “Word Was with God” because that “Word Was God.”  That “Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”  Who Is this Word?  It is Jesus, the Son of God.  Therefore, Jesus and the Word of God cannot be separated because Jesus Is the Word of God.  

To deny Jesus and to deny God’s Word is to deny our God.  How can anyone claim to be a Christian while denying the most important part of our faith that is Jesus Who Is God and the Word? 

I hope you know we are saints.  Saints are holy people.  Holy means to be separated, to be set aside for God.  That makes us the chosen people, the chosen nation.  God called Abram to start this chosen holy nation.  What separated Abraham and his offspring from the world is the Covenant God had made with them.  God chose Israel to give them the Word of God, the Covenant. 

The fact that we have received the Word of God, which Is our LORD Jesus, makes us a part of the Holy Nation.  You did not become the holy people because of what you have done, but only because of what God has done in your life.  You became a part of God’s holy nation because of the Word of God, which has been given to you.  All this is in the Bible.  I am not making things up.  It’s all in the Bible. 

The Word God that Was given to us verbally in the Old Testament time had been reincarnated in a human body Who Is Jesus.  Jesus Is the walking and Living Word of God.  As Jesus left us physically after the resurrection, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us to continue to remind us of the Word which has been given to us.  Our Triune God Is working so hard to make it possible for us to live with our Trinity God eternally. 

God has been and Is continuing to do so much work in our lives throughout human history to make sure we spend our eternity with our God in that Heavenly Kingdom.  In response to what God has been and Is doing, we should not fight or go against God by denying the Word of God Who Is Jesus.  

Next month, we are going to be celebrating the experience of Transfiguration up on the mountain.  There, three disciples heard the same thing that John the baptizer heard about Jesus.  God said, “This Is My Son, the Beloved” (Mark 9:7).  Then God added to this by saying, “Listen to Him!” which means listen to Jesus. 

This is one of the biggest mistakes many Christians make about our God.  It seems to be a more common understanding even among Christians that our Old Testament God Is a scary angry God.  Then when Jesus came, Jesus suddenly became all about love.  If you have studied the Book of Judges with us, you would have known how loving and patient God has been with human beings all along.  

You would ask so many times, “God, why do You continue to put up with these unfaithful, wicked, sinful, and ungrateful people?  Why?”  The answer is, “Because God loves us.”  People continue to purposely break God’s heart by worshiping idols and doing evil in the eyes of the LORD.  They did whatever they wanted regardless of what God thinks about them.  

God begged them to come back to God and be right with God.  God offered them protection and blessings.  However, they continued to ignore and disrespect God.  They remained rebellious against God.  Yet, God continued to save them from troubles and loved them. 

If you really want to know God, you need to know the Word of God, the Holy Bible.  You cannot truly know God away from the Word of God.  Otherwise, God will be just whatever people want God to be.  Many people in every country created their own gods to suit their needs.  They are called idols.  The Bible speaks against the idols. 

God said through the first of the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other gods before ME” (Exodus 20:3).  Then God said in the second commandment, “You shall not make idols” (Exodus 20:4).  What God really said is this:

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, AM a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate ME, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love ME and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6). 

God said that those who do not obey God are the ones “who hate [God]” and those who obey God are the ones “who love [God].”  If you did not read or study the Bible, you would inot know this about our God.  This is why we must continue to read and study the Holy Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament.  You also need to be right with God to understand what God Is trying to communicate with you.  

The Bible tells us,

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14).

If you are serious about your relationship with God and about making God happy, get to know God’s Word in the Bible.  Some people say the Bible is boring.  Please, ask those who come to Bible Study faithfully about what they think about the Bible.  I’m telling you.  Our Holy Bible is anything but boring.  You will not believe what kind of stories are in the Bible.  Come to our Bible Studies and find out. 

Don’t you want to be blessed?  Don’t we all want to be blessed by our God?  Do everything you can to get closer to our God, which includes reading and studying the Bible, worshiping God faithfully, being obedient to God’s Word, serving God faithfully, being a good neighbor to others, trusting God completely, and continuing to do good, etc.  Do all you can to do what God commands us to do through the Bible every day with your whole heart. 

Then nothing in this world, even the power of the devil cannot, will not be able to stop you from receiving every blessing God has for you.  Because of you, everyone around you will be blessed.  Shaken, pressed down, and overflowing blessings of the LORD will fill your life.  

The Bible tells us, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in Christ’s sufferings in order that we may also share in Christ’s glory” (Romans 8:17).  In your relationship with God as you faithfully live the life of obedience to God’s Word no matter how hard it may be, you will be a “co-heir with Christ.”  You will be called the sons and daughters of the LORD. 

The Bible tells us, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know God” (1 John 3:1). 

Regardless of what the world knows or what it thinks about you, make sure that you know your God the way our God wants to be known by you.  You need to be blessed and become a child of the LORD before you can go out and share Christ with the world.  Be a blessing to everyone around you in the Name of Jesus Christ.  May our God be recognized and praised through your life.  May your life be filled with God’s blessings.  May the whole world be blessed through you in the Name of Jesus Christ our LORD!  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

January 7, 2024

Boldness and Confidence Through Faith in Christ

Ephesians 3: 1 – 12 

Today is Epiphany Sunday.  On this day, we remember and celebrate the visitation of wisemen.  We do not know too much about those wisemen who came to honor Jesus.  Only the Book of Matthew talks about them.  Matthew wanted the world to know that Jesus Is the Messiah, the King of kings and the LORD of lords.  So, Matthew chose to write about the wisemen who gave Jesus the gifts deserving of a king. 

There were different visitors at the birth of Jesus.  The ones who came right after Jesus Was born were the shepherds.  Guess who wrote about the shepherds?  It was Luke.  Luke was considered a Gentile because his Mom was Jew but his Dad was Greek.  Luke wrote specifically about the shepherds visiting because he wanted the whole world to know that Jesus came to bring salvation to all people including Gentiles, the non-Jews, like himself. 

The shepherds’ visit is celebrated on Christmas Day along with the choir of angels who made the announcement to the shepherds while praising the birth of our Saviour Jesus.  Today, we celebrate the visit of wisemen.  Epiphany means “the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi, the wisemen.”  The visit of wisemen confirms that.  This is a very important moment. 

Now, let’s see who those wisemen were.  First of all, we have to get over the Sunday School understanding of wisemen.  The only place where we hear about these wisemen is in the Book of Matthew.  Matthew does not tell us much about them.  These wisemen are sometimes called the Magi or the kings. 

Magi is a plural version of magus.  Magus is known as a member of the priesthood during ancient Persia time.  Calling them kings means those wisemen were from a high class.  Wisemen in that ancient world were the ones who gave advice to the king.  They are the scholarly group who is knowledgeable about history, understands the movement of stars, and science.  

They usually worked with the king.  This is why they were able to go directly to king Herod and demanded to see the newborn King.  People in high places like them do not travel alone.  Traveling was neither an easy nor safe thing to do during that time.  It’s nothing like what we think of traveling today.  They probably had  many servants traveling with them. 

The only reason we believe three visitors came to visit Jesus is because of three gifts, the “gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (v. 11).  A gift of three does not mean three people.  No matter how many wisemen came to visit, they probably came with an army of servants with them. 

The Bible tells us that those wisemen, magi, came “from the east” (v. 1).  Most likely they were Persians.  Persia contained the middle east area.  So, they were definitely Gentiles.  They were high class Gentile folks. 

By the time they came to see Jesus, Jesus could have been up to two years old.  King Herod calculated the timing since Jesus Was born.  This is why Herod had his army go out and “kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16).  Jesus had been born for a while by now, at least a couple of years. 

So far, only several people have recognized Jesus as Who Jesus Is.  They are the shepherds, and Simeon and Anna from the Temple when Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple for the ceremony of purification (Luke 2).  Jesus Is now about two years old, yet no one else is reported to recognize Who Jesus Is.  How sad is this.  No one else among Israelites have recognized their newborn King, a True Messiah. 

Yet, these foreigners, whether they are three or four of them, have traveled so far to pay homage, to worship a newborn “King of the Jews” (v. 2) while not one person from Israel has recognized their newborn King.  When God’s own chosen people failed to recognize and worship their own God, God raised up the foreigners, Gentiles to come Worship this One True God.  If you refuse to be a part of what God Is doing, God will raise up someone else to do God’s work.  Do not ever make that mistake. 

Let’s see how the Jews behaved about this miraculous birth.  Let us remember that Herod was a Jew.  When the wisemen told king Herod about the birth of a newborn “King of the Jews,” his first reaction was being “troubled,: “disturbed,” and “frightened” “and all Jerusalem with him” (v. 3).  A newborn King Who had come to save them from sin and death.  The whole world should be celebrating God with thankful hearts.  Yet, the leader of the Jews was “disturbed” and “frightened.”  Does this make any sense to you? 

Jesus Was born with the plan to save all human beings from eternal death into eternal life.  So, what happens to this amazingly great news when it falls into the hands of those who are not right with God, those who are against God?  God intended salvation for all human beings.  Yet, Herod had murder in his mind.  

He ordered his soldiers to go out and kill, murder all the baby boys up to the age of two.  What kind of monster would order something like that?  This is what God said about such as this, “something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter My mind” (Jeremiah 19:5).  God also said, “people will…call this place…the Valley of Slaughter'' (Jeremiah 19:6).  This is not what some foreigners are doing, but God’s chosen people. 

In that generation where Jesus Was born was a wicked generation.  The generation today is not so much better.  In order to do more than just surviving in this harsh generation, we must be bold and confident in our faith in God.  You need to know Who your God Is and know who you are in our God.  The important thing is not about who you are in this world, but who you are in God. 

Apostle Paul certainly knew who he was in Christ and what God wanted to do through his life.  What happened when Apostle Paul placed his life in God’s hand?  Paul trusted the LORD when he was fighting against God as Saul, persecuting the followers of Jesus.  He gave himself to God while he was sinning greatly against God.  When he repented and went with the LORD, God used Paul in such mighty ways before and still is. 

If you truly know your God, truly know who you are in your God, and are willing to go with the LORD, there is no limit of what God can and will do through your life.  Seriously, probably no one, absolutely no one expected God to use someone like Saul to be in ministry with Jesus.  I’m telling you, “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). 

When Jesus came to us as one of us, Jesus not only had Jews in mind but also all other Gentiles.  Those wisemen confirm God’s greater plan for the world.  When Jesus blesses you, Jesus has so much more in mind than just you alone.  God does not only want you to be blessed, but also be a blessing to everyone around you.  You know the blessings come in a variety of ways. 

When God blessed Abraham, God so clearly said, “and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).  Blessing others is a part of God’s great blessings.  When people walk away all blessed from you, you can be sure that God Is working in and through you.  You are in God’s business. 

Those wisemen traveled a long distance to go see and to worship the One True God.  They had to risk running into life threatening situations as they traveled.  God Is so good.  You no longer have to risk your life traveling long distances to worship your God.  God Is right here with us.  When Jesus came, Jesus made it so easy for us.  Easy to find God, to worship God, and to be forgiven of our sins.  Everything can be done through the Name of Jesus our LORD.  

Jesus did all the work.  All you have to do is to call out the Name of Jesus.  You simply have to put your trust in what Jesus has taught us and walk with Jesus through the life of obedience to what God has spoken to us.  That is the only way we can be right with God and fulfill God’s dreams in our lives. 

Do all you can to know God’s Word.  You will not know God if you don’t know God’s Word.  If you don’t know God, you will never learn who God has made you to be and all that God can and will do through your life.  So, do all you can to learn God’s Word.  This world is full of ideas by many, many people whether those ideas go against God’s Word or not. 

If you do not know God’s Word, it will be very hard to stand bold and confident in the faith in God.  No matter what the world says, cling to God’s Word.  Keep on trusting God’s promises.  Meanwhile, you continue to walk with God faithfully and be a blessing to others around you.  

Imagine, this small group of people gather here with such commitment.  Imagine how much power of the LORD will be revealed through this Body of Christ.  May this Church be the Body of Christ which our God freely uses to fulfill God’s will and to bless all the communities around us.  May the LORD fulfill God’s plans through us daily and be glorified through this Body of Christ until we all see Jesus face to face.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

December 31, 2023

According to Your Word

Luke 2: 22 – 40 

Today is the very last day of the year 2023.  After today, the year 2023 will never come back again.  Enjoy this day all you can.  By tomorrow, 2023 will remain as a part of history, the old chapter of your life forever.  When there is old, there is new.  Tomorrow will be a whole new beginning of your life.  Times change.  People change.  Thank God that our God does not change.  Our God Is the same yesterday as today and tomorrow.  Praise the LORD!

Don’t we have someone that we totally trust thinking, “I can always rely on you.  You are the only one I can trust” whether it is your spouse, your kids, your colleague, or your best friend.  I have to tell you.  That will not work.  Such trust in that person will not last.  Do not put that much pressure on a person.  It is not fair for that person. 

There are absolutely no human beings in this life who can earn or sustain such trust.  They will always fail you somehow.  That person you trust is not trying to hurt you or to disappoint you on purpose.  We, human beings, do not have the power, the ability to be that completely trustworthy person all the time.  It is not possible for any human being to do that. 

Our God Is the only One Who has the power to be trustworthy all the time without changing, without failing.  Do not give such power to anyone else except to our God.  You really CAN trust our God with everything all the time.  I promise you.  

Our God Is in a Covenant relationship with us.  God willingly bounded God-Self by the Words which God has spoken to us.  Our God will not go against what God has spoken.  As we are in this Covenant relationship with God, we should not go against God’s Word as well if we want to remain in our loving relationship with God and be blessed by God. 

This is what God said to Abraham, the father of faith for all God’s people, “Then I will make My Covenant between ME and you and will greatly increase your numbers” (Genesis 17:2).  God blessed Abraham and all his future children saying, “I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).  

In order to receive everything God has promised Abraham, Abraham and all his children must obey God’s Word.  “God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you must keep My Covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come” (Genesis 17:9).  God has promised Abraham tremendous blessings for him and all his future generations.  In order to remain as vessels to receive everything God has promised, Abraham and all his children must obey God’s commands and be faithful to the Covenant which God has made with him.  It is a must! 

God will always keep God’s Word.  When God promises something, God will keep the promise.  You can be sure of that.  We just have to remain as a faithful vessel to receive what God has for us.  God has and always will be faithful to us.  We need to be faithful to God as God Is faithful to us.  We cannot constantly go against God’s Word and expect God to bless us. 

Thank God that our God Is a gracious God Who loves us beyond our ability to understand.  God gives us numerous chances to be right with God.  God waits for us so patiently.  However, I do not recommend you try God’s patience for too long.  Our God Is a gracious and understanding God.  However, God’s patience will not last forever.  It will run out sooner or later.  Personally, I will do all I can to stay right with God and be on God’s good side all the time. 

Today’s Scripture Lesson tells us about how God keeps God’s Word.  Now, there is a man named Simeon.  We do not know much about him.  The Bible gives us very brief information about him.  It says, “Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him” (v. 25). 

We don’t know much about his background, about his family relationships, education, or financial situations, etc.  Why?  Because they are not as important to God as you think.  What God Is looking for is not the ones who have everything put together with skills, talents, knowledge, money, and power.  God can give those things to you at any time and in any way God desires.  

What God Is looking for in you is your faith and your willingness to go with God, to obey God at any cost.  A very skillful and talented person who is not willing to obey God is no good to God.  Seriously, would you get into a partnership with someone who is not willing to honor your contract and do everything one can to disrespect you?  Will you get into a partnership with someone who lies to you all the time?  No!  Never!  

Then why would anyone expect our God to honor the Covenant God made with us through Abraham and to bless us while they disrespect God by disobeying God’s Word constantly?  Unfaithful generation cannot be accepted by God.  God will be patient with them and give them numerous chances to be right with God.  However, when God’s patience and mercy run out, there will be no more chance for those who continue to rebel against God by disobeying God’s Word continuously.  

God grieves over those people.  God said it through the Prophet Jeremiah, “Yet they did not listen to ME, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers” (7:26).  God gets so tired of stubbornly selfish and sinful people who continue to disobey God.  This is what God said,

Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were, submit to the LORD.  Come to God’s sanctuary, which the LORD has consecrated forever.  Serve the LORD your God, so that God’s fierce anger will turn away from you (2 Chronicles 30:8).

God literally cries out to God’s precious children to be right with God so that they may receive everything God has prepared for them.  God continues to tell God’s people that is us saying,

If you return to the LORD, then your fellow Israelites and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will return to this land, for the LORD your God Is gracious and compassionate.  The LORD will not turn God’s face from you if you return to the LORD (2 Chronicles 30:9).

God loves you.  God wants to bless you.  God longs to be in a personal love relationship with you every day.  However, you will not receive what God has for you if you constantly rebel against God by disobeying God’s Word.  We cannot ignore God’s Word and expect to receive the inheritance of the LORD in this life or in that Life Eternal. 

I’m telling you.  God Is not too interested about your dark past or all the good things you have to show in this life.  What God Is looking for is the faith in you and your willingness to go with God faithfully, continuously, through obedience to God’s Word.  When you do that, God will even use your dark past as valuable tools, as important instruments for God’s mighty works. 

Look at Apostle Paul who used to persecute the followers of the Way.  They used to call Christians, the followers of the Way because Jesus said, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).  Saul, before he became the Apostle Paul, was a great object of fear among the believers of Jesus.  Saul was the one who helped people to stone Stephen to death (Acts 7:54-60).  The Bible tells us, “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the LORD’s disciples” (Acts 9:1).  

Saul came with the power of the high priest and highly religious people to destroy all the believers of Jesus.  Saul was not the most popular person among the believers.  The believers probably had no idea and never dreamt of God using a monster like Saul to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone in this lifetime. 

Even though Saul had this very dark past against Jesus, when he placed that in God’s hand and went with the LORD, God used him in such powerful ways.  Apostle Paul came out of that monstrous and scary Saul.  He is helping us even today.  Who has not been touched by his letters in the Bible?  I’m sure everybody has.  The great reformer, Martin Luther, and our great leader John Wesley’s lives were changed by Apostle Paul’s letters.  Therefore, our lives are changed forever.  What God did through Apostle Paul 2,000 years ago will continue to help God’s people until we all see God face to face. 

How about the pastor Joyce Meyer?  I absolutely love her and her messages.  She grew up being raped by her own biological Dad until she was old enough to leave her home at the age of eighteen.  Her Mom knew what her husband was doing to their daughter yet did nothing about it.  Her Mom did not think that she could make it without her husband.  So, she allowed her husband to do that horrible thing to their daughter for eighteen years. 

Joyce said that she felt like a used good who does not deserve to live a good life.  She thought no one would love a person like her.  So, she married the first person who showed any interest in her at the age of eighteen knowing that this marriage would be a disastrous one.  It lasted for five years.  She calls it, “a five-years of nightmare.” 

Thank God, she married Dave.  I think they have been married for almost 50 years now.  Joyce had that nightmare childhood and the first marriage.  The devil always whispered to her, “You are nothing.  You are used goods.  No one would ever love you.  No way, you would achieve anything good in your life.”  Yet, look at what God has done through her life.  

She has written hundreds of books which have been translated into over a hundred languages all over the world.  She prayed to God, “God, use me to help everyone in this world.”  Not everyone in this world may know her.  However, I think God did a pretty good job helping millions and millions of people through her so far.  She is over eighty years old.  She is still preaching to thousands of people wherever she goes.  All God needed was her faith and willingness to go and be used by God. 

Simeon that we learned about through today’s Scripture Lesson did not have much to show the world except that he was “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel” and most importantly “the Holy Spirit rested on him” (v. 25).  The first time we experienced the Holy Spirit was when Jesus Was baptized by John the baptizer.  The Bible tells us, “The Spirit of the LORD descending like a dove upon Jesus” (Mark 1:10). 

You know Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit when Jesus left this world in front of a crowd of people.  Well, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the LORD Who Is God Was already with Simeon.  That says a lot.  Simeon may not have been a priest, prophet, or the one in authority.  However, Simeon was clearly right with the LORD through his faith in God and the life of obedience to God’s Word. 

The Bible tells us, “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the LORD’s Messiah” (v. 26).  Simeon probably was an old man which means he waited for God to fulfill this promise to him for a long, long, long time.  

The day Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple for the ceremony of purification, the Holy Spirit guided Simeon into the Temple to where Jesus Was.  As soon as Simeon saw Jesus, he knew exactly Who Jesus Was.  “Simeon took Jesus in his arms and praised God” (v. 28).  He said,

Master, now You Are dismissing Your servant in peace, according to Your Word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel (vv. 29-32).

Simeon is saying, “LORD, You Are allowing me to die in peace in my old age because I have seen the Messiah.  Through this Messiah, I have seen Your salvation to Israel and also to all the gentiles.”  Just by seeing Baby Jesus, Simeon is seeing the brighter future for all people everywhere including all the gentiles. 

We do not know exactly when God promised Simeon that he will see “the LORD’s Messiah” before he dies (v. 26).  Obviously, God waited until Simeon was much older to fulfill this promise.  And Simeon got to see and hold his Messiah in his arms before he died.  Simeon saw and held salvation for the whole world in his arms.  I’m telling you.  God will always keep what God has spoken and promised. 

This fulfillment of God’s promise to Simeon did not stay with him alone when it was revealed to him.  Anna, the prophet, who “was of a great age” also came and joined in praises to God (vv. 36-38).  When God’s promises are fulfilled in your life, everyone around you will be blessed with you.  

We come up with many different goals for the coming new year.  The most popular one is to lose weight.  Well, do all that.  However, make improving your relationship with God the very first, the most important goal for the year 2024.  Do all you can to learn to put your complete trust in God and to obey God’s Word completely. 

There are thousands of blessings promised by our God to those who obey God’s Word.  And force God to bless you with all those by living a life that is obedient to God’s Word.  Then not only you but also your children and their children for many generations will be blessed because of you along with all those around you.  

Be a person who brings God’s blessings to everyone around you.  And let the Word of God be fulfilled in your life every day.  Trust in God’s Word as God promised to Abraham saying, “I will bless you…and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2b, 3b).  Praise the LORD!  Amen. 

December 24, 2023

11:00 PM 

There was No Room for the LORD

Luke 2: 1 – 20 

     Merry Christmas!  Today, we are celebrating the Birthday of Jesus our LORD.  Tomorrow is the beginning of Christmas.  This celebration will last for twelve days and will end with Epiphany on January sixth.  Don’t be in a hurry to take down your Christmas decorations.  The first Christmas Day is only the beginning of this twelve days long celebration. 

     Having a baby, giving birth to a life is such a blessing and a privilege.  Babies are the signs of God’s tremendous blessings and favor.  I remember when I was pregnant with my babies eighteen plus years ago.  Every time we sang hymns at Church, they started to dance in my stomach.  It was painful, but I didn’t mind the pain.  Because that was such a joy.  

     They were born in a hospital where my husband, David, was born so many years ago.  It was a very comfortable and nice hospital with good food.  We had plenty of medical professionals to look after us.  What a blessing that was.  However, our LORD Jesus did not have a decent room to be born.  There was no room for the LORD to be born and to stay. 

     A very lowly and humble servant like me had the luxury of all I needed to give birth to my children, but the Almighty God and Creator did not even have a room.  We are not talking about all those fancy facilities, but simply a room with privacy and protection.  Jesus was homeless when Jesus was first born into this world.  You cannot get more humble than that. 

     My Mom always said that our God Is Wonderfully Crazy.  This is the crazy side or our God.  Our God Is the Only True God Who has created this whole world.  Nothing, absolutely nothing escapes our God because God created everything.  Our God has the power to give life and to take life.  God has the power to make anything happen as the Bible tells us, “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

     This Almighty and All-Powerful God allowed the very Son of God to be born in a manger full of dry hay that animals eat in a stable.  We normally fantasize about a stable surrounded by walls, a proper roof, and a door.  Not everyone had the luxury of having such a proper building to use for animals.  This stable probably was a carved cave with some kind of gate to keep the animals in. 

     Have you been to an actual stable?  I once went close to a stable where they kept a bunch of horses.  Our kids were very little.  David took them inside there and enjoyed themselves.  For me, I could not even go near that place because of the smell.  The smell overwhelmed me even outside that place.  I was urging David and the kids to come out and escape that strong, unpleasant smell. 

     We do not know exactly what kind of animals and how many of them were there.  I can assure you, the smell in that place could not have been pleasant.  Yet, God would allow God’s One and Only Son to be born in that highly unpleasant place.  Personally, I do not understand.  This is why my Mom calls God the Wonderfully Crazy God. 

     The sad thing about this story is that there was no one who was willing to invite this holy family.  Even though our God has all the power to make anything happen, God does not force God-Self on us.  God commands us and yet, God waits for us to obey.  God will wait for us to invite God into our lives. 

     Have you seen a picture of Jesus standing at the door knocking?  If you look closely at that picture, you will notice that the door does not have a handle.  There is no way of entering into that door from outside unless a person inside opens the door for Jesus to enter.  This is another Wonderfully Crazy side of our God.  

     We are God’s creation.  God Is our Creator.  When you create something, whether it is some kind of pottery object, a painting, food, or anything else, do you ask your created object permission to use it?  Would you ask your mug that you made to drink from, “Can I have your permission to use you to drink my coffee?”  No way, you would do that.  You created it.  It’s yours.  You may use it in any way you desire.

     However, our God would ask our permission to enter our lives.  In that picture, our Jesus the LORD and God would stand there knocking until someone opens that door.  Did you know that our Jesus Is knocking at your door and waiting for you to open that door to accept Jesus as your LORD and Saviour?  For some of you, Jesus gladly entered your life and lives with you.  And for some you, Jesus Is still knocking and waiting for you to welcome Jesus into your life. 

     It is so sad that the day our God the Creator came into our lives to live as one of us, not one person opened up their home to welcome Jesus into this world.  It would have been so much more joyful if at least one person welcomed Jesus into his or her home for the day of such birth which now the whole world is celebrating. 

     I heard a story of a Church play for Christmas.  It was a play of the Scripture Lesson which we heard today.  A boy with a challenge was playing the Inn Keeper.  His line was very simple.  When the actors played Mary and Joseph asked for a room, all he had to say was, “Sorry.  We have no more room.”  The Church members who dressed like Mary and Joseph came with the fake donkey to that boy and Joseph asked, “Do you have any room available?  My wife is pregnant.  She would need a place to give birth to a baby.  Please, can you help us?” 

     The boy said his line saying, “Sorry.  We have no more room.”  Then Joseph and Mary turned around and walked away with sad faces.  And the Inn Keeper boy was supposed to exit the stage.  However, this boy stopped Mary and Joseph saying, “Stop” which surprised everyone.  He said to them, “Don’t go.  You can have my room.”  That line was not in the script.  It came straight from this boy’s heart. 

     Did this touch your heart?  Can you imagine what it did to our God’s heart when God heard this boy?  I’m sure this boy’s invitation to Jesus moved God’s heart all the way to that high Heaven.  I’m positive, Jesus Is living comfortably in the life of that boy and that boy is walking in the blessed favor of the LORD every day.  We need to invite God into our lives as this boy did and move God’s heart with our sincere hearts. 

     One preacher shared this story during his sermon.  He is one of those famous preachers who travels everywhere to preach.  Once again, he was out of state preparing to preach to a crowd of hundreds of people who came to listen to him.  He called his eight-year-old daughter who was at home before he went out on stage. 

     When she answered the phone, he asked, “Hey, Baby!  What are you doing?”  She said, “I’m having a tea party.”  He asked, “Could you save me space?  I’ll make sure to join you when I get home.”  She giggled and said, “I already have spaces for you.”  He asked, “Spaces?  How many spaces did you save for me?”  She responded, “Three!  I didn’t know where you would like to sit.  So, I saved three spots for you.  I put tea cups on them all.  So, you just have to come and join me.” 

     He said when he heard his daughter telling him that, he was ready to drop everything and fly back home to his daughter.  His heart left that place instantly and went back home to his precious daughter.  This is what happens when we prepare a place to welcome God into our lives.  With a splash of tea pouring into those cups and with a gentle sound of clanging silverware, you will bring God down to your table from that high Heaven. 

     Too many people do not realize this.  God has given you the power to move God’s heart.  Korean people say that there are no parents who can win the battle with their children.  Because their children will always win.  We may get upset with them and all, but eventually, we give in to our children.  Why?  Because our love for them is bigger than their love for us.  Korean people claim that the one who loves more is the weak and powerless one. 

     There is no way our love for God will ever grow bigger than God’s love for us.  In that way, our God Is the Weak One.  That is why our LORD Jesus Who Is our God died on that cross to save us from sin and death.  Because only through Jesus, are we able to live eternally with our God.  

     You need to know that you are our God’s ultimate dream.  Everything Jesus did was to make it possible for us to live with our God eternally, forever and ever.  We are celebrating the Birthday of our LORD Jesus.  When Jesus comes back for the second time, our celebration cannot be compared to that day.  When that day comes, we will be celebrating with our God in Person forever and ever in that most perfect Heavenly Kingdom. 

     What we are doing now is only a tiny little taste of what is waiting for us in that Heavenly Kingdom.  God longs to spend eternity with you in that most perfect place.  So, do not make Jesus wait outside any longer.  Invite Jesus into your life.  Do not let Jesus turn around because you don’t have any room for the LORD.  Make a room for your LORD and Saviour now and every day 

     With your sincere and longing heart, move God’s heart and force God to come down to your home from that high Heaven.  Make our God the guest of honor for this celebration of Christmas and every day.  Make every day a day of celebration for our God.  And walk with the LORD in God’s amazing blessings.  Be blessed and be a blessing to all those you meet.  Let God’s Name be glorified, and your life be full of God’s blessings.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

December 24, 2023

11:00 AM

Let It Be Done According to Your Word

Luke 1: 26 – 38 

     Merry Christmas!  Today is Christmas Eve.  You will be opening gifts the first thing tomorrow morning.  It’s the Birthday of Jesus our LORD.  And we all are getting gifts.  Our God Jesus Is so good to us.  We are so blessed.  Praise the LORD!

     Today’s Scripture Lesson is about a young lady, Mary, who was so blessed to be chosen by God to be the mother of the Son of God.  The angel Gabriel said to Mary, “Greetings, favored one!  The LORD Is with you” (v. 28).  Doesn’t that sound so wonderful?  The angel Gabriel said, “Mary, for you have found favor with God” (v. 30).  Mary is the one who has found the favor of the LORD.  “The LORD Is with” her.  I would take that blessed greeting anytime.  If it ended there, it would have been so perfect, but there is more to come.  The angel Gabriel said to Mary,

And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name your Baby, Jesus.  Jesus will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the LORD God will give your Baby the throne of the ancestor David.  Jesus will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of the kingdom of Jesus the Son of the Most High, there will be no end. (vv. 31-33)

     Listening with our modern understanding, this is an amazing blessing.  Imagine, your child that you will give birth to is going to “be called the Son of the Most High” (v. 32).  God will make your son’s kingdom to last forever where “there will be no end” (v. 33).  Who would say no to that.  I would be jumping for joy.  Now, considering the circumstances of Mary during the first century in ancient Israel, this is not good news for her.  This announcement is more like a death sentence for Mary.  Even though the angel Gabriel told her, “You have found favor with God” (v. 30), this does not benefit Mary in that culture.  It actually will work against her.

     We were told that Mary was “a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David” (v. 27).  This means Mary is not married yet.  She still is a single virgin girl who is engaged to be married.  Let’s see what the Bible says about an unmarried woman getting pregnant.  Mary was “engaged to” be married to Joseph.  The baby she will bear is not Joseph’s baby.  Therefore, this is considered adultery.  The Bible clearly speaks against adultery saying, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).  This is a part of Ten Commandments.  Remember “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery” to Jesus and asked Jesus, “Now what do You say [about this]?” (John 8:3, 4).  If you look closer to that situation, those people probably had at least one stone in each hand to stone her to death for committing adultery. 

     This is what was expected to happen.  They were ready to kill her.  I personally wonder where the man who committed adultery with her is.  Why is he not there?  Anyway, they were waiting for Jesus to say, “Go ahead.  Stone her to death.  She deserves it.”  This is why Jesus said, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).  The Bible tells us that “those who heard began to go away once at a time” (John 8:10).  And Jesus told her to “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). 

     This adulterous woman was so lucky, so blessed that Jesus Was there to save her life.  However, in Mary’s situation, Jesus has not even been born yet.  Mary literally was just now becoming pregnant with Baby Jesus.  Who Is going to save her, now?  We all know that God saved Mary.  However, Mary does not know exactly what will happen to her with this pregnancy.  This is a very scary situation for Mary. 

     The angel Gabriel also told Mary, “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month” (Luke 1:36).  Now, this is more than good news.  Her cousin Elizabeth who is at an old age, who has lost the ability to give birth anymore, is pregnant with a baby.  Now, this is something to brag about to everyone.  Everyone will be happy for them and will bless them.

     However, Mary’s case is a totally different story.  Mary cannot tell another soul about her pregnancy because she will get killed once the story about her pregnancy gets out in public.  Talking about risking your life to obey God’s commands.  My first concern would have been, “How am I going to explain this to Joseph, my fiancée?”  She has been forced to be in a place where she has to make a choice that will change the course of her life completely.  It was not like she was given a couple of months to think about this.  The angel who brought her this life changing, life risking news, is standing right in front of her waiting for her response.  What would you have done if you were Mary? 

     Let’s learn more about her culture to have a better understanding of what Mary must have experienced through this incident.  A number of theologians and historians believe that Joseph, her fiancée, probably was married before but lost his first wife, which would make him a widower.  Therefore, he was not a teenage boy as some would like to believe.  He was a much older man compared to Mary.  Mary on the other hand was “a virgin”, which means she was a younger lady.  It is common knowledge that girls got married very young during that first century.  A girl’s proper age to get married would have been in their teenage years, starting at the age of thirteen.  Some countries in the middle east still practice that.  

     I watched a documentary about the situations in Syria with young ladies.  Their girl’s prime age for marriage in that culture is no other than the age thirteen.  Once a girl reaches the age of sixteen, she is considered an old maid, too old to find a husband.  The proper age for a man to get married starts at eighteen and above.  This one thirteen year old girl was preparing herself to marry a twenty-one-year-old man. 

     We don’t know the exact ages of Mary and Joseph.  However, Mary was probably between thirteen and fifteen.  Of course, Joseph, a widower, was much older than her.  Do you think this teenage young girl had a lot of life experience, great knowledge of the Word of God, or reached a great maturity?  None of that would apply to her.  The decision Mary is about to make had to be based on her faith in God alone.  She had nothing to help her, to support her to make the right decision that would be acceptable to God, except her faith in God alone.  This is why I have such a high respect for Mary.  As a young girl with no life experiences, no higher education, no great achievements to say, “Here am I, the servant of the LORD; let it be with me according to your Word” is bigger than life itself.  This shows her faith in God in such a powerful way.  If Abraham is considered a father of faith in God, Mary should be considered a mother of faith in God.  Mary’s faith, which has been demonstrated here, is monumental, simply amazing.  No wonder God chose Mary to be the mother of the Son of God.  It was no accident that Mary was chosen out of all the women in this world.  This clearly shows what God Is looking for in us. 

     Did you know that women during that first century in the ancient Israel time had no significance whatsoever?  Women at that time were considered a part of property.  There are so many unnamed women in the Bible.  Does anybody know Samson?  He was the strongest man in the Bible.  Even nonbelievers usually know who Samson is.  His father’s name was Manoah.  He was not the brightest person.  However, Samson’s mother was the only loyal and faithful person who was right with the LORD God during Samson’s time in Israel.  However, we don’t know her name because the writer did not bother to put her name in the book of Judges. 

     Women were usually addressed as someone’s wife or someone’s mother.  She was nobody away from the man figure in her life.  The only way a woman could gain some kind of significance was to give birth to a son.  A woman who has no ability to give birth to a boy did not have any significance.  That was the way it worked for women in that ancient world. 

     However, God has chosen Mary out of all the women in the world.  Many people assume that Mary is an Israelite.  Well, I would like to think so.  However, there are no written records to prove that.  The only relation shown about Mary is that Elizabeth, John the baptist's mother, is her cousin.  Let me ask you.  Are all your cousin’s ethnicities American?  I’m American, but my race is Asian, Korean. 

     Even though Mary was a Jewish girl, she still does not have much significance in that culture.  Theologians suspected that Mary did not have a mother.  That is why she ran to her cousin, Elizabeth, when she heard about both their pregnancies.  If Mary had a mother, she would have run to her mother first.  The only thing we know about her is that Mary is a young virgin girl.  Then how did she get to be chosen by God to be the mother of the Son of God?  God has chosen Mary because of her faith.  We know nothing about Mary’s family background or anything.  Luke did not bother to write anything about Mary because nothing mattered to God.  What God Is looking for is not a fancy background with family, education, money, or power, but the faith in God. 

     Faith in God is the only qualification God Is looking for in us to be used by God in such a powerful way.  Did you know that God does not look for those who are equipped to do God’s work?  You don’t have to have it altogether to be used by God.  Why?  How is that possible?  Because God equips those who have been called.  Once again, know this for sure.  God does not call those who are equipped to do God’s work.  God equips the ones who have been called. 

     While the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness, they could not have a permanent Temple of the LORD because they were constantly traveling.  So, they had a Tent of Meeting for the LORD and carried sacred objects to Worship God and to make sacrifices to the LORD with them.  Those sacred objects had to be made exactly the ways God told them to make them.  For such a task, God chose “Bezalel son of Uri” from “the tribe of Judah” and “Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan” to do the delicate work with “gold, silver, and bronze” and wood (Exodus 31:2, 4, 6).  It’s not that these guys already had the talent of knowing how to work with “gold, silver, and bronze.”  God gave them the skills to do the work for the LORD. 

     This is what God did.  God has filled them “with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills – to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work with wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts” (Exodus 31:3-5).  God has the power to make you workable if you are willing to follow and obey God. 

     There are many ways God can equip you.  God may teach you to do some specific things by going to school, through life experiences, by studying hard on your own, sending you special teachers, or to just give you the knowledge and understanding.  We don’t know how God will equip you.  We just know that God will somehow equip you if you are willing to obey God. 

The only and best response God Is looking for in us is “Let it be done according to Your Word” (v. 38).  You may think that you are the most insignificant, weak, uneducated, inexperienced, unskilled, and powerless person in this whole world.  However, if you only put your complete faith in God and allow God to equip you and to use you for God’s will, you will experience such power of God revealing through your life. 

     Being used by God is not all about you but is all about God Who will do great things through your life if you only trust and obey God completely.  Remember what the Bible tells us. “With human beings this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).  Don’t look at yourself and think, “No way I can do this.  Look at God and say, “With God all things are possible.” 

     You are a child of the Almighty, All-Powerful, and All-Loving God.  You simply trust in the LORD and continue to do the things that God has called you to do every day, such as Worship God regularly and faithfully, be a good neighbor to others, love all God’s people, obey everything God taught us through the Bible, study the Word of God, pray to God faithfully, and keep on serving the LORD. 

     If you don’t know what to do, just keep on doing what the LORD taught you to do through the Word of God.  You will be the perfect candidate for God to use because of your faith and obedience to God no matter what kind of life situation you may be in.  And keep telling God, “Let it be done according to Your Word” (v. 38).  God will freely reveal God’s power to the world through your life.  Praise the LORD.  Amen. 

December 17, 2023

The Spirit of the LORD God Is Upon Us

Isaiah 61: 1 – 4, 8 – 11

Today’s Scripture Lesson says a lot about our God and God’s faithful people.  It talks about what God desires and what God expects from us, God’s people.  Jesus said, “by their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:20).  The fruit, meaning our deeds in our lifestyle.  There are certain signs, or lifestyles, which show that you belong to the LORD.

Prophet Isaiah said, “The Spirit of the LORD God Is upon me because the LORD has anointed me” (v. 1).  This is such a powerful message.  Do you know the power of God’s anointing?  I pray for God’s anointing every Sunday.  I’ve learned that my sermon has no power, no matter how good it may sound, if God does not anoint me and the message with God’s power. 

The same goes with everything we do in the Name of the LORD.  If God’s anointing is not present, there is no power.  One time I had a chance to worship at a megaChurch.  It was one of the biggest Churches I had ever seen.  There were hundreds and thousands of people worshiping.  I had a great expectation of the pastor of that Church. 

I thought, “His sermon must be out of this world to draw this many people into this place.”  Can you hear what was wrong with my thinking?  I wasn’t thinking about what God Was doing, but what people were doing to have a successful ministry.  My thoughts were not anointed by God.  I thought of ministry like a secular business, thinking that people make it successful with good sermons, nice appearance, good programs, with more people and more money, etc. 

Does that sound like God’s ministry?  When we start thinking like that we have crossed over to the secular side.  Well, my attitude affected the way I listened.  That pastor’s sermon was so sad.  I don’t mean a sad feeling sermon, but not a really good one.  I thought, “How can he serve in a Church this size with that poor sermon?  I can preach better than him.”  Talk about being arrogant and self-centered.  This is why he is there, and I am not. 

His message clearly was anointed by the LORD, however, my mind was not.  I was not receiving what God has anointed to give to people because of my arrogance.  God Was speaking through him as God anointed him.  People were receiving what God Was speaking as God anointed them, but I wasn’t getting it.  The fact that I was not receiving what God Was giving to so many people had little to do with what was spoken.  It had everything to do with the state of my mind before the LORD. 

God’s anointing is essential in our walk with the LORD.  Every Sunday and in everything I do in ministry, I beg God for God’s anointing.  I pray for God’s anointing on myself, on the message, and on all those who will hear the message.  I pray for you every Sunday. 

Then what Is God calling those anointed people to do?  The prophet Isaiah makes it very clear.  God told Isaiah to do very specific things.  And they are all good things.  God has sent him to

Bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion – to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of faint spirit (vv. 1b-3a). 

Don’t they all sound good?  To “bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim” freedom “to the captives” and “to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor” (vv. 1b-2a).  Those who have received the anointing of the LORD are called to proclaim the good news. 

Sometimes, we, Christians are too focused on negative things.  I’m sure you have heard about people looking at a glass with half of water as the one that is half full or half empty.  Have you tried to lose weight?  What was your goal?  To lose 20 pounds?  How much did you lose?  About five pounds?  

What did you say to yourself?  “I tried so hard to lose 20 pounds.  And I only lost five pounds.  What’s the point of trying?  It’s never going to happen.”  Isn’t it so easy to think that way?  Instead of being discouraged, why not celebrate the five pounds you lost?  We often are too focused on negative things, not celebrating good things happening to us enough. 

When God anointed us, God sent us into the world to preach the good news.  How are you going to spread the good news if you stay discouraged all the time?  You know you only get one chance to live in this world, right?  There is no do over in this life.  Once you live it, then you are done.  We have Eternal Life to look forward to, but there is no do over in this life. 

I remember going to high school and college dreaming about my future.  I had no idea I would be here in front of you today.  It feels like just a short time ago when I was in school.  However, many decades have passed by already.  I’ve probably lived more than half of my life already.  Some of you have as well. 

Then why would you want to spend your precious time on something that is negative and unpleasant?  God has called you to preach the Good News.  All that Isaiah talked about was good.  However, the best news we can share with others is to share Jesus with others.  What is better news than to know that we will live forever with God?  You will not die in sin but will live eternally with God. 

Our lifestyle needs to show such excitement.  The best way to preach Good News is to show it through your life.  People will not listen to those who deliver you good news with a sad face, depressed lifestyle, always complaining and talking bad about others.  You have been called to tell people all the wonderful things God Is going to God’s people.  Be excited.  Be happy.  God loves you. 

God never leaves alone those who obey God.  God always rewards them with wonderful things.  The Bible tells us that God will fill our mouth “with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy” (v. 2).  What is the point of being rich if you are miserable?  What is the point of being successful if you have no joy?  God Is promising to give us something that the world cannot offer you, that which money cannot buy. 

When God gives you laughter and joy, you are not going to enjoy them all alone, but the whole world will recognize that.  The Bible tells us, “It was said among the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them.  The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoice” (vv. 2b-3).  The whole nation will see what God has done in your life.  

If people see God’s mighty work in your life and how much you experience joy, that is the most successful, effective sermon you can preach to others.  You cannot preach such a sermon with your lifestyle if you are holding grudges over someone for a long time.  You cannot do it if your heart is filled with anger and resentment.  How can you love others if you cannot forgive them? 

There are a lot of things you need to let go of before you can experience joy.  You have to fill your mind with godly things if you want to receive God’s anointing.  I could not receive the message from God, which so many others received, because my heart was not right with the LORD.  

My arrogance caused me to look down on God’s servant.  My selfishness and self-assertion rejected God’s message, thinking I can do better.  These are the signs that I was not right with God.  Do you get offended easily over what other people say?  That is also a sign that you are self-centered, and not God-centered.  

When our hearts are filled with those characteristics, then you are no good to God.  God will not be able to use you for God’s purpose.  God’s anointing will not rest on you. 

I know the power of God’s anointing and God’s favor in my life.  I cry out to God for God’s anointing and favor in my life and in the lives of my loved ones every day.  Go to God and live your life the way God calls you to live.  And experience all that God has promised you through the Word of God every day.  

Remember, God loves you and wants to bless you with everything that is good.  Continue to “Trust in the LORD and do good” through your words and deeds (Psalm 37:3).  As God promised, God will allow you to “dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” 

Don’t you want God to bless you, your children, and all your loved ones with all the wonderful blessings?  Continue to “Trust in the LORD and do good” (Psalm 37:3).  Your blessed lifestyle will preach the Good News to others and you will remain in God’s blessings and “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” Genesis 12:3).  Praise the LORD.  Amen.

December 10, 2023

Cry Out

Isaiah 40: 1 – 11

Christmas is right around the corner.  When you drive around your neighborhood at night looking at all the decorations with bright lights, it tells you that Christmas is coming soon.  The whole world celebrates Christmas because the fact that our God the Creator has been born as a human person and spent a lifetime with us, the human beings, is a huge deal, more than anything that happened in human history.

In order for such an event of God coming down from that Heavenly Throne to be born as one of us, the world had to prepare itself to receive our God Who Is a true King.  So, God sent John the Baptist to prepare God’s people to welcome the newborn King.  Many prophets from the Old Testament time have spoken about our newborn King.  Then God sent John the baptizer to prepare the way of the coming LORD.

What was John’s role in such preparation?  John was called to be a voice.  Why?  Because God’s command was to “Cry out!” (v. 6).  The purpose of John’s ministry was to prepare all people to receive the coming King by preaching repentance.  John proclaimed, “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (v. 4).  John really did not care about what other people thought about him.  He certainly was not dressed to please.

The Bible tells us, John’s clothes were “made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist” (Mark 1:6).  Clearly, John was not aiming to please people.  What did he eat?  John ate “locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6).  John’s purpose was not to live a long healthy life.  He was called to be “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness” preparing “the way of the LORD” (Mark 1:3).  And that is how John lived his life, to be a voice that God called him to be.

Even though John was not much to look at and his messages were harsh, people actually came out into the wilderness to listen to him.  This is what he preached, 

You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.”  I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:7-10).

Clearly, John’s purpose for living was not in any way to please people or to make them happy.  He was determined to tell the Truth that God had called him to preach.  John did not know what sugar-coating meant.  His sermons were pretty much fire and brimstone.  Yet, people came from all over the place to listen to him.  The people who got offended by him ended up killing him later.  

However, those who listened to John’s message and accepted it received the baptism of the repentance of their sins.  Those who accepted the message and repented of their sins were prepared to receive the coming LORD.

Do you know how long John’s ministry lasted?  His ministry lasted only about six months.  Even though John was born into the family of high priest, living in a fine home, wearing fine clothes, eating good food, and receiving a higher education, he spent his last six months as a young man in the wilderness living like a wild bushman preaching harsh messages, his voice is still heard today and changing lives.

John was at first to prepare people to receive Baby Jesus, Who Was to be born in Bethlehem.  Now, John’s voice is being preached and heard by people all over the world to prepare them, to prepare us to receive the second coming of our LORD Jesus Who Is coming to take us to that “new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is a home” (2 Peter 3:13).

John lived a very short life.  However, his life was all about living out the call he had received from the LORD God.  God loved him for that.  This is why Jesus praised John saying, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).  Can you imagine living your life in a way that will make God this happy and proud?

The Bible tells us, “Our purpose is to please God, not people” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).  If you are doing all you can to please people and forget God in the process, you are working against God.  That is not what God has called you to do.  You are not doing the work of the LORD but the work of the flesh, which goes against what God has said.  Therefore, you need to redirect your purpose.

When you do all you can to make God happy, one of the side effects of that is to bring unity and joy into the lives of God’s people.  You don’t have to work hard to make people happy.  They will be forced to celebrate what God Is doing in your life because it is worth celebrating.  Even though John was beheaded for what he had done in the Name of the LORD, the whole world is still celebrating and remembering his Voice.  I’m sure heaven had a huge party for him when he finally came home to the Heavenly Kingdom.

Is John the only person who was called to be a voice in this world?  Anyone who has received the Word of God, whether through reading the Bible or through listening to the sermons, has been called to be a voice in this world.  You know, we have too many silent Christians in this world.  There are a number of reasons for such silence.

One reason is to avoid embarrassment.  All the entertainers search for attention from everyone possible.  However, some individuals do not want any attention to themselves.  Actually, one of the greatest fears is to speak in public.  If that is you, to be a voice in this world will be a huge challenge for you.  Then how can we be the voice of the LORD in this world?  

To preach to people does not always involve using words.  One of the most famous saints, Saint Francis of Assisi, said, “Preach the Gospel at all times.  Use words if necessary.”  You can show them the Gospel of Jesus Christ through your good deeds in the Name of the LORD.  That works so much better than to act all holy and godly on Sundays then go out and live the life worse than those who do not know the LORD.

I’m telling you.  Anybody can become a voice of the LORD in this world somehow if you are willing.  In order to be a voice of the LORD in this world, you need to let go of your understanding, your logic, and go with God’s wisdom, God’s truth.  Did you know that your understanding and logic can easily become false information no matter how convinced you are about it?

Really, how long did the world believe that the earth was flat?  Those who believed in a flat earth even killed others who did not agree with them.  How many times have people killed those who do not agree with them throughout human history?  And how many times did what they believe change from what they originally believed?

Let me test your logic.  Please, answer this question the best you can.  Ten birds were sitting on a tree branch.  A hunter came and shot one bird down.  Now, how many birds are left of that branch.  The first response is usually Nine.  However, the answer would be None.  Let’s think about this.  How many birds do you think will stick around on that branch after one of them gets shot down with a loud gunshot?  Our logic tells us, ten minus one is nine.  However, the reality is None.

If you keep holding onto your logic, you cannot go with the LORD.  So, no matter how much you believe something to be true, you need to bear in mind that it can be wrong.  Or should I say, you can be wrong.  Yes, you can possibly be wrong.  If you are married to Mr. Wrong whose first name is Never, you are in trouble.  If you are married to Mrs. Right whose first name is Always, you are in for a ride.  Remember, nothing in this world holds the absolute truth except our God and what God has said.  Only our God Is Always Right and Never Wrong.

Today’s Scripture tells us, “The grass withers; the flower fades, but the Word of God will stand forever” (v. 8).  What does this mean?  “The Word of God will stand forever”?  It means, what God has said will not change.  Once God promises something, God will keep that promise to the end of time.  So, you don’t have to worry about God forgetting what God promised you or God will not keep God’s Word.  I’m telling you.  That will not happen.  God always keeps God’s Word.  You can trust in God and in God’s Word.

You can ask, “So, when Is Jesus coming back?  Apostle Paul thought that Jesus Was coming back in his lifetime.  Two thousand years had passed.  Jesus Is still not here.”  Well, here is the answer for you.  

With the LORD one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.  The LORD Is not slow about the promises the LORD made, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to come to repentance.  But the day of the LORD will come like a thief, (1 Peter 3:8-10a).

Jesus taking time to come back is for our benefits, to give us more time to be ready to go with the LORD.  However, this chance to be right with God will not last forever.  Because Jesus clearly told us that “the day of the LORD will come like a thief” (1 Peter 3:10a).  

So, do not waste your time doing something that God has not called you to do or doing something against what God has told us to do.  Be wise and do all you can to be right with the LORD and be a voice of the LORD in this world.  So that when Jesus comes back, Jesus would say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things.  I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your LORD” (Matthew 25:23).  Praise the LORD.  Amen.

December 3, 2023

Keep Awake

Mark 13: 24 – 37

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.  Advent is a special season in the Christian calendar.  The Season of Advent includes four weeks.  Advent means arrival.  During this season of Advent, we focus on Jesus’ arrival, coming back for the second time, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Birthday of Jesus, Christmas.  Advent is all about waiting for Jesus.  As we do with all the Christian seasons, the focus of this season is Jesus.

Many people, even Christians, do not know what Advent is.  Instead of waiting for Jesus to come back for the second time, people just stop at Christmas.  They anxiously wait for Christmas.  Almost the whole world waits for and celebrates Christmas in such elaborate ways with lights, decorations, and gifts.  Some people start decorating even before Thanksgiving.  I know a lady who prepares for Christmas the day after Christmas day.  

The businesses go above and beyond with fancy lights and decorations to draw the people in.  Why?  Because people spend more money during this season than any other time.  For businesses, the Season of Advent is all about money.  And for children, Christmas is all about Santa Clause because of gifts.  Isn’t it sad for parents?  You do all the shopping and wrapping gifts for your children, yet this old man with a white beard gets all the credit.

I’ll tell you a little bit about the history of Santa Clause.  You know Santa Clause is a stage name.  His real name is St. Nicholas.  Then how did St. Nicholas get the name Santa Clause?  It is his Dutch nickname, which is Sinter Klaas.  Sinter Klaas is a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas.  By 1840, the stores really promoted Santa Clause with special sections in their advertisements to encourage people to buy more gifts.  Because more gifts for people, means more money for them. 

In 1841, the very first live, life-size Santa Clause in a red suit showed up at a shopping mall in Philadelphia.  Literally thousands of children showed up to visit Santa Clause.  When Hollywood made “Mirale on 34 Street” in 1947 with Edmund Gwenn who played Kris Kringle, another name for St. Nicholas, the Santa Clause, the promotion for Santa Clause was over.  This movie was all about believing in Kris Kringle, the Santa Clause.

Many movies, animations, and children’s shows followed, promoting and strongly encouraging all the children to believe in Santa Clause because without Santa Clause, Christmas cannot exist.  Often those children’s shows would say, “Christmas is over because Santa Clause is missing.”  In those shows, everyone goes after Santa Clause to save him so that they can have Christmas again.  According to those shows, Santa Clause needs more saving than anybody else I know.  Even our mouse friend, Mickey Mouse had to save him.

Jesus and St. Nicholas are probably looking down from heaven either laughing or grieving.  I’m sure St. Nicholas is constantly apologizing to Jesus for taking over Christmas unintentionally by people.  Pray to God that we all know Jesus Is the true meaning, the reason for this glorious season.

I’m sure Jesus and St. Nicholas are good friends up in heaven.  However, Jesus wants us to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and no one else because Jesus Is the only One Who has the power to give us life in this life and in that life everlasting.  Jesus Is the focus of Christmas and Reason for this Season as Jesus Is for every season.  We will do our best to focus on our God and Saviour, Jesus.

As I mentioned, during Advent, we especially look forward to the arrival of Jesus coming back to us for the second time.  How many of you like to wait? I’m  For many people, waiting is not their favorite thing.  How we wait shows our character and what we really believe.  How we wait for the LORD is very important to our God.

We wait when there are reasons to wait.  We wait for Jesus to come back because we truly believe that Jesus will come back.  When we wait for something, we anticipate receiving something whether it is good or bad.  We wait for the LORD knowing how amazing that day will be for us.

In today’s Scripture Lesson, Jesus tells us to “keep alert” (v. 33) and to “Keep awake” (v. 37).  What does it mean to “Keep awake”?  You mean, do not sleep and stay awake like many teenagers do playing video games all night?  That will be silly.  Let me make it easier for you.  Those who “Keep awake” live their lives like Jesus will come back soon.  Those who do not “Keep awake” live their lives like Jesus will never come back.

Jesus wants us to live every day like we truly believe that Jesus will come back soon.  What will be the proper ways to live our lives if we do believe that Jesus will come back?  The way that will make our God happy.  What makes our God happy?  Our obedience to God’s Word makes God happy and feel love by us.  Keith Green is a preacher, song writer, and singer himself.  He put it so clearly in his song called, “To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice.”  It says,

To obey is better than sacrifice

I don’t need your money

I want your life

And I hear you say that I’M coming back soon

But you act like I’ll never return

Well you speak of grace and My love so sweet

How you thrive on milk, but reject My meat

And I can’t help weeping of how it will be

if you keep on ignoring My Words

Well you pray to prosper and succeed

But your flesh is something I just can’t feed

To obey is better than sacrifice

I want more than Sunday and Wednesday nights

Cause if you can’t come to ME every day

Then don’t bother coming at all

To obey is better than sacrifice

I want hearts of fire not your prayers of ice

And I’M coming quickly to give back to you

According to what you have done

According to what you have done

According to what you have done

This song says it all.  “To obey is better than sacrifice” is coming directly from the Bible in First Samuel, chapter 15.  God told Saul, the first king of Israel to lead the army of the LORD to do something very specifically saying,

I will punish the Amelakites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.  Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them.  Do not spare them, put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys” (vv. 2-3).

God has called the holy war on them.  Saul had no problem killing all the people.  However, the soldiers wanted to keep those good-looking animals for themselves.  Wanting to be accepted and loved by people, Saul purposely disobeyed God and allowed his army to disobey God by keeping those animals alive for themselves.

When the prophet Samuel questioned Saul about his rebellion against God by intentionally disobeying God’s direct command, instead of asking for forgiveness, Saul said, “But I did obey the LORD…I went on the mission the LORD assigned me.  I completely destroyed the Amalekites…The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal” (1 Samuel 15:20-21).

What Saul said was that he disobeyed God to make God happy.  He allowed his army to keep all the best animals to sacrifice them to the LORD.  Did he sacrifice all the animals he captured from his enemy’s side?  No.  They sacrificed a few and kept many for themselves.  No matter how good and godly your actions look before the people, if that is not what God desires from you or if it goes against what God called you to do, it is no good for the LORD.  The Bible called it evil.

Prophet Samuel said to Saul, “Why did you not obey the LORD?  Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?” (1 Samuel 15:19).  You may say, “But Saul was making sacrifices to the LORD.  How can that be bad?”  Once again, the Bible says,

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.  Because you have rejected the Word of the LORD, the LORD has rejected you as king” (1 Samuel 15: 22-23).

With disobedient Saul, God said, “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from ME and has not carried out My instructions” (1 Samuel 15:11).  God regretted over Saul because of his disobedience.  See how God takes our disobedience so Personally and grieves over it?  I’m telling you.  No matter how wonderful, religious, and sacrificial your behaviors look to people, if your deeds do not go with what God desires, it is a rebellion against God.  It is considered evil to our God.

This is why we have to make sure that we are right with the LORD before we do anything in the Name of the LORD.  You really do not want God to regret about you, but to love you, to feel love from you and say that you are a person “after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14).  “A person after God’s own heart” means to be committed to God’s ways and be obedient to God’s Word.  This is what God said about David.  This is why David’s name means, “Beloved.” 

Because of Saul’s disobedience, his kingdom was taken away from him.  Saul and his sons, “Jonathan, Abinadad, and Malki-Shua” were all killed by Philistines in one day (1 Samuel 31:1).  But to David, God said, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before ME; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).  Jesus our LORD and God carried on that throne eternally.

Let us not be rejected by our God, but accepted and celebrated by our God by being completely obedient to God’s Word even though it means to be rejected by this world.  Let us not ignore God’s Word and God’s ways even though they go against our ways and our desires.  Let us make God’s desires our desires.  Let us give God more than money and more than Sundays.  God wants our every day.  Let us live like our LORD Jesus is truly going to return to take us home to that Everlasting Life.

Let our walks with God be more than sacrifices.  Let us lift up to the LORD the “hearts of fire not your prayers of ice.”  Prayers of ice are the prayers being lifted up by obligations.  Praying is not an obligation but a privilege, a gift from the LORD.  You are given the power to communicate with the Almighty God directly in person.  

God promised throughout the Bible promising us “To give back to you according to what you have done” (Revelation 22:12, Galatians 6:7, Colossians 3:25, Job 4:8, Isaiah 3:11,…).  Let us force God to bless us by giving God reasons to bless us more so that you will be a blessing to others.  Being a blessing to others is a part of God’s great blessings as God promised to Abraham, “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

Go out and be blessings to everyone you meet.  And do all you can to make God happy, feeling loved from you through your life of obedience to God’s Word every day.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

November 12, 2023

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

Joshua 24: 1 – 3a, 14 – 25

Last Sunday, we talked about Joshua becoming a leader of Israel after Moses.  Today, Joshua is an old man saying Goodbye to the Israelites.  This is the last thing Joshua tells the Israelites before he dies “at the age of a hundred and ten” (v. 29).  These are his last words before he takes his last breath.  Imagine giving the last words to your loved ones, the last thing they will remember about you.

What did Jesus do before Jesus Was captured to be crucified?  The very last thing Jesus wanted to teach the disciples was servitude.  Jesus got up and washed the feet of the disciples.  The very last and important lesson Jesus taught them was how to have the attitude of a servant to truly become a servant of the LORD.

At your last hour, last minutes, before you go home to the LORD, I don’t know what you would say to your loved ones.  Here is what Joshua said to his people that he led into the Promised Land.  Joshua demands people to decide, to make a decision to keep, to follow for the rest of their lives.  Joshua said,

Now, therefore, revere the LORD and serve the LORD in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the regions beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. (vv. 14-15)

Joshua told them to “choose this day whom you will serve” (v. 15).  He told them the choice he made for himself and for his household.  He said, “but as for me and for my household, we will serve the LORD” (v. 15).

Did you know that such commitment is what God desired from Israel, God’s holy nation?  Israel’s relationship with God is based on a covenant loyalty.  What is the very first command of the Ten Commandments?  “You shall have no other gods before ME” (Exodus 20:3).  When God made a covenant with Israelites, God expected them to Worship God and no one else.  

They freely made that decision saying, “We will serve the LORD…The LORD our God we will serve and our God we will obey” (v. 21, 24).  Joshua makes it very clear to people telling them, “The LORD Is a jealous God” (v. 19).  He told the people exactly what will happen if they disobey God.  He said, “[This jealous God] will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.  If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then the LORD will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” (v. 20)

They have seen and known what God can do.  They have seen a series of miracles God performed moving heaven and earth to bring Israelites out of the life of slavery from Egypt.  They walked on dried ground through the Red Sea and the Jordan River.  They have drunk the water which God brought out of the rock.  They have eaten manna, the heavenly bread falling from heaven, and have eaten meat God gave them through sending quails in their direction.

They have seen what happened to the nations and people who would not listen to God.  They also have seen what happens to those who obey God’s commands.  They cannot say that they did not know because God has made everything very clear to them.  

I have not personally walked on dried ground through the sea or the river.  I have not eaten the manna fallen from heaven.  However, I have experienced and seen God at work more than enough to know that I must trust and obey my God.  I cannot deny my God even if I try.  We all know our God commands us to obey God’s commands.

Then how does this obedience work?  In order to obey God’s commands properly, we must know what God Is telling us to obey.  We must know God’s Word, the Bible.  To know God’s Word, you have to read it first.  How often do you read the Bible?  It is so easy to read the Bible these days.  You don’t even have to have a Bible to read.  You can easily download the Bible into your phone and just listen to it while you drive or even while you cook.  There is no excuse for not reading the Bible.

If you truly want to receive all God’s blessings promised to those who obey, you need to learn to do extra.  Remember I said the act of obedience to God’s Word is your expression of love for God.  And the level of your obedience to God shows the level of your love for God.  When God blesses those who obey God, God Is blessing those who love God.  God blesses those who show, express deep love for the LORD.

In order to express your love to someone, you must do it the way it works for that person.  Let’s say that David expressed his love for me in such beautiful words when we first met, which he did.  However, how would it have worked if I didn’t speak English?  In that case, he would have to find some other ways that I can understand his love for me.  Actually, he had to do that for my parents.  He went out of his way to study Korean manners to show my parents that he respects them.  Because of his love for me, he worked extra hard to get approval and blessings from my parents.  That was a huge expression of his love for me.

We must do the same to our God.  When you obey to make our God happy, you have to do it the way it works for God, which means to obey according to God’s Word.  Since our God Is the Ultimate God Who makes decisions on what is good and what is not.  The good that you do must go with what God calls good.  If the good you do goes against what God calls good according to the Bible, then the good you do does not work for our God.

You cannot decide what is good or bad away from what God says.  Our Bible Study groups have been studying the Book of Judges for months now.  More than half of the book, the theme is “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD” (3:7,12. 4:3, 6:1).  People can say all they want that they are doing whatever for the LORD.  However, if such deeds are not right in “the eyes of the LORD,” then it is no good to our God.  Everything you do and say must be acceptable to our God as righteousness.  God makes the decisions and not you of what is good or bad.

You can be saying the most perfect godly things, but if they are not righteousness “in the eyes of the LORD,” then they are no good to God.  For example, when Mary poured the whole jar of “an expensive perfume” on Jesus, what did Judas Iscariot say (John 12:3)?  Judas Iscariot said, “What a waste!  Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?  It was worth a year’s wages” (John 12:5).

Doesn’t Judas sound righteous even more than Jesus Who allowed her to use it on Jesus alone?  We could have easily agreed with Judas and felt justified.  However, we worship God Who sees our hearts.  The Bible tells us, “Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief, as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).  Were his words of concerns for the poor accepted to our God?  No!  Not at all!

I knew a lady in our neighborhood who loved God more than anyone else in this world.  No one could compete with her when it comes to loving God.  However, her love for God stopped with her words.  It didn’t go any further.  She did not go to Church because all Christians are Hypocrites to her.  Then what will she be as a Christian?  Your obedience and love for the LORD must be acceptable to our God.

What is the best way to find out what you or anyone else is doing is truly acceptable to our God?  Go to the Bible.  See what God’s Word says.  If what you or anyone else is doing goes with the Word of God, then yes, it is pleasing and acceptable to our God.  If what has been done does not go with God’s Word and in fact, it goes against the Bible, then such deed cannot be acceptable to our God.

When you live the life of obedience, you must bear fruit.  In order to bear fruit, you have to be willing to do extra work.  I planted a number of fruit bearing trees in my parents’ yards.  Not to lose the fruit, I had to fight against hundreds and thousands of Japanese Beetles most of the year.  It started in the spring and did not end until the cold winds started to blow.  It takes extra work to live a fruit bearing life that is acceptable to our God.

You must know God’s Word and live it.  The prophet Elijah said it after his match with Baal’s followers at the Mt. Carmel, “Once you make a commitment, you need to follow up with it” (1 Kings 18:23).  Your words are no good if your deeds do not follow as James said, “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17).  In other words, Christians have to be more than Sunday Worshipers.

Also, the work which does not bear fruit is no good either.  According to Jesus, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Therefore, by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:19-20).  According to Jesus, not all the religious people are acceptable to God as did with Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes.  Jesus also said, “Not everyone who says to ME, ‘LORD, LORD,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but one who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

In this world, following obediently to our God is a challenge.  What God desires and what the world demands are so very different.  This world only looks at outward things.  This world is so focused on numbers.  You must have high numbers on everything, on your bank account, how many followers you have, etc.  However, our God looks into our hearts.  

You can become the most successful person with a lot of favorable results in your life, but still not be acceptable to our God.  You can become an absolute failure, yet still be acceptable to our God as a successfully faithful person.  This really calls for spiritual discernment.  Such discernment and understanding can be given only to the ones who are rooted in their relationship with God through God’s Word.  

People without the Spirit of the LORD cannot understand this.  The Bible tells us, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they discerned only through the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The Bible also tells us, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19).

The Word of God continues:

For since in the Wisdom of God the World through its wisdom did not know the LORD, God Was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the Wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:21-25)

Do not be like those who put one foot in the Kingdom of God and the other foot in the world.  Do not look to be accepted by the world as being successful but to be accepted by our God as righteousness.  Instead of seeking approval from the world, become an example to the world to show the world how to live a life that is obedient to God’s Word.  Remember, even though you live in the world, you are not of the world.

Jesus said it very clearly, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated ME before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).  You cannot claim to follow Jesus and look for the acceptance of the world.  They go against each other.  And remember, the Gospel of Jesus is God’s Word, not social justice.

Make a decision of where you are standing in this world, with the LORD or with the world.  If you have chosen the LORD, you cannot live like everyone else in this world.  You must live by the Word of God even though you may be facing rejections and even hatred from the world.  No matter what the world says or does, no matter what is acceptable and popular in this world, you must live by the Word of God, the Bible.

Things usually get worse before they get better.  Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24-26).  Won’t that be nice to receive all the blessings God promised to those who obey as soon as we obey?  Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Sometimes, it takes a long time to be able to see the results of our deeds.  Many times, you have to be nice to a mean person for a long, long time before that person starts to be nice to you.  Even though you may not see the results of your obedience for a long time, do not give up.  Never give up.  Persevere!  As the Bible tells us, “Seek the LORD and God’s strength; seek God’s presence continually!” (1 Chronicles 16:11).  God will not deny you.

Hold onto God.  Hold onto God’s Word continually no matter what you see happening or what is being said to you.  Make sure that you are right with God in everything you do and say.  Make sure all your thoughts, deeds, and words are acceptable to our God.  Then you cannot help yourself but to bear godly fruit and to be blessed.

When God blesses you, it will not be done in secret.  The Bible tells us that God will “prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23:5).  When God prepares a table for you “in the presence of [your] enemies,” they will have such regrets thinking, “I should have been nicer to that person.”  

You continue to “trust in the LORD” and continue to “do good” (Psalm 37:3).  Then “taste and see that the LORD Is good” because “blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD” (Psalm 34:8).  Praise the LORD!  Amen!

November 5, 2023

Dipped in the Water

Joshua 3: 7 – 17

In today’s Scripture Lesson, Moses has gone home to the LORD.  Joshua is leading Israelites, the people of the LORD, towards the promised land.  When God brought Israelites out of the life of slavery in Egypt, God promised to bring them to “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8).  It means this promised land is a great land.  Getting out of Egypt was not only to escape from the life of slavery and misery, but also to enter the promised land “flowing with milk and honey.”

It is so nice to have a wonderful goal.  Because of our goals, we willingly endure hardships.  Students work hard looking forward to the day they will receive a diploma.  Many people endure through every day of hard work to receive a paycheck to make a good living.  Athletes have worked so hard for many years to receive a gold medal.  With wonderful, positive goals, people can and will endure through many difficult things.

However, when we take a journey of some sort, we must go through the middle part before we arrive at that final place.  In order for Israelites to reach the promised land, they had to journey through the wilderness for 40 years.  Forty years represent a whole generation here.  Before they arrived at the promised land in, they had to be equipped to fight many battles.  More than anything, they had to really learn to trust in their God.

When you walk through the wilderness, you will face all kinds of challenges.  It is given.  We cannot escape from those challenges.  Sometimes, those challenges seem to be bigger than life.  For such challenges, we cannot conquer them without God’s help.  Only God can solve God size problems.  Of course, God wants to use us and work through us to conquer those challenges.  To come out victorious, we must trust God completely through it all.

The leaders of God’s people play a very important part in leading God’s people to the way God Is calling them to go.  The way our God works with God’s servants is very different from the way of the masters in this world.  The worldly masters would send their servants out expecting the servants to do the work on their own, then come back and report it to their masters.  Our God would never send us out to do the work on our own.

In today’s Scripture Lesson, God tells Joshua, who became the leader of Israel after Moses,  “I will be with you as I Was with Moses” (v. 7).  God Was with Moses the whole time Moses led Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness.  Now, God Is promising Joshua that God will be with him as well.  When you serve the LORD, you can be sure that God Is and always will be with you.  In response, you must obey God and do everything God tells you to do.

Here, God told Joshua to “command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan’” (v. 8).  Did you hear that?  Tell them to “stand still in the Jordan,” to stand in the water.  You mean without taking off shoes while holding that heavy Ark of the LORD?  As a leader, you must command people to obey God even if it means to get their feet wet and do something uncomfortable.  

Nobody wants to be uncomfortable.  Getting feet wet is not always a pleasant thing.  That will upset some people.  However, we must do whatever God tells us to do to please God.  As it was on our bulletin last Sunday, “We are not trying to please people but God, Who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).  Even though it may get some people mad, we must command people to obey God.  

The Bible tells us, “We speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel.”  The leaders must speak the truth, which is given to us through the Gospel, God’s Word, the Bible.  Leaders and teachers who teach the followers what is not in the Bible or against the Bible are the false teachers.  The Bible calls them many names such as the false prophets (Matthew 24:24), the hypocrites (Matthew 23:13, 15, 23, 27, 29), the blind guides (Matthew 23:16), the blind fools (Matthew 23:17), ferocious wolves (Matthew 7:15), savage wolves (Acts 20:29), antichrist (1 John 4:3), and so on.

When God places you in a leadership over God’s people, you are commanded to obey God and to lead people to obey God even though people may not like you and even get mad at you.  You cannot teach them anything but what is in the Bible, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  You have no other choices, or you will not be God’s servant.  You do not want a spiritual leader who is not God’s servant. 

Speaking the Truth according to God’s Word is so very important to God and to everyone.  This is what God said in Deuteronomy, “But a prophet who presumes to speak in My Name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the Name of other gods, is to be put to death” (18:20).  Speaking God’s Word is a serious business.  

I am no fool.  I will only preach God’s Word and nothing else.  How you receive it is up to you.  But I will continue to speak what God said in the Bible.  God said, “My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations” (Ezekiel 13:9).  I do not want God’s hand to be against me.  To gain God’s favor and to be on God’s side is so much more important than to receive the popularity of the people.

The Bible warns us about the time “when people will not endure sound teaching,” but only want to hear “what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3).  The goal of the devil working through all those false teachers is to keep you away from that Eternal Life with the LORD and to lock you up in that everlasting death with all the followers of satan.  

Don’t lose your place in Heaven by following the false teachers.  You remain wise in the eyes of the LORD.  Discern what you hear and always check to see what you hear goes with the Word of God.  Make sure you are on God’s side not against God through disobedience.

God commanded Joshua to say “to the Israelites,” “Draw near and hear the Words of the LORD your God” (v.8).  God wants us to listen to God.  God wants to be heard by us.  God’s leaders better know the Word of the LORD to tell God’s people what God says.  Constantly pray for me that I will only speak the Word of the LORD.

Why do you think God demands us to listen to God’s Word, obey God’s Word, and even do things that are uncomfortable to us like getting our feet wet?  Doesn’t God have all the power to do all things without getting our feet wet?  Why can’t God just part the river for the Israelites to walk through it to the other side while they sit on the dry ground and watch?

Well, here is the reason why.  God said, “By this you shall know that among you Is the Living God Who without fail will drive out from you” all your enemies who oppose you (v. 10).  God will give you victory when you don’t have the power, the weapons, or the skills to fight against your enemies.  God will fight for you.  You simply have to listen, trust, and obey our God.

The miracles always follow after the acts of obedience to God.  Whatever God Is telling you to do may sound ridiculous, not logical, and does not make sense at all.  However, miracles will follow when you obey.  

Remember Naaman, who was a “commander of the army of the king of Aram” (2 Kings 5:1)?  “He had leprosy” which could not be cured.  When he came to see Elisha, the prophet of the LORD, Elisha told Naaman to “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed” (2 Kings 5:10).  At first, Naaman was mad and was going to just go home.  

However, by the encouragement of his servants, he reluctantly obeyed.  What happened when Naaman obeyed?  “His flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy” (2 Kings 5:14).  Naaman really did not believe that the water of the Jordan river had any power to heal him from his skin condition.  He was right.  The Jordan river does not have such power.  However, God’s power was released through Naaman’s body when he obeyed.  I’m telling you.  God’s power gets released when we obey God.

I’ll tell you a true story which happened 20 years ago (Google).  Mike Pilavachi was a pastor serving “at Soul Survivor Church in Watford,” “not far from London, England.”  “A young songwriter named Matt Redman was a worship leader” at this Church.  They were promoters of Contemporary Worship.  They were fully prepared for such ministry with a Worship leader, right instruments, microphones, and sound system.  Younger crowds were gathering at this Church.  Their ministry was growing.

However, the Pastor Pilavachi discerned that “something was missing.”  This is what Redman, the Worship leader said,

“There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,” he recalls.  “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices.  His point was that we’d lost our way in Worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”

Let’s think this through.  Here is a Church growing tremendously and attracting young people.  Isn’t that what many Churches want?  Can you imagine that happening here at Bermuda Hundred?  Obviously, this modern Contemporary Christian music is what is bringing those young people to Church.  In the midst of what we call a successful ministry, this pastor decided to strip everything away, whatever is contributing to this growth.  Does this make any sense to you?

Can you imagine that happening at this Church here?  Let’s say that our Church is growing, and young families are coming.  Then I step in and say, “We may be growing in numbers, but we are not being God-centered.  This is no good if we are not doing it right in the eyes of the LORD.  Therefore, we will stop using all those fancy instruments and stuff and just focus on Worshiping God with our hearts and voices only.”

I can see some people getting angry at me.  There will be many discussions on how to get rid of this pastor because she is a stumbling block to our ministry.  I’ll be called a devil working against God’s ministry.  Realistically, many Churches will react this way.  I must tell you.  If that is what God puts in my heart to lead you, that is what I have to tell you even though it will make me the most unpopular pastor of all.

Well, this is what Rev. Pilavachi did.  And the Church went along with him.  That popular Worship Service suddenly became quiet and awkward, especially for younger crowds.  There were “no drums, no guitars, no microphones,” “no sound system,” and no Worship leader.  It had to be extra awkward and offensive for Redman, the Worship leader.

People were confused and did not know what to do.  Redman said that the season of calling to refocus on God helped “build his character and identity as the Worship leader he is today.”  This is a part of his testimony:

That made me ask some questions.  What are my motives when I’m up there on the stage?  Am I doing this as a Service, or am I trying to build my own little thing?  It was a great moment for me, as a musician and as a Worshiper, to refocus…(from BBC interview).

Rev. Pilavachi asked the congregations, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”  He is not just talking about money here.  He is asking, “Where is your heart when you Worship the LORD?”  

Gradually they reintroduced the instruments.  But not only did the congregation encounter God in a new way, and not only did they understand more deeply the heart God calls us to have in Worship, the song Heart of Worship was born out of that time.

This is what it says:

When the music fades, 

all is stripped away, 

and I simply come.

Longing just to bring 

something that’s of worth, 

that will bless your heart.

I’ll bring You more than a song, 

for a song in itself 

is not what You have required.

You search much deeper within 

through the ways things appear.

You’re looking into my heart.

King of endless worth. 

No one could express

how much You deserve.

Though I’m weak and poor, 

all I have is Yours, 

every single breath.

I’m coming back to the heart of Worship, 

and it’s all about You.

It’s all about You, Jesus.

I’m sorry, LORD, for the thing I’ve made it

when it’s all about You.

It’s all about You, Jesus.

If God calls you to let go of things, you just let them go.  If God calls you to strip everything that makes you successful, then obey that, too.  Give God everything that God longs from you.  Then see what God will do in and through your life.  

When Israelites obeyed God’s commands and those leaders got their feet wet in that Jordan river, “the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap” (v. 16).  All “the waters flowing” “were wholly cut off” so that all the people could cross over to the other side on dry ground (v. 16).

I’m telling you.  When you obey God’s commands, God’s power gets released through your life.  When God commands you to obey, God Is making room for God’s miracles.  I pray that you will trust in God so completely that you would dare to obey God in all situations.  With the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, you will not look at the circumstances or earthly advice, but only focus on God and what God tells us.  

May your life be filled with God’s miracles because you obey God’s Word.  May the world learn to fear God and Worship God because they see the Living and Almighty God living in you.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

October 22, 2023

Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

Matthew 6: 24 – 33

LORD, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight.  LORD, speak through me that I may speak to Your people that they may truly hear, understand, and live out Your Word.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

Today’s Scripture lesson comes from the Gospel Matthew chapter six.  This is the very lesson which Jesus taught us.  Jesus told us to “seek first God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness,” then all other things will be provided.  With our God, this is possible.  In our faith in God, this makes perfect sense.  However, when you look at this through the eyes of the world, this absolutely makes no sense.  

To the world, this can be permission to be lazy and do nothing.  They can so easily take this teaching as to seek after God’s kingdom then do nothing, because God will provide everything.  What a great idea?  Pray, read the Bible, and go to Church, then do nothing.  We don’t have to do anything because God will provide everything.  I hope we all know this is not what Jesus Is talking about here.

When Jesus said, “But seek first God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (v. 33), Jesus meant it.  Before you do anything, you must make sure that you are right with God first.  You cannot be a Christian and not have the right relationship with God first.  Jesus clearly said, “seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness,” not second, not third, but first.  This is a Must for God’s people.

Then Jesus said, “and all these things will be given to you as well” (v. 33).  What does this mean?  Does this mean all the things we need will drop down from heaven on our laps, like manna in the desert?  Let me help you to understand this.  Remember, God blesses us with material things as well as many other things.

God may not drop money from heaven for you.  However, God Is the One Who gives you life, health, and the ability to work and make a living.  If God does not give you life, you will not have one to live.  You make sure you are right with God first by seeking “first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness” (v. 33).  Then God will take care of the rest by giving you the strength, knowledge, abilities, and opportunities to do what needs to be done.  The Bible tells us, “I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).  If you consistently keep God first in your life, you can only succeed.

I’m sure you know that success will not happen overnight.  You must be persistent.  Pastor Joyce Meyer is living a comfortable life where she is financially secure and she generously helps many, many people.  However, her lifestyle was not always like this.  God told her to quit her good paying job to focus on studying the Bible.  For many, many years, she went to yard sales and thrift stores to look for her children’s shoes and clothes.

She said they lacked $40 every month no matter how they calculated for many years.  She would complain to her husband saying, “Do something.”.  Her husband’s response was always the same.  “We tithe.  We give and try to live as obediently to God as possible.  We did all we could.  We just have to leave it to God to take care of the rest.”  After many years of struggling, they are in a place where they are comfortable and even able to help others.

It would be so nice if we could see the results of our good works in the Name of the LORD right away.  “LORD, You Are the first in my life no matter what happens.  Please, help me to have a great day.”  We may sincerely pray this to God every day.  Unfortunately, we do not always have a great day.  Sometimes, we face challenges more than those who do not seek after God first.  That can be a huge discouragement.  However, the key is not to give up.  

Never give up no matter how discouraged you may become and no matter how long it takes for you to see good results.  The Bible tells us, “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:7).  Therefore, Putting God first in your life is not enough.  You must KEEP God first consistently in your life every day.  You will experience a day when God rewards you for your faithfulness.  We just don’t know when that day will be.

I just heard an amazing story from another pastor during our weekly prayer meeting.  It just happened in Minnesota.  They just had a Worship Service to praise God and to celebrate what God has done.  There is a young missionary couple who are in their twenties.  Minnesota has this system where the government gives a homeless single mother a place to live for two years while she is pregnant with a baby.  Once a child becomes over one year old, she loses that home.

There is this single mother who is heavily into drugs.  She became pregnant to have a place to live.  When her daughter became over one year old, she was going to lose her place soon after that.  So, she became pregnant again.  No one knows who those children’s fathers are.  When her first child became too old, like two years old, that child was no good to her.  So, she gave her daughter up to a foster home.  

This young missionary couple knew about this woman’s situation.  So, they went through a proper system to accept that little girl into their home to become foster parents.  It took awhile, but they were able to take her into their home.  They wanted to adopt this girl, but they needed to have permission from her biological mother.  Her mother would not sign the paper.

This two-year-old girl was so angry and out of control.  She would eat until she got sick and threw up.  When this couple tried to control her eating, she would hide food in her room everywhere.  Remember that this girl is only two years old.  This showed that this girl was neglected and did not eat every day.  She probably ate all she could whenever she was given some food, knowing that she has to go hungry for a while.  While this girl stayed with this couple, they loved her so much and took care of her as best as they could.  

Meanwhile, this girl’s mom got pregnant again and gave away her second child to a foster home once the second child became two years old.  The missionary couple once again did all they could to take in the second child.  The first child’s behavior became somewhat under control and peaceful.  The second child was as violent and troublesome as the first one was.  Then the pandemic hit.  

During the pandemic, the Minnesota government decided to pay a certain amount of money to all parents per child they have every month.  Suddenly, these children’s biological mother needed her children to receive money from the government every month.  So, she went to court and took both children away from the young missionary couple.  This missionary couple was totally heartbroken.  More than anything, they were hurting so much to know how those children would be treated while they stayed with their biological mom.

The missionary couple did not see those children during the course of the pandemic.  After giving birth to her third child, the biological mom got herself in trouble.  She was arrested and put into prison.  So, all three children were sent to three different foster homes.  The missionary couple did their best to gather all three children under their protection.  It took them three months to find out where they were.  They spent a year and a half bringing them home again.

The children’s behaviors were totally out of control.  The missionary couple did all they could in their power to love them and to take care of them.  They sent the children to counseling and to any professional help these children could receive.  It took them forever, but they were able to finally adopt those three children.  The children’s mom was still in prison.  The court decided their mom was not qualified to raise those children.

My pastor friend went to the courtroom to support the missionary couple and the children as they worked toward adoption for those children.  He said there were four social workers to witness the situation.  One social worker stood up and said, “I am an atheist.  I don’t believe in God or anything.  But I have never seen anyone who consistently commits themselves to loving children such as these for this long.  I have never seen such people like these in my entire career as a social worker.  When I see them, I’m thinking God must be there to be able to love these children like the way they do.”

It took that missionary couple so many years to claim those children.  Those children were not even the best behaving, most healthy, or intelligent children.  Those children were abused, neglected, hurt, broken, and even violent as much as they could possibly be.  This young couple could have tried to have children of their own.  However, they spent most of their twenties, the prime of their lifetime, saving the most troublesome children, not one, not two, but all three of them.

The testimony of the atheist social worker was another miracle of its own.  Even though he has no interest in learning about God or believing in God, he had to admit that God does exist because of this young missionary couple’s devotion to those three children.  He realized that no human being could possibly love like this couple.  It had to be God.  They put Christ very first in their lives by loving those children with everything they had.  Their lifestyle, faithfulness, and commitment to God through their sacrificial love to these children was a living testimony to that social worker and to everyone who watched them.

As St. Francis of Assisi said, “When you preach the Gospel, use words only if you have to.”  St. Francis is saying here, the Gospel of Jesus Christ needs to be shown through your life even before you speak of it.  Your lifestyle needs to show your love and devotion to God before the world.  God’s Word needs to be spoken through your life even before you start talking about it.

In order to do that, you need to know God’s Word.  How would you live out God’s Word if you do not know it?  You need to know God’s Word first.  No matter how God speaks to you, be ready to listen without complaints or hesitation.  Be ready to go with God in whichever way God leads you.

As the Bible tells us, “Put on the full armor of God, so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11).  As you become closer to God and keep God first in your life every day, the devil will get even crazier and come at you with full force.  Let’s see how Jesus feels about those who put the world before our God.  

After Peter confessed that Jesus Is “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16).  Jesus blessed Peter saying, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah” (Matthew 16:17).  This is where Simon received the name, Peter, and Jesus told him that “on this rock I will build My Church” (Matthew 16:18).  What an honor that is.  Then Jesus explained to all disciples that Jesus must suffer and die on the cross and “be raised to life” in three days (Matthew 16:21).

Then Peter dared to rebuke Jesus saying, “Never, LORD!  This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22).  This is where Jesus rebuked Peter saying, “Get behind ME, satan!  You are a stumbling block to ME” (Matthew 16:23).  Listen to the reason why Jesus said this to Peter.  “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”  Peter, who just received an awesome praise from Jesus was called, “satan” because Peter allowed his mind to be filled with worldly concerns and not God’s.

Even though I may have achieved many great things in the Name of the LORD, if I allow my mind to be filled with earthly concerns and God gets pushed to the side, I am no good to God but will become a stumbling block to Jesus and to other believers.  This is why Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind ME, satan” (Matthew 16:23).  I’m sure no one wants to be called, “satan” by Jesus but to be called, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23).

Remember, “New level, new devil.”  No matter how hard the devil tries to take your mind away from our God, you must remember that our God Is more powerful and cling to our God.  Because our LORD Jesus already has won the battle.  You have nothing to fear.  Our God Is so much more powerful than anything in this world.  

Some told me, “I want to listen to God and do what God tells me to do, but I don’t know what God Is saying to me.”  Are you struggling with this as well?  This is what you need to do.  If you don’t know how to listen to God or God has not spoken to you lately, then just do what you know to do according to the Bible.  What is the kind of lifestyle Jesus told us to live?  “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).  Be a good neighbor to others.

Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and said, “Now that I, your LORD and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).  Jesus also said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15).  What are the fruits of the Spirit?  They are “love, joy, peace, patience/forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).  Are you showing the fruit of the Spirit in all you do and say? 

Jesus did not keep things secret.  Jesus plainly told us and showed us what we need to do and how we need to live our lives.  It’s all written in the Bible.  Study the Bible and know God’s Word.  If God is not speaking to you and stays silent, just do what you know to do according to God’s Word, the Bible.  There is plenty to do.

Jesus said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17).  See how Jesus Is calling us to do what Jesus has taught us to do, then promised blessings to those who obey?  Trust in the Words of Jesus then just obey them.

Jesus said, “Anyone who loves ME will obey My teaching” (John 14:23).  In other words, “Your obedience will be the result of your love for Jesus.”  Also, “The level of your obedience to God’s Word will show the level of your love for Jesus.”  Do all you can to love the LORD through your obedience to God’s Word.  

What did Jesus say to us through today’s Scripture Lesson?  “Seek first God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (v. 33).  Do first what Jesus told us to do, then wait and see what God will do for you.  As the Bible tells us, “Trust in the LORD and do good” (Psalm 37:3).  Continue to “trust in the LORD” no matter what happens and continue to “do good” as our LORD Jesus told us, then see how God fulfills what God promised in the Bible through your life.

As God said in the Bible, God will “prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  [God] anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5).  When God blesses you, everyone around you, including your enemies will see and be amazed.  Just seeing the blessings God has for you will be a witness of the Living God Who lives and works in and through your life to the world.  

So, continue to keep God first, be obedient to God’s Word and do good, and amaze the world through the blessings God gives you.  You and the world will truly, “Taste and see that the LORD Is Good” (Psalm 34:8).  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

October 15, 2023

Many are Called, But Few are Chosen

(The Parable of Talents)

Matthew 25: 14 – 30

Today’s Scripture Lesson is one of Jesus’ famous Parable of Talents.  The talents represent gifts from the LORD.  They are totally free gifts from our God to you.  Whether those gifts are the amount of money you have, artistic talents you have, some special skills for important jobs, cooking good meals, or whatever it is, God has trusted you with those talents, the gifts to use according to God’s purpose, God’s will.

I honestly did not understand this parable as a young person in the past.  When I heard this story, my first reaction was jealousy of the unfairness of the master for giving each servant different amounts of gifts.  I normally associated myself with the one who received the least, so I was upset for the servant who received the least.  I thought that servant may have hidden his talent because he was upset about receiving so little.  However, God taught me many things through this story over the years. Praise the LORD!

Jesus said everyone received whatever fits their own abilities.  Jesus said those servants received talents “each according to one’s ability” (v. 15).  The Bible tells us, “God Is faithful; God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able” (1 Corinthians 10:13).  In God’s mercy and grace, God will not give us more than what we can handle.  Therefore, each servant received different gifts.

Jesus said, “After a long time, the master of those servants returned” (v. 19).  According to Jesus, this master was gone for a long time.  This means the servants had plenty of time to make something out of the gifts which their master had given them in their lives long before the master came back.  This parable speaks the importance of doing what you should do, manage what God has given you, what God has called you to do now instead of putting it off and losing the chance.

God has given us many different talents and gifts according to our abilities.  There is no point of being jealous over someone else’s gifts.  They have received whatever God saw fit for their lives.  You should always be grateful for what God has given you and to others instead of being envious of what others have.  If God gives you something that is beyond you, it means you have to work extra, extra hard to make yourself qualify for such responsibilities that come with the gifts.

Also, you should not be envious of what others have if you are not willing to do the work they did to get it.  For example, how long do you think Erin and Barbara practiced to be as good as they are at what they do?  It did not happen overnight.  I can tell you that.  While you were sleeping or relaxing, they practiced for many, many hours for many, many years, I’m sure.  

Did you know that God gives others special gifts for you to enjoy them?  Erin and Barbara spent numerous hours studying and practicing the gifts which God has given them.  Now, you get to enjoy their talents.  So, praise the LORD for their talents.  You did not have to do any work, yet you get to enjoy their talents.  

This is the fact.  You cannot say that God has not given me any talents.  Because everyone has something.  Once again, those talents can be many things such as musical or artistic talents, ability to make money, cooking, sewing, cutting hair, ability to drive, pray, talk, build the house, wood work, making cars, etc.  Everyone has something.  And everyone does not have something.  Absolutely no one has everything.  Everyone has something and everyone does not have something.   

Praise the LORD that we didn’t all receive the same thing.  If everyone has one talent to cook Mac and Cheese day and night, you will get sick of it.  Focus on what God has given to you.  And make the best out of what God has given you.  No point in comparing what you have with what somebody else has.

Remember, you will be accountable for your own life before God, not anyone else’s.  God Is going to ask you what you have done with what God has given you, not for Peter, Sam, Lucy, or for anyone else.  Everyone else has to stand before God and answer to God for themselves.  Focus on what God Is calling you to do with what God has given you.

Jesus said, “For many are invited/called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).  You all have been called by God.  That is why you are here.  You don’t have to be a pastor to be called by God.  However, who are the chosen ones?  The ones who respond to God’s calling with obedience are the chosen ones.

A chunk of clay can be used by a potter.  However, if the clay refuses to be moldable and to go with what the potter desires, that clay will be no good to the potter.  It will be thrown into the street where strangers and animals will step on them as they walk by.  You must willingly go with the potter’s way, according to the potter's desires in order to be chosen to become an extraordinary piece of art.

The Book of James said, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without work is dead” (James 2:26).  What does this mean?  It means that your faith in our God needs to be shown through good works in obedience to God’s Word.  Faith which does not accompany good works according to God is no good.  It is necessary to do good works to convince God of your faith in God.  Your faith needs to be followed by good works.

We must understand that we do not work to receive salvation.  We already have been saved in the Name of our LORD Jesus Christ.  We work because we have been saved.  Since you have now become a new creation in Christ, you can no longer live the way you used to live when you did not know Jesus.  

For example, a married man cannot nor should not go out and live like when he was single.  He needs to come home to his wife instead of looking for a party or a date.  I don’t mean that all married men do that.  But you know what I mean.  Your lifestyle needs to change after you meet Jesus because you are now a new creation in Christ.

Therefore, what you claim to believe in Jesus must go with your lifestyle.  When your words and deeds go with God’s Word and God’s desire, you will be considered righteous before the LORD.  Remember, Abraham was considered righteous by God after he faithfully obeyed God by being willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac (Genesis 22).  You know our God Is a Righteous God.  Righteous God means God makes wrong right.  Our Righteous God cannot stand the wrong ways that go against what God calls right.

Who determines what right and wrong are?  God does!  Only God gets to determine what right and wrong are.  God will surely correct what has gone wrong against God’s will in God’s perfect timing.  We must make sure we are right with God.  How do we do that?  We must remain righteous by living obediently  to God’s Word.  The lifestyle of obedience to God’s Word will be accepted as righteousness to our God.

Praise the LORD if you are in the right with God.  However, if you are not, you need to quickly repent and be right with God.  When God makes corrections of what has gone wrong, it will hurt a lot if you are not right with God.  You can claim all you want of the righteousness of God in your life.  However, if your lifestyles and your deeds do not go with God’s Word, then you will taste God’s correction.  You cannot say that I didn’t tell you about this, now.  Do all you can to be accepted by God in your words and deeds.  

I must say that I am grateful when God corrects me.  Actually, God’s correction in this life is a sign of God’s love for you.  God corrects you in this life so that you don’t have to be condemned before the LORD at the end of time.  If God’s Word offends you, God may be speaking to you.  One pastor said that I am not doing what God has called me to do if I do not step on someone’s toes.  However, I am not aiming to step on your toes, but to speak the truth as given in the Bible.  One of my jobs is to help you recognize God when God speaks to you.  If you are offended by what I say, I’m telling you, it may be the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention.

Going back to the gifts.  The important message Jesus Is teaching us here is to be a good manager of God’s gifts given to you accordingly.  Jesus has physically left us, but has promised to return to take us to that Everlasting Life.  However, no one knows exactly when Jesus will come back.  Jesus, being our LORD and Master, has left all of us with some kind of gifts to use to live a faithful and fruitful life.

One of the biggest blessings of God was to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22, 28).  God expects us to live a fruitful life.  Living a life that bears good fruit is very important to our God.  To a fig tree which failed to bear fruit, Jesus said, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again” (Mark 11:14).  Learn how you can grow, bear good fruit, and to multiply with what God has given you to make God happy, instead of frustrating or disappointing God.

Did you know that we were created to be a steward to manage what God has entrusted to us?  After God created Adam, “the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15).  Adam was not the owner of that garden.  Everything in that garden was not his possession to do whatever he wanted to do with.  God gave Adam a strict order of what to do and what not to do.  When Adam and Eve went against what God had commanded him to do, they both got kicked out of that wonderful place.

What does this tell us?  You are not the owner of whatever you possess, but a manager.  As God made Adam, a gardener, a manager, of the Garden of Eden, we are called to manage what God has given to us.  This means we have to use whatever is given to us in ways that will make our God happy.  We are talking about gifts from God, whether those gifts are material things, skills, possessions of power, your relationships with certain individuals, knowledge you have, or whatever the gifts may be.

You have been called by God when God blessed you with those gifts.  Now, you must live the way according to the One Who has called you to be a chosen one to enjoy even more blessings.  How do we do that?  We must know the Word of God and allow God to lead you to the right ways because only God knows what is right or wrong.

In order to follow God, to do all things God’s Way, and to use your gifts to bear good fruit, you must know God’s Word.  You must allow God’s Word to speak to and to guide you to God’s Way.  When God chastises you through God’s Word or through anyone else, be grateful to God.  It’s a sign of God’s love for you not wanting you to be condemned at the end, but to live a life that is fruitful and full of blessings.

As you walk with God faithfully, being obedient to God’s Word, your personal love relationship with God will grow stronger every day.  One day, you won’t have to work so hard to know God’s way.  Knowing God’s way will come to you more naturally because you know God’s Word.  Recognizing God speaking to you will be a part of your lifestyle because of your close love relationship with God every day.  

I must tell you, the devil will try to stop you from following God and doing God’s work in every way possible.  As pastor Joyce Meyer says, “New level, new devil.”  The more God blesses you with more gifts, the more you get closer to God, the devil will come at you with its full force.  You must cling onto God through God’s Word even more and seek after God’s way more desperately.  You must do all things that are pleasing and acceptable to our God in order to beat the devil and not fall for its lies.  

Look at what happened to those servants who had received specific talents.  The one who received five talents went out right away and made five more talents and so did the one who received two talents.  Do you see how they did not waste any time, but got to work right away?  What is God calling you to do in your life right now?  If you know what God wants from you, do not wait too long to do it.  Whether God Is calling you to cling to something, give up something, give away something, help somebody, or to receive help from someone, just do it.  Do not wait too long, like the one who received one talent.

What happened to the one who failed to do what was expected of him?  He waited too long and ran out of time.  The devil was probably telling him, “Don’t worry about working with what your master has given you.  It will take forever for him to come back.”  Instead of doing what pleases the master, he chose to go along the way of the devil.  When the master came back, the master was furious with him and called him, “You wicked, lazy servant!” (v. 26).  The master made a great point.  The master said, “You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest” (v. 17).

What a wonderful idea.  If you don’t know how to live a fruitful life with what God has given you, share them with someone else who knows how to produce fruit out of them.  When you give offerings to the Church, God uses God’s servants to use them for God’s ministry.  In that way, you are living a fruitful life without doing so much work yourself.  What a great idea!

How do you pray?  Does your prayer consist of many things you want God to give you?  Don’t just pray for what you want from God.  Pray for what God wants us to have and to do.  Ask God, “God, what is it that you want me to do?  What can I do to make you happy today?”  And remember, to receive God’s gifts and to have a fruitful life, you must keep God first in your life.

One of the greatest gifts Jesus has entrusted with us is Jesus’ own reputation.  For some people, you are all they have to see about Who Jesus Is.  Remember, you represent Jesus through all you do and say in this world.

I pray to God that you will be the one to live a fruitful and successful life that is pleasing and acceptable to our God.  In this way, Jesus may say to you every day, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things.  I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share in your master’s happiness!” (vv. 21, 23).  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

October 1, 2023

Which Son Obeyed the Father?

Matthew 21:23-32

In today’s Scripture Lesson, Jesus talks about obedience.  How important is our obedience to God’s Word?  Extremely important, because it determines the quality of our love for God.  Our love and faithfulness to God is expressed, and is shown through our obedience to God’s Word.  If you say you love God while you work against God’s Word, will God accept that as love for God?  Not according to the Word of Jesus in the Bible.  

Jesus said it three times in John chapter 14.  Anything and Everything Jesus says is important.  When Jesus says the same thing twice, it means we really need to pay attention.  It is very important.  If Jesus says it three times, it means it is extremely important.  We cannot deny it or work against it, because it will cry out our hatred towards God.

Jesus said, “If you love ME, keep My commands” (John 14: 15).  Then Jesus said it again, “Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves me” (John 14:21).  Then Jesus said it one more time, “Anyone who loves me will obey My teaching” (John 14:23).  Did Jesus remind us enough about the importance of obeying God’s Word?  I think so.

How hard is it to love someone who doesn't love you?  How about loving someone who is hostile to you and works against you?  It is very difficult and even painful sometimes to love such a person.  You really need God’s help to love such a person.  Even your own child, it is so hard to freely love your child when your child is doing everything against your teachings and guidance.  You would still love your child, yet, you would stay angry and disappointed because of your disobedient child.

Look no further to understand God.  The same way works for God.  Even though we are God’s children whom God loves, God will stay angry and disappointed if we keep on disobeying God’s Word.  That is how we “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 4:30).  I’m telling you, the only way God understands, feels, experiences our love for God is through the obedience to God’s commands, the Word of God, the Bible.

Do you want God to know and be convinced of your love for God?  Do you want God to be happy with you?  It’s not hard to do that.  Obey God’s Word the best way you can.  God will truly feel your love.  You will make God so very happy.  What will happen to the ones who obey God’s Word?  The answer is all written in the Bible. 

When you go home, read Deuteronomy chapters 28 to 30.  God tells us very clearly all about what will happen to those who obey God’s Word and those who do not.  God said in chapter 30,

I have given you a choice between a blessing and a curse.  When all these things have happened to you, and you are living among the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave you.  If you and your descendants will turn back to the LORD and with all your heart obey God’s commands that I am giving you today, then the LORD your God will bring you back from the nations where God has scattered you, and God will make you prosperous again.  

Even if you are scattered to the farthest corners of the earth, the LORD your God will gather you together and bring you back, so that you may again take possession of the land where your ancestors once lived.  And God will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors ever were.  (Deuteronomy 30:1-5).

God Is telling us that God will make us “more prosperous and more numerous than” ever even in our worst situations if we faithfully and diligently obey God’s Word.  Even in our worst situations, God will make us “more prosperous” than ever if we only obey God’s Word faithfully every day.

Deuteronomy chapter 28 spells out in detail all about what God will do to those who would obey God’s Word.  God said through Moses, God’s servant,

If you obey the LORD our God and faithfully keep all God’s commands that I am giving you today, God will make you greater than any other nation on earth (v. 1).  Obey the LORD your God and all these blessings will be yours: (v. 2)  The LORD will bless your towns and your fields, (v. 3)…bless your with many children, with abundant crops, and with many cattle and sheep, (v. 4)…will bless everything you do (v. 6)…will defeat your enemies (v. 7)…bless your work,…your land (v. 8)

God’s blessings go on and on.  However, God also talks about what God will do to those who refuse to obey God’s Word.  That is also found in Deuteronomy chapter 28.  Do not think too hard.  While the obedient children of the LORD will be blessed in absolutely everything they do, the disobedient ones will be cursed in everything they do.  It will be the total opposite of blessings.

There is an exercise in Companions in Christ.  Those who took that class will know this.  You were told to write the total opposite of what Psalm 23 says.  It probably went something like this.  Remember, “The LORD Is my Shepherd”?  But it will say,

I have no shepherd.  I am all alone.  I have no peace or rest in my life.  I always remain thirsty and lost because I have no one to guide me.  I will always fear because darkness and evil are all around me.  There is no comfort for me.  The enemies will always win over me.  There will be no victory in my life.  Chaos, destruction, and misery will follow me all the days of my life.  And I will remain homeless forever.

Doesn’t this sound so depressing and sad?  However, this is what will happen to those whose God is not our God and to those who refuse to obey God’s Word.  True Psalm 23 of “The LORD Is my Shepherd” only applies to those who put their trust in God and in God’s Word enough to obey God’s commands through the Word of God, the Bible.  Then your God will be your Shepherd and you will receive the peace, rest, guidance, satisfaction and contentment, victory, comfort, and love all the days of your life.

To the ones who obey God’s Word faithfully and diligently, God promises everything that is good.  Remember, God Is obligated to do everything that God already has spoken.  As you obey God’s Word, you can demand God to bless you with everything that God has promised to those who obey.

So, how do you obey God’s Word?  What is considered being obedient to God’s commands?  First, you have to know the Word of God.  How much you know and understand God’s Word directly affects your personal relationship with God.  Your knowledge of the Word of God, the Bible, determines the quality of your relationship with God.  Jesus being the Living Word of God, you cannot really know God without knowing God’s Word.

You absolutely cannot deny God’s Word and claim to love God nor claim to be obedient to God’s Word.  If your lifestyle goes against God’s Word, your love for God is not acceptable to our God.  God clearly said so.  Your lifestyle, your words and deeds have to be in an agreement with the Word of God in order to be acceptable to God.  They have to be right in the eyes of the LORD.  Anything that goes against God’s Word will be considered “evil in the eyes of the LORD” (Judges 3:7).

The only way to determine whether one is righteous or sinful is to go to the Word of God, the Bible.  If one goes with the Word of God, that person will be considered righteous, otherwise, sinful.

Let’s look at today’s Scripture Lesson and see what Jesus said about this.  Jesus talks about two sons.  We don’t know who they are.  We don’t know their names. This means this story applies to absolutely everyone.  Why?  Because God calls and speaks to everyone.  The only thing we know about these two brothers is that their father asked each of them to “go work in the vineyard today” (v. 28).   The first son told his father, “I will not” (v. 29).  That is mean and disrespectful.  That will upset me.

However, the Bible tells us that “later on he changed his mind and went” (v. 29).  The act of changing one’s mind which is followed by an action accordingly is called Repentance.  God calls us to repent of our sins every day.  How many of you are perfect and never sin?  No matter how much we claim to be righteous and religious, we are not perfect.  

We continue to sin whether we like it or not.  Therefore, repentance needs to take place in our lives every day.  Repenting of our sins includes those which have been committed physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Repentance followed by righteous deeds according to God’s Word needs to be a part of our daily lives in order to be right with God in our relationships and walk with God.

Repenting is no fun.  You have to admit that you have done something wrong.  God’s Word gives us the understanding of the right or wrong that we are doing.  When God talks about all the blessings, we have no problem accepting it.  However, when God convicts us of wrong things in our lives, God will make us feel very uncomfortable.  

During my preaching, if you feel uncomfortableness, it may be God speaking to you.  Remember, I am only a messenger.  Whether you believe it or not, I am very confident that I am speaking what God wants me to say.  If my message causes you discomfort, there is no point in complaining to me.  You need to go straight to God and allow God to deal with you on that.  I am going to continue to speak what God puts in my heart to speak.  The rest is between you and God.  If God convicts you of something, you need to talk to God about it right away.

The first son did the right thing.  He realized the way he responded to his father was wrong.  So, he changed his mind and ways to do what his father asked him to do.  That is what repentance is, to change one’s mind first then change one’s ways to be in agreement with God’s Word.  The first son did it right even though he didn’t at first.

Then the father went to the second son and asked him to do the same (v. 30).  The second son gladly agreed to do what his father asked him to do.  He said, “I go, sir.”  However, this second son did not do what he said he would do.  He initially made his father happy by giving his father the obedient answer, but did not follow through.

Now, Jesus asks the important question.  Jesus asked, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” (v. 31).  It doesn’t take a genius to know which one was obedient to his father.  The first son was considered obedient and righteous to his father.  Then Jesus added a very important message to this parable.  Jesus said, “Truly I tell you,” which means this is a very important message.  “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you” (v. 31).

Why would Jesus say such a thing to these religious people?  Jesus explains that too.  Jesus said,

For John came to you in righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him (v. 32).

“The tax collectors and the prostitutes” were considered some of the worst sinners during that first century.  Jesus put them ahead of those religious people.  Jesus said that those worst sinners will be accepted into the Kingdom of God way before those extremely religious people.  Why?  Because of their responses to Jesus and what Jesus taught them.

Those worst sinners willingly and desperately accepted all that Jesus said to them about God and what God desires.  They repented, which means they have allowed themselves to change their minds and their ways in agreement with what Jesus has said.  However, those religious people only chose to be offended by everything Jesus said and did.  Whatever Jesus did and said made them angry enough to kill Jesus.  Who says God’s Word is always pleasant?  God said through the prophet Isaiah (28:16),

See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him (talking about Jesus) will never be put to shame.  The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  A stone that causes the people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall (2 Peter 2:6-8).

Who says that following the Word of God is easy?  Many times, God’s Word is uneasy and even offensive to many.  That is why those religious leaders could not accept Jesus or anything Jesus said and done.  In order to follow Jesus, we must be broken first, broken of our desires and pride.  That is why Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow ME” (Matthew 16:24).

If it’s this hard, why would anyone follow Jesus?  It is because of what God has promised to those who obey.  The results of obedience to God’s Word cannot be compared to anything this world can offer us.  God’s promise of blessings to those who obey is so amazing, so great, so incredible.  Those blessings go beyond this life.  That is why all those many, many people so willingly die to follow Jesus to receive the blessings of Everlasting Life.

Remember, you don’t have to go to Heaven to be blessed.  God will bless you tremendously in this life as well.  So, live the life obedient to God’s Word and be blessed so abundantly that your existence in this life will be a living witness to our Living God to the world.  Be bold to trust in God.  Be strong and faithful to obey God’s Word completely and live in those amazingly abundant blessings in this life and in that Life Everlasting.  Praise the LORD!  A

September 24, 2023

Your Complaining is Against the LORD

Exodus 16: 2 – 15

In today’s Scripture Lesson, the Israelites have come out of Egypt from the life of slavery and are heading towards the Promised Land.  When they came out of Egypt, God allowed them to come out with “articles of silver and gold and for clothing” out of their slave masters' homes (Exodus 12:35).  

Because of what God has done to those Egyptians, “The Egyptians urged the people [of Israelites] to hurry and leave the country” (Exodus 12:33).  Egyptians thought, “For otherwise, we will all die!”  Egyptians were so happy to see the Israelites leave, even though Israelites came and took their treasures out of their houses, as long as the Israelites left as quickly as they could.

This is like a fairytale story.  You were once a slave, suffering like crazy, then God did many miraculous things to your enemies.  Now, you walk into your old slave masters’ homes to take whatever you want and leave there as a free person.  For people who lived in bondage for a long time, this is a dream come true.  To leave the life of bondage and walk into that promised dreamland would be the perfect life.

However, we have the in-between-place, the wilderness.  We cannot forget the wilderness.  We must go through the wilderness to get to the Promised Land.  The tricky thing about this is that no one knows how long we must stay in the wilderness before the Promised Land.  

The wilderness is where we experience God, where we are tested by God, and where we come to know God in Person.  In the wilderness, we experience the raw power of God.  How many of you experience the intense power of the LORD while everything is going smoothly and well?  Normally, we experience God’s Mighty Power while we struggle through the wilderness.  The wilderness should not be a place to complain, but a place of seeking to experience God’s amazing power in person.

Today’s Lectionary Readings from Exodus, Psalm, Philippians, and Matthew all teach us the similar lesson about how our attitudes should be as we walk with God.  Our attitudes are extremely important before our God.  Our attitudes can determine whether God will bless us or punish us.  Our right attitude can please God so much as well as our bad attitude can cause God to grieve with anger over us.  Once again, our attitude before God is extremely important to our God.

Now, the Israelites, in the wilderness, are faced with some challenges.  Challenges while staying in the wilderness are expected.  Challenges will happen for sure.  There is no avoiding them.  How we deal with those challenges will show how much we really believe in God.  Let’s see how the Israelites deal with their challenges.

Their problem is hunger.  They are hungry.  I understand that we can get a little cranky when we get hungry.  However, listen to what the Israelites say to Moses and Aaron, their leaders.

If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger (v. 3).

Seriously?  You think they were that hungry, thinking they were actually dying from it?  Really?  First of all, they made it sound like they sat around and ate good food all day long.  Need I remind you that they lived in Egypt as slaves.  The Bible tells us, 

[Egyptians] made [Israelites’] lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly (Exodus 1:14).

Personally, I will not be crying out for Egypt and dreaming about that harsh place no matter how hungry I may be.  I would be grateful that I am away from that horrible place.  I would never want to go back to a place like that ever again.  However, this was their constant, repeated, nagging complaint.  “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, from that pleasant, comfortable, dreamy place?”

Imagine, you have done everything you can to help someone who was struggling so much.  You have made many, many sacrifices to bring that person to a stable and more secure place.  Then that  person starts to complain about you.  This actually happened to one of my friends.  Everyone knew how much she sacrificed for this person.  The one who was receiving help never paid for gas or for meals one time while they traveled frequently to social service and security offices.

After the person in need received all the benefits and help that she could possibly receive with the help of my friend, she started to complain about my friend.  There was a lady who was not too fond of my friend.  She was not too fond of many people.  When this person who received help complained about my friend to this lady, she could not even agree with that person.  She said to that person, “Now, you know how much she did for you.  Of all people, you should never complain about her.”  You must be hurting if you are the one who did all the helping.

In this case with the Israelites, God did everything God could do to help them.  God moved heaven and the earth to bring them out of the life of slavery in Egypt.  Yet, they are blaming God for bringing them out of Egypt and towards the Promised Land only because they are hungry.  They complained like this again many times because they were thirsty.

Can you imagine how God feels about all this?  After seeing God performing a mighty work, seeing ten plagues upon Egyptians, and walking through the Red Sea that large body of water, do they not know that their God has the power to give them food and water?  Instead of asking God to provide for them, they complained to their leaders, Moses and Aaron (v. 2).

This is very interesting.  The Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron on verse two.  However, the Bible tells us their complaints are not against Moses and Aaron but against the LORD five times in verses seven, twice in eight, nine, and twelve.  They complained to their leaders, but it was directed to God.  God took it Personally.

Think about this.  They blamed Moses and Aaron for bringing them out of Egypt.  Who Is the One Who really brought them out of Egypt?  God Is the One Who performed numerous miracles and wonders to bring them out.  Now, they are mad about it.  Seriously, you cannot win against these people.  God cannot even make them happy, even though God gave them everything and so much more than what they ever asked for.  

That is why God has never commanded us to make people happy.  Being a good neighbor to others is a commandment of the LORD.  The Golden Rule of doing “to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12) is a commandment of the LORD.  The call to make sacrifices for others is a commandment of the LORD.  However, God has never told us to do everything you can to make everyone happy.  Making everyone happy is NOT a commandment of the LORD.  Our God, Jesus could not even do it.  What makes anyone think that they can?

One important thing these Israelites failed to realize was that their complaints said much more about what they really think about God than anything else.  Their complaints were directed to God.  Every time we do this, God is hurt by us every single time.  God Is an Almighty, All-Powerful God.  However, God becomes vulnerable when it comes to us, God’s children.

Did God punish the Israelites right away?  No!  After they complained to God over and over again, they did receive a scary punishment.  However, our God Is a gracious God Who gives us numerous chances to be right with God.  Out of God’s love for God’s children, God rained down heavenly bread for them, the Manna (v. 4).  Not only the bread, but God also gave them meat “at twilight” (v. 12).

The Israelites are clearly in the wrong.  However, God Is showering them in mercy and grace and blessing them even more.  That is when we really need to get it right with God.  Do not take God’s mercy for granted.  The time of God’s mercy is the golden time for us to be right with God and walk in God’s favor.  That golden time of mercy is given to absolutely everyone.  How you use that time is totally up to you.

Unfortunately, not everyone uses those golden times to be in agreement with what God desires from us.  That is why Jesus said, “For many are invited/called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).  You need to know that you all have been called by God.  Whether you become a chosen one of the LORD to be used by God or not depends on how you use your golden time to enhance your relationship with God with the right attitude.

When God gave the Israelites heavenly bread, God did not just give it to them.  God used this opportunity to test them to see if they would obey God or continue to disobey God and complain (v. 4).  Going through tests is extremely important.  You perfect things through testing.  You do not grow without going through tests.  You prove yourself trustworthy by passing the tests.  God always wants to see how much you love God.  Loving God is all about obeying God’s Word according to Jesus (John 14:15-31).

God told Moses, “In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow My instructions” (v. 4).  Why does God search for those who would obey God?  The answer is obvious.  Would you work with someone who refuses to follow your instructions?  Imagine working with someone who constantly goes against what you say, complains non stop about things, are never grateful, full of resentment, blaming you for all that you do for that person, etc.

I had a person like that in one of our Churches.  Every time she helped me, I spent more time dealing with her complaints than the actual work I needed to do every single time.  So, I finally wised up.  I thought, “I don’t have time to spend most of my time focusing on her unhappiness.  I need to get my work done.”  You know, complainers usually force me to give most of my time to them alone.  I cannot nor want to do that.  Anyway, she offered to help me with one of the functions in Church with the youth.  I had to kindly decline saying, “Thank you for volunteering to help me.  But I have all things in place.  Maybe, you can help me next time.”

Once again, this is why Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).  When God calls you, God has a much bigger picture in mind.  When God called Moses, God had deliverance of a nation in mind.  When God called Abraham, God had in mind creating generations of God’s holy people in mind.  

God Is not looking for people who are totally prepared and equipped to do God size work.  God only needs those who are willing to follow God with complete obedience to God’s Word to do the work God has in mind.  God has the power to equip those who have been called.  God does not need you to come up with master plans, but to simply have the heart of obedience to God’s Commandments, God’s Word.

Please, do not be one of those complainers who grieve God.  The saddest thing that happened to those ungrateful complaining Israelites was the fact that they never entered the Promised Land.  Because of their constant complaints and disobedience, they all died in the wilderness before they reached the Promised Land.  The whole point of going through the wilderness was to get into the Promised Land.

God has amazing plans for your life for the sake of many of God’s people out there.  Go with God.  Do not fight against God by disagreeing with God’s Word.  Allow God to equip you and use you in any way God desires anytime.  In order to follow God in obedience to God’s Word, you need to know God’s Word.  Get familiar with God’s Word.  This way you will recognize God every time God speaks to you.

I pray that God’s work will be done through your life every day.  God’s power will be revealed through your life as you follow and serve God obediently to God’s Word.  May the blessing of the LORD fill your life and the life of all your loved ones.  And you may truly become the blessings of the LORD to everyone you meet in the Name of the LORD.  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

September 17, 2023

How Often Should I Forgive?

Matthew 18: 21 – 35

Have you really looked into what God says about forgiveness in the Bible?  Once again, God made it very clear what God thinks about forgiveness.  Forgiveness is not an option but a command of the LORD.  God expects us to, demands us to forgive.  Why?  Because we have been forgiven.  Also, forgiveness gives us freedom to live, to love, and to enjoy life.  Therefore, forgiveness is more for your benefit than the other party.  God wants us to forgive others for us to truly enjoy our lives.

Anything and everything God tells us to do is for our benefit.  If we obey God’s commands, it will only bring us joy, satisfaction, happiness, contentment, and fulfillment in this life and in that life everlasting.  Not obeying God’s Word will give us the opposite of joy and happiness, a miserable and wretched life.  Demanding others to disobey God’s Word will do so much worse.  You will not only be miserable and unhappy, but you also will have to answer to God for misleading others, which is a huge crime before the LORD.

Unforgiveness is bondage, which imprisons us from enjoying life.  Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and enjoy life to the full” (Luke 10:10).  You certainly will not enjoy your life if you are in bondage to something unpleasant and bitter.  Through forgiveness, God wants to free us from such bondage, so we can fully enjoy this life and the life everlasting.

God does not want us to live a miserable life.  Do you think Jesus died on the cross so that we may suffer and be miserable in this life?  Absolutely not!  Jesus took away all the junky stuff, unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, hatred, resentment, condemnations, etc., when Jesus died on the cross.  If you believe in Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to work with and through you according to the Word of God, you can become free from all those.  You then can really enjoy your life as God intended for you to live.

Can you imagine taking unforgiveness to the Heavenly Kingdom?  If you do that, you will not be able to enjoy that perfect place with everything good.  You will be miserable even in that perfect place.  Don’t you expect that unforgiveness to disappear in Heaven?  Don’t you assume that you will not be struggling with the issue of unforgiveness in Heaven?  We expect to be free from resentment and unforgiveness.  We long to be free from them because we know the benefits from it. 

We are expecting to enjoy freedom from such heartache once we get to Heaven.  Imagine a life without bitterness, anger, resentment, working so hard to avoid someone because that person hurt your feelings and you cannot get over it.  Just thinking about being freed from all that gives me such relief.  Then why not start enjoying that freedom in this life here on earth?  Why wait until after we die to enjoy such freedom?

Whether we believe it or not, whether we realize it or not, we make confessions about forgiveness at least once a week through The LORD’s Prayer.  We will be praying The LORD’s Prayer very soon.  What do we say about forgiveness?  “Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  Another translation says, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

We say this all the time.  But have you really listened to what you say?  “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  We are asking God to forgive us the same way we forgive others.  This is a serious thing.  We are in trouble.  Can you imagine God forgiving us exactly the way we forgive others?  If we are going to continue to pray this prayer, we definitely need to do better.  Yes, better!

Today’s Scripture Lesson gives us a perfect example of what it means to be forgiven as one forgives others.  One man who owed some money, like “ten thousand talents” (v. 24), was brought to the presence of a lender, the lord.  Obviously, the man who owes money could not pay back what he owed.  “The lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and the children and all his possessions and payment to be made” (v. 25).  

This parable calls the man who owed money a slave (v. 26).  The lord gives a very specific order on what to do and how to make the slave pay what he owes.  The slave cannot complain about this at all because he is bonded by what he owes.  He is a slave to what he owes.  We are slaves to what we owe, to what we believe, and to what or who we obey.

He has no other choice but to do what the lord tells him to do because he is a slave to the lord for what he owes.  However, he pleaded to the lord for pity.  “So the slave fell on his knees before the lord, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything’” (v. 26).  Amazingly, “the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt” just like that (v. 27).  Why?  Because “the lord of that slave” had pity on him.  He was forgiven of his debt just like that.

What was expected of this free slave to do?  Go out and enjoy his life of freedom.  However, he failed to realize one more thing that he was expected to do, which was to forgive others as he was forgiven.  This not only goes with The LORD’s Prayer, but also with The Golden Rule.  What does The Golden Rule say?  “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).  Do you want others to forgive you when you make mistakes and do wrong?  Well, then you need to forgive them if you really believe in what God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit teaches us.

The Bible tells us that action of doing “to others as you would have them do to you” will “sum up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).  Forgiveness is a huge part of this Golden Rule which “sums up the Law and the Prophets.”  “The Law and the Prophets” represent the Word of God, the Commands of the LORD, the Bible.  And The Golden Rule, which includes forgiveness, is all about Love.

The Bible also tells us, “for whoever loves others has fulfilled the Law” (Romans 13:8).  Fulfill means to perfect something.  To love others means to perfect God’s Law.  Forgiveness is a part of the Love which God wants us to practice to others every day.  Therefore, forgiveness is a part of fulfilling, perfecting God’s Law, God’s Word.

However, this slave who was forgiven for all his debt had failed to do the same to others.  Remember, this slave was forgiven “ten thousand talents” (v. 24)?  How much is “ten thousand talents” compared to today’s dollars?  According to the study, “ten thousand talents” is equivalent to 3.48 billion dollars in today’s money.  That is a lot of money.  Can you see anyone forgiving someone of a debt anywhere close to that amount, half or one tenth of that amount of money?  I cannot imagine, but he received forgiveness of money worth 3.48 billion dollars.

After receiving forgiveness for that much money, you would think that he would be a little more generous.  I don’t know whether he has forgotten about the forgiveness he received this quickly or not.  I don’t know how you can forget about something like this so quickly.  The Bible tells us, “that same slave, as he went out” of the scene of being forgiven, “came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii” (v. 28).

One denarii was one day of wages.  How much do you get paid a day?  Say that you get paid $100 a day.  One hundred dollars times 100 would be $10,000.  Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money.  However, what is Ten Thousand Dollars compared to 3.48 Billion Dollars?  It’s like a drop of sand on the seashore.  After being forgiven of so much, he could not forgive the man who owed him so little compared to what he has been forgiven of.

The Bible tells us that the one who owed one hundred denarii “fell down and pleaded with him” saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you” (v. 29).  However, the forgiven slave refused to have pity on his fellow slave.  Instead of forgiving one who owes money, he did exactly what the lord commanded to be done to him for not paying off the debt to his fellow slave.

He refused to have pity on the one who owes him money even though he received such pity from the lord.  He “went and threw the fellow slave into prison until he paid the debt” (v. 30).  The one who was forgiven 3.48 billion dollars could not forgive the one who owed ten thousand dollars.  What a shame!  How sad!

Is this living by The Gold Rule to “do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12)?  I don’t think so.  Remember The LORD’s Prayer saying, “Forgive our sins/debts/trespasses as we forgive those who sin against us”?  That is exactly what happened to this forgiven yet unforgiving slave.  Once the lord heard about what he did to his fellow slave, the lord was furious.

The lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave!  I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you? (vv. 32-33)

What did the lord do to him?  “In anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt” (v. 34).  Pity and mercy were taken away from him.  He will not receive freedom until he pays back every penny.  I bet he spent his whole life working on paying back his debt, living such a miserable life with so much suffering.  That is what unforgiveness will bring into your life.

Jesus adds this scary statement at the end saying, “So My heavenly Father will also do to everyone of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (v. 35).  You need to really think of what you say when you say The LORD’s Prayer, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  Now you know what it means, you cannot claim that you did not know what it really meant.  From now on, you cannot say The LORD’s Prayer the same way you did before.

Did you know that the way you forgive will affect the way you love?  Can you honestly love the ones which you are mad at and have not forgiven?  That is not possible.  I had this one lady at one of my previous Churches.  She complained to the DS because I asked people to share peace with each other during the Worship Service.  She told the DS, “Hae Rin forces us to hug each other and share peace when I don’t want to.”  She did not have to if she did not want to, and she didn’t.  Yet, she was mad at me for it.  I visited her, but that upset her.  Because I dared to come over to her house.

Did you know that you can tell who is mad at you just by saying hello?  Some who do not like you manage to say hello back to you.  However, some others do not have that much guts.  They avoid you, will not respond to you, and even refuse to look at you.  That same lady said hello to me when we were having a huge meeting with DS to discuss the future of our Church after our Church burned down.  I was surrounded by many people, trying to say hello to everyone.

She got up and said, “I said hello to Hae Rin but she didn’t say hello back to me.”  That is when I learned that not every hello is saying, “So nice to see you.  Hope you are doing well.”  I learned that some hellos are a trap to bring trouble to you as those Pharisees did to Jesus.  Obviously, she had not forgiven me for whatever she was upset with me about.  I’ve learned that I cannot make her happy no matter what I do.  So, I stopped trying and just prayed for her.  

Isn’t this a sad story?  Unforgiveness will bring sadness into your life.  I also have a person in our life who is mad at almost everyone in our circle of friends.  But she would come to the social gatherings once in a blue moon.  She would not acknowledge or talk to everyone.  After the meeting is over, the common thing people in that gathering would say is, “I said hello to her, but she never responded to me.”  “I tried to talk to her, but she completely ignored me.”  “She didn’t even look in my direction.”

When she is around, her anger and resentment spreads to other people and causes discomfort to the ones who came to have fun.  That is what unforgiveness will do to you and to all those around you.  It will make you miserable and make others miserable as well.  Being an unhappy, miserable non-believer is one thing, but being a sad and miserable Christian is a serious thing.  They usually become a stumbling block to others who want to believe in God.

Jesus said about a woman who had been forgiven, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown.  But whoever has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47).  “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven’” (Luke 7:48).  The way you forgive will also affect the way you love your God.

Think of how many times you have been forgiven by God and by others.  So, “how often should I forgive?  As many times as seven?” (v. 21).  What was the response of Jesus?  “Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times” (v. 22).  Jesus Is telling us to forgive as many times as possible.  What do you gain from forgiving others, even those who do not deserve forgiveness?

God will give you a peaceful mind.  You will be able to enjoy your life.  You will have contentment, satisfaction, freedom, and all the good things that God has for you.  Through your forgiveness, you will be called righteous and will make God proud.  You will be a part of the fulfillment of God’s Law.  You will receive all the blessings God has promised to those who obey God’s commands. Be the one who receives everything that is good from the LORD through your life of obedience to God’s Word.  Praise the LORD.  Amen.

September 10, 2023

Put on the LORD Jesus Christ

Romans 13: 8 – 14

Today’s Scripture Lesson is full of commands to live a life of excellence.  Apostle Paul reminds us of what the Old Testament tells us to do through the Ten Commandments.  What is the life of excellence that is acceptable to our God?  This is the question we need to ask ourselves.  What lifestyle I have and how I live my life, which choices I make, how I treat other people, and everything I do have to be right with God and acceptable to our God.  The life of excellence that does not meet the expectation of our God has no value to God.

A very frustrating statement in the Book of Judges which occurs over and over again is “Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD” (2:11, 3:7, 3:12, 4:1, 6:1, 10:6, 13:1,…).  Their biggest excuse for doing evil is that “In those days Israel had no king” (Judges 18:1, 19:1).  Even though they had Judges appointed by God to lead them closer to God, they claimed that they did not have a proper leader to guide them to God.  Therefore, they did whatever they thought was right in their eyes, even though it went against what God desires.

No matter how righteous their behaviors and deeds are according to the world’s standards, they are wrong if they don’t go with what God says.  All our behaviors and actions have to be right in the eyes of the LORD.  They have to meet the standards, the expectations of the LORD, even though it means to go against the world.  Therefore, you can be a failure in this world as a person, as a Church, as a business, etc., but you will be a hero to our God.  You want to be a hero to our God even though you get rejected by this world.

The only way to do this is to stand by the Word of God, the Bible.  There is no other way.  The Word of the LORD must come first in all we do.  Today’s Scripture Lesson gives us very specific instructions on how to live a righteous life.  The trick here is that you must do all things God tells us to do with the right intention.  If you do all things perfectly, but do not have the right intention, that will not be acceptable to God.  Righteousness must come from your heart first even before you practice it outward.

Those Pharisees and Sadducees from the ancient Israelite time did everything perfectly according to the laws given by God and with the laws which they made.  Their actions were perfect.  They were the model religious people.  However, they were not acceptable to God because their intentions were not right with God.  Those perfect religious people received seven woes by Jesus.  The “woe” means “great sorrow or distress,” (Google Dictionary).  The “woe” represents the righteous anger of God grieving over those stubborn blind leaders over God’s people.

In order to live a righteous life, you must have a righteous thought life.  The righteous action must come with the righteous intention.  Only then can we fulfill the Law of the LORD.  Today’s Scripture Lesson tells us how we can do that.  Apostle Paul said, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (v. 8).  Then he repeats the Golden Rule, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 10).  Why?  How?  Because “love is the fulfilling of the law” (v. 10).

Everything Apostle Paul is telling us here has to do with what we do to others more than doing it for ourselves.  It tells us how to fulfill the Law of the LORD which is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 9).  Studying the Bible alone will not fulfill the Law of God.  Participating in all the Church meetings, or by fasting and praying every day alone will not fulfill God’s Law.  God’s Law will not be fulfilled without loving others with the love of Christ.  Fulfilling the Law happens when we love others genuinely and sincerely with Christ’s love.

So, everything you do needs to benefit others materially, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.  We are called to be good neighbors to others.  The Apostle Paul mentions the last four of the Ten Commandments.  They are “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet” (v. 9).  All these have to do with how you treat others.  To our God, the fulfillment of God’s Law is shown through how you treat others.  Therefore, the way you treat others becomes a testimony of Jesus to the world, to the nonbelievers.

Let’s think about the nonbelievers.  Did you know that you are it for the nonbelievers to understand our God?  If they do not know any other Christians and never have gone to Church before, they will judge all God’s people, Christians, by watching you.  Certainly, it’s not fair for you to carry such a responsibility.  However, the nonbelievers do not know any better.  You are all they have to learn about our God.  And you represent Christ in this world the moment you accept Jesus as your LORD and Saviour.

We have been called to live the life of excellence, to be good neighbors to others.  How do we do that?  We follow Jesus and do what our LORD has called us to do and how God told us to live.  We have to make sure to follow the teachings of our LORD, Jesus Christ internally and outwardly.  Following Jesus’ teachings will make you go against what the world teaches you.

Unfortunately, these days, the ones who stick with the Word of God become the villains, the evil ones.  No matter what anyone says, you have to make the choice of who or what you are going to follow.  And always remember that you represent Christ in this world, to this world, through your words, deeds, and with your choices.  In order to do that you must choose to follow God every day.

God did not keep it secret on how we need to live our lives.  God made it very clear on how we ought to follow.  There is no confusion of how we should live our lives.  They are all written in the Bible.  Jesus told us that we have to do better than sinners, which means the nonbelievers, and also do better than religious people.  And this is why people do not like to follow the Word of God.  

Religious people represent those who practice their religion with doctrines, rules, and regulations.  I hope you know that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with God.  If you know and practice all the rules and regulations but do not have a personal relationship with God, then you are not a Christian.   You are a Christian because you have accepted Jesus as your LORD and Saviour and have a personal relationship with God every day.

These are the exact Words of Jesus.  Jesus said, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20).  “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law” were the super religious people.  No one could be more religious than those people.  And Jesus said that our righteousness has to surpass that of those religious people.

Living a life that is better than those extremely religious people can be challenging.  Those Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and the teachers of the law were working so hard to live the best religious life according to laws and regulations, including the laws they had made.  Also, they worked hard to condemn all those who did not live the way they did.  Jesus Was their number one target to destroy because Jesus broke their laws.  We are talking about their laws, not God’s laws.  In their own righteousness away from God, they crucified Jesus on the cross, forgetting Who they worship and Whose laws they are following.  See why they are not acceptable to God?  We don’t want to be like those religious people.

Let’s go back to the Scripture Lesson.  Apostle Paul mentions the word, love, five times in three verses.  Why?  Because love is the most important part of God’s righteousness.  The Bible tells us, “love is the fulfilling of the law” (v. 10).  What is love?  The word, love, is one of the most widely used and abused words of all.  We use love for everything.  “I love pizza.  I love puppies.  I love my car.  I love you.”  We love many things.

Did you know that our understanding of love, our definition of love, must be acceptable to our God?  Not all the things you do in the name of love will be acceptable to our God.  One of the best definitions I heard of love was this.  Love means to act on whatever is beneficial to others rather than what is beneficial to yourself.  The world’s definition of love is all about me, me, me.  It’s like saying, “What about me?  What about my needs?  What about my feelings?  What about what I want?”  

The most popular definition of love is what the soap opera teaches us.  “I love you.  And I must have you.”  It’s like saying, “I know that you are happily married and have children.  I know you think you love your wife.  But you are wrong.  You love me.  I know it.  Because I love you, I’m going to have you even though it means to break up your happy marriage and your family.  Whatever it takes, I’m going to have you.  All because I love you.”  This is what too many people think love is.  Love means to take what I want even though I’ll end up hurting many people.  My happiness and what I want are the most important things here.  This kind of love goes against what God calls love.

One person actually said this in one of the talk shows some years ago.  He said, “I’ve been married for 25 years and have three children.  I’m done raising kids.”   His children were still in their early teenage years.  He continued, “And my wife is old.  I found someone else.  She is younger and I love her.  I’m leaving my wife and my family because I fell in love with another person.  Is falling in love wrong?  Love is not sin.”   Well, if your love does not go with the Word of God, then yes, it is sin.  God’s love is not about getting what I want at all costs, but making sacrifices for others.

Remember the Last Supper?  Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and said to them, “Now that I, your LORD and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15).  In order to wash other’s feet, humbleness is needed.  The ones who washed feet were not the teachers, but the lowest servants.  

To wash other’s feet is to claim that lowest position.  You cannot keep your pride and do this.  You cannot demand what you want and still wash other’s feet.  Jesus, Who Is our LORD and Saviour and our God, did this.  And we are called to follow Jesus and do the same.  This requires humbleness and willingness to make sacrifices.  Those who are not willing to make sacrifices cannot be a Christian.  Jesus said, “whoever does not carry their cross and follow ME cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27).  The Cross is all about sacrificing everything for others.  That is what Jesus did for us.  This is what we are called to do.

When should we start really loving others as God calls us to do?  The Bible tells us, “it is already the moment for you to wake up from sleep” (v. 11).  The answer is, “Right now.”  God Is calling us to wake up and get to work.  Love the way God Is calling us to love starting right now.  Honestly, we cannot do it on our own.  God’s love is the total opposite of what the world calls love.  We need God’s help desperately to love God’s way.

The Bible tells us to “put on the LORD Jesus Christ” (v. 14).  This means to live with Jesus, walk with Jesus, and come to know Jesus in Person.  You have to know Jesus to do what Jesus wants you to do.  The Bible tells us that Jesus Is the Word of God Who became flesh (John 1:14).  Do you want to know Jesus?  Get to know God’s Word, the Bible.  And continue to beg God to teach you to love the way God wants you to love, according to God’s Word.

And this is my prayer for you. May all you do in your daily life be acceptable to our God.  May the LORD honor and bless you for all the sacrifices you make in the Name of the LORD.  With the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, you may put on the LORD Jesus Christ every day and live the life that is pleasing in God’s sight.  May the LORD bless you and bless all those around you, through you.  Praise the LORD.  Amen.

September 3, 2023

Burning Bush

Exodus 3: 1 – 15

Today’s Scripture Lesson is the call story of Moses at the burning bush.  Moses was watching over “his father-in-law, Jethro’s” flocks in the wilderness of “Mount Horeb, the mountain of God” (v. 1).  Moses grew up in the palace as a prince of Egypt for forty years.  After he ran away from his Egyptian grandfather, he lived with Jethro, his father-in-law, among the Midianites for another 40 years.  

When God called Moses, he was 80 years old.  People used to live beyond 900 years.  However, people’s time limits here on earth became more like 120 years, due to their sinfulness of disobedience, idolatry, self-assertion, and wicked, evil, and immoral lifestyle.  Not everybody lived up to 120 years.  So, Moses was an old man.  Can you imagine being called by God at the age of 80?

Have you noticed that God does not like quitters?  When people run away, they usually end up in the wilderness.  God then sends them back to where they ran away from.  For example, when Hagar ran away into the wilderness, the angel of the LORD came to her and sent her back to her mistress Sarai and told her to “submit to Sarai” (Genesis 16:9).

When Jacob ran away from his home to his uncle Laban’s house.  Jacob went through the wilderness multiple times, then God sent him back home (Genesis 31:3).  Elijah went through the same thing.  He ran away into the wilderness, but God sent him back to where he ran from.   When Jonah refused to go to Nineveh, he ended up in a fish belly.  Then God sent Jonah straight into Nineveh.

Now, Moses ran away into the wilderness and lived there for 40 years.  God Is not going to let Moses stay there.  God Is sending Moses back to Egypt.  Are you running away from something or someone?  Be prepared to face them all.

Before Moses goes back to Egypt, God gets him through a training time.  To get Moses’ attention, God comes down as fire on a bush.  Moses noticed that the bush was on fire, “yet it was not consumed” (v. 2).  Moses was all puzzled saying, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up” (v. 3).

To Moses’ surprise, the bush stood on its leafy high and started to talk.  The bush called Moses saying, “Moses, Moses!” (v. 4).  The bush knew his name.  The bush continued, “Come no closer!  Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (v. 5).  You know sometimes, I run around greeting everyone without my shoes.  I’m telling you.  That is a very biblical behavior according to this Scripture.  

How do you think Moses feels about all this?  Moses is scared.  The bush said, “I AM the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (v. 6).  Moses was so scared that he got down on the ground and “hid his face” (v. 6).  Why?  “He was afraid,” too scared “to look at God” (v. 6).

To this scared Moses with a mouth full of little stones, the bush God said, 

I have observed the misery of My people who are in Egypt.  I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.  Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, etc., etc. (vv. 7-8)

The bush continued saying, “The cry of the Israelites has now come to ME; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them” (v. 9).  Need I tell you.  Our God cannot stand the oppressors, especially when they oppress God’s children.  God Is always after those oppressors to give them what they deserve.

The bush said, “Now go, I AM sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt” (v. 10).  Moses was probably thinking, “O great.  What a wonderful idea.  God, I am behind You on this, WAY behind You.”  Honestly, how many of you look forward to going and facing the one who wanted to kill you in the past?  

Jacob wrestled with an angel all night, forcing the angel to bless him before he had to face his brother, Esau, who once wanted to kill him.  Why?  Because Jacob was terrified to face Esau.  Now, Esau was a brother, just a brother.  Now, God Is telling Moses to go face his old, adopted grandfather who is a pharaoh.  Through lack of communication, Moses doesn’t know whether the grandfather who wanted to kill him is still alive or not.  No matter how you look at this, this is not good news for Moses.

Moses just now received a calling from God in Person.  How did he respond to God here?  Moses said, “Who am I that I should go to pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (v. 11).  This is one of the mistakes Moses made.  When God called Moses, God’s mind was full of Israelites; how the Israelites were tormented by Egyptians and how they needed to be delivered from where they were.

When you listen to Moses’ responses, it is all about him.  He said, “Who am I that I should” do such? (v. 11).  When God calls you, equips you, or gives you deeper knowledge, God Is not just doing it for you alone.  God normally has much bigger plans in mind.  

A number of you are involved with the Bible Study faithfully.  God Is constantly teaching you about Who God Is and the ways of the LORD.  Know that God has much bigger plans to use you according to God’s will.  Personally, I do not know what God has in mind.  But you are being trained to do the works of the LORD, “the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).  God always looks for ways to save the lives of many, as many as possible.

Whatever wonderful plans God had for the Israelites; Moses really did not want to do it.  He seriously did not want to go back to Egypt where he ran away from.  To comfort and strengthen Moses, God tells him, “I will be with you” (v. 12).  When God says, “I will be with you,” it means that God Is in control.  You don’t have to think of all the details of how it needs to be done.  You don’t have to have the power to perform miracles and wonders.  You just don’t have it.

When God calls you, God Is first calling you into a very close, personal love relationship with God that is based on total trust.  God wants you to learn to have a complete faith in God, knowing, trusting that God will do whatever God says that God will do.  You cannot serve the LORD without such faith in God.  How would God be able to use you when you constantly doubt God?

The personal love relationship with God based on complete trust must come first.  Then after that, God will be able to use you.  You don’t have to be fully equipped for the work God has in mind.  Why?  Because the Bible tells us that God equips the one who has been called by God to do “everything good for doing God’s will” (Hebrews 13:21). 

God told Moses, “this shall be the sign for you that it Is I Who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (v. 12).   What to do after bringing the people out of Egypt was hardly a concern for Moses.  He was all worried about how he was going to get them out of Egypt.  Moses ran away from his problem because he was too scared to face it.  Can a person like Moses really do a work this big?

You don’t have to worry about the details of how you are going to do what God has called you to do.  That is God’s job.  Your job is to simply trust in God and do what God tells you to do with each step.  Follow God one step at a time.  Remember what Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).  You are called to trust God one step at a time, every day.  Only then God Is able to do a God-sized work through your life.

Moses was not confident about this calling, thinking that he must come up with all the plans and do the work all by himself.  So, he came up with all kinds of excuses.  First, Moses asked God, if people ask, “What if [your God’s] Name?  What shall I say to them?” (v. 13).  God’s answer was, “I AM WHO I AM” (v. 14).  This means, “I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.”  

In ancient Israel’s culture, many names describe who that person is.  For example, Esau means a hairy baby because he was born with red hair all over his body.  To know the other’s name gives you power over the situation.  Imagine fighting an unknown enemy.  When you know nothing about your enemies that you are fighting against, you cannot come up with any plans.  Because you don’t know any of their weaknesses or strengths.  Knowing who you are up against will give you a sense of power and control.

Now, Moses wants to know God’s Name.  The response from God was, “I AM WHO I AM” (v. 14).  “Go tell them that ‘I AM has sent [you]” (v. 14).  If you google this Name, you will find all kinds of insights and books written about God’s Name.  However, they did not have that back then.  Moses is clueless of what God Is saying.  God Is telling Moses, “You will not, cannot control ME.  I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.”

If you continue to read on to the next chapter, Moses asks God for signs.  Asking for signs is a sign of unbelief.  However, God gladly gives Moses signs.  This is a part of equipping Moses to do the work.  God Is helping Moses to believe.  Why?  Because he must believe in God first.

Moses said to God, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” (Exodus 4:1).  He is pretty much saying, “Can You give me some signs to show them?  Maybe, they will believe me after they have seen the signs.”  God told Moses, “What is in your hand?” (4:2).  “‘A staff,’ he replied.”  Then “the LORD said, ‘Throw it on the ground” (Exodus 4:3).  When “Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it” (4:3).

“Then the LORD said to [Moses], ‘Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (4:4).  I strongly advise that you do not do that.  When he did that, the snake “turned back into a staff in his hand” (4:4).  Moses was all excited.  God gave him another sign.  God told Moses to “Put your hand inside your cloak” (4: 6).  “When he took it out, the skin was leprous – it had become as white as snow.”  God said, “Now put it back into your cloak” (4:7).  “When he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh” (4:7).

Moses got all excited.  He was like, “Got another one?”  So, God gave him another sign telling Moses, “But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground.  The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground” (4:9).

Now, Moses has enough signs to convince the people that he really has been called by God to rescue them from the life of slavery.  However, the problem here is not about the people not believing Moses, but Moses has a very difficult time believing God.  Moses really does not want to go and do what God has called him to do.  

God told Moses the Name of God.  God showed him three miraculous signs.  You would think that now Moses is ready to go to live out God’s calling.  But not so.  Moses tells God, “Pardon Your servant, LORD.  I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant.  I am slow of speech and tongue” (4:10).

I’m telling you.  Moses is lying through his teeth.  Because of what he said to God here, there had been comments saying that Moses had speech impediment.  He doesn’t.  God became frustrated, yet still longing to use Moses.  God said, “I AM the One ‘Who gave human beings their mouths?  Who gives them sight or makes them blind?  Is it not I, the LORD?” (4:11).  Can you feel God’s frustration?

I’m telling you.  Every single servant or prophet God used were considered failures.  Too many of them said, “I hate my life.  I wish I was dead.  I curse the day I was born.”  God Is so patient and loving in dealing with those unwilling, ungrateful, and none trusting people.  So, God said to Moses, “Oh, alright!  Here comes Billy Graham of the Sinai, your brother, Aaron.  He will speak for you.”   Well, Aaron spoke for Moses maybe once or twice.  Moses did all the talking.

What does this tell us?  Moses really did not want to live God’s calling.  Now, Moses is out excuses.  He is now left with one thing.  He said to God, “Pardon Your servant, LORD.  Please send someone else” (Exodus 4:13).  God reached the end of God’s patience.  The Bible tells us, “Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses” (4:14).

God has to be frustrated with us, the human beings.  God constantly deals with all kinds of doubts, unbelief, questioning, asking for signs, coming up with excuses, and looking for ways to run away from God.  Who says that the Old Testament God Is a scary, heartless God?  God Is so patient and loving with all God’s people.  If I was God, I would have been, “You don’t want to go and do what I say even after I showed you all these signs?  Well, fine with me.  There are plenty of people who are willing to do what I tell them to do.  Have a nice life.”

However, God did not do that.  God stood by them all patiently and lovingly and worked with and through them all constantly encouraging them and equipping them.  God promised them all, “I will be with you” (3:12).

Is God calling you to do something?  This calling does not have to be something as huge as saving a nation of people.  This calling can simply be to go to the Bible Study, or serve in a committee or some other ways, be good to others, give a special gift to the LORD, etc.  

Please, do not be like many of those prophets who grieved God because of their unbelief.  Many pastors have their own stories of how they ran away from God’s calling.  Praise the LORD, our God Is so patient and loving.  Just remember, if God can use someone like me, God certainly can use you in a mighty way.  Go with God in faith and obedience to God’s Word, God will do God-sized, mighty work in and through your life.

May you go before the LORD as humbly, willing, trusting, and obedient as possible.  May you daily give God all the control of your life.  May God freely and willingly use you for God’s mighty work every day.  May your life be filled with personal experiences of God that you will be a living testimony of God to the world.  May God fill your life with God’s powerful blessings and spread those blessings to others so that you may daily walk in God’s favor.  Praise the LORD.  Amen.

August 27, 2023

On This Rock I Will Build My Church

Matthew 16: 13 – 20

(Exodus 1:8-2:10, Psalm 124, Romans 12:1-8)

Every Sunday, we are given four Lectionary Readings.  For this Sunday, they are Exodus 1:8-2:10, Psalm 124, Romans 12:1-8, and Matthew 16:13-20.  They all tell us the same message, “We are successful and happy only because of our LORD God.”  The psalmist says, “If it had not been the LORD Who Was on our side,” we would have been crushed by the enemies (124:1, 2).  However, “Blessed be the LORD Who has not given us as prey to their teeth” (Psalm 124:6).  “Our help is in the Name of the LORD Who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8).  Praise the LORD!

God Is extremely protective of God’s people, God’s children.  God cannot stand the oppressors, especially when they oppress God’s children.  God will clearly show the enemies Who God Is and that we belong to our God.  When we continue to endure through our hardships and keep our faith in God, Jesus promised us saying, “on this rock I will build My Church” (Matthew 16:18).  The rock is you.

Let’s look at some of God’s people who lived in a foreign land for 400 years (Genesis 15:13).  Many of those years were nothing but struggles and hardships, living there as slaves under their enemies.  These are the Israelites from that ancient time.  This story is from today’s Lectionary readings in Exodus.

Israelites were living comfortably in Egypt while Joseph was in power under pharaoh.  However, when the new pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, came into power, things were different.  The new pharaoh saw Israelites as enemies and not as friends.  So, he did everything he could to oppress Israelites to make sure that Israelites do not grow powerful while living in Egypt.

The Bible tells us, “Therefore they set taskmasters over [Israelites] to oppress them with forced labor” (Exodus 1:13).  It is no fun when people intentionally, purposely hurt you.  It was not something that happened for a week or two.  For over 100 years, Israelites lived as slaves under heavy oppression, faced with discrimination and poverty every day.  How do you find hope in places like that?

What I don’t understand is why didn’t God’s people cry out to God earlier and ask God to save them from their miserable life?  Why did they wait so long to cry out to God for help?  When God called Moses, he was over 80 years old.  Moses lived as a prince of Egypt for 40 years.  Then he had to run away from his adopted grandfather, pharaoh, because Moses had killed an Egyptian soldier.  

While Moses was living among Midianites, God told Moses to go back to Egypt to bring Israelites out of Egypt.  God said, “I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt.  I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I AM concerned about their suffering” (Exodus 3:7).  Once again, why didn’t they cry out to God much earlier than suffering for 100 some years later?

We see this a lot in the Book of Judges.  It says, “Israelites were” living under oppression under the king of Aram “for eight years” then “they cried out to the LORD” (Judges 3:8-9).  One time, Israelites were living under oppression of their enemies for 18 years.  Then “again the Israelites cried out to the LORD” where the LORD sent someone to deliver them from such misery (Judges 3:14).   The Israelites did this repeatedly over and over again.

When we are faced with some kind of crisis, the first thing we need to do is to cry out to our God for help.  Many times, God waits until we cry out to God.  If God delivers us every time we get into trouble without being asked, we will not appreciate God.  We would take God for granted and fail to experience God altogether.  God’s purpose is not only to deliver us from troubles, but for us to experience God through it all.  God wants us to truly know God in Person, to experience God every time.  When you are in trouble, cry out to God first before anything.

Praise the LORD that our God Is so good.  Even though people failed to cry out to God, our God Was doing something great behind the scenes.  God made Israelites “more numerous and more powerful than [Egyptians]” (Exodus 1:9).  The Bible tells us, “But the more [Israelites] were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites” (Exodus 1:12).

All I can say here is, “Egyptians, watch out.  You are messing with the wrong people.”  When certain people really try to hurt me and hurt my loved ones, God frequently reminds me that they are not only doing wrong, but they are messing with God anointed which means they are messing with the wrong people.  To intentionally hurt people who are called by God, those who belong to God, is a serious crime to our God.  Egyptians were messing with the wrong people.  For this, they will experience a series of great tragedies.

As we know, God dealt harshly with Egyptians, however, God blessed those who helped God’s people.  For example, God blessed midwives who refused to kill Jewish baby boys.  Those midwives feared and honored God more than pharaoh.  They were on the right side, the winning side with God.  The Bible tells us, “So God dealt with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong” (Exodus 1:20).

This is the way God works for God’s faithful people as the Bible says, “(What) You intended to harm me, God intended for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).  Your enemies may come to you with the intention of hurting you.  However, God will use that situation to do good to you, to prosper you, to succeed you, and to make sure you come out victorious.  This is why the more the enemies oppressed God’s people, God’s people came out even stronger and more powerful.

The Bible also tells us, “If God Is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).  You really need to know how much more powerful our God Is than you think.  As we live in God’s love, we need to develop the reverential fear of our God.  Too many people, even Christians, use God like a credit card which we pull out whenever we need it.  Our God Is more than a Problem-Solver for us.  Our God Is the Creator of the whole world Who Is Almighty and All-Powerful God!

This pharaoh failed to realize how powerful our God Is and how much God loves God’s children.  Do not be discouraged because some people give you a hard time.  Do not try to take revenge on them.  God said, “Vengeance is Mine, and I will repay” (Deuteronomy 32:35).  Apostle Paul also said, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is Mine to avenge: I will repay,’ says the LORD” (Romans 12:19).

You do not have to worry about getting even with the one who hurt you.  You simply forgive and move on.  If that person decides to stay in that angry place, there is nothing you can do except pray for that person.  You free yourself from that bitter place by forgiving that person and enjoy your life as God wants you to.  Do not give an ounce of your energy on taking revenge or staying bitter but give yourself fully on equipping yourself to receive all the blessings God has for you.  So that God may freely “build [God’s] Church” “on this rock” which is you.

Remember, forgiveness is not for the person who needs to receive forgiveness, even though that person can use it.  Jesus told us to forgive as many times as possible because it really benefits you.  You do not want to live with a heart full of grudges and hatred.  It will eat you alive.  When you are mad, don’t you avoid that person as much as you can to avoid talking to that person?  That is full time work.  And it creates so much stress.  There’s no time for that.  When Jesus told us to forgive, Jesus was concerned about you more than the other.

In today’s Scripture Lesson in Matthew, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man Is?” (v. 13).  The disciples said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (v. 14).  That is all good.  However, Jesus Is not too interested about what the other people say about Jesus, but what you think.  Jesus asked, “But Who do you say that I AM?” (v. 15).  “Simon Peter answered, ‘You Are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (v. 16).

What you think about God, how you feel about Jesus, is very important to our LORD.  Simon Peter knew Who Jesus Is.  And there is a power in confessing it aloud.  We have too many silent Christians in this world.  Some make me wonder, “Do you want others to know that you are a Christian or not?”  Are you proud to be a Christian, a follower of the LORD Jesus, or are you ashamed of it?

My David is so sweet.  When we go out and run into people that I do not know, David is always so quick to introduce me to them as his wife.  This tells me that he is proud to have me as his wife.  I know he loves me.  But what if David hides me from the public and refuses to let people know that I am his wife?  How would I feel about that?  I would say, “David is ashamed of me and is embarrassed to be in public with me.”  I would feel horrible about that.

You do not want your loved ones to do that to you, right?  Then why would some Christians hide God from the public?  Some Christians do not pray in public nor to talk to others about God.  Can’t help but to wonder, “Are you ashamed of your God?  Are you embarrassed to be a Christian?”  I wonder how God feels about that.  Sadly, many Christians hesitate to talk to strangers about God.

Too many Christians do not realize the power of speaking to God, making confession, and speaking God’s Word ALOUD.  What happened when Peter made his confession out loud to Jesus?  Jesus called Peter, blessed.  Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!” (v. 17).  Jesus explained to Simon that God Is the One Who gave him such understanding.  Then Jesus said to Simon, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church” (v. 18).

Our God Is All-Powerful and Almighty God.  God has no problem doing all things by God-Self.  God created the whole world with Words.  God did not need anyone to help God.  However, God longs to work with us and through us.  Remember, everything God does is for our benefit.  God waits until we cry out to rescue us so that we may experience God in Person.  God wants to work through us.  God wants to build a Church with and through us.

The Bible tells us, “God lays the responsibility upon us to work in partnership with God as God works with and in us” (Philippians 2:12-13).  In order to work with God, we have to be equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit.  First, we must believe in God and in God’s Word.  We cannot be embarrassed or ashamed of God and still be used by God.  You need to be proud of our God.

There are some Christians who think light of God’s Word saying, “The Bible is not God’s Word.  It is just a book written about God.”  You cannot be used by God with that kind of sad and dangerous attitude.  You need to understand the power that God’s Word holds and the power it holds by speaking it aloud.  When Jesus Was tested by the devil, Jesus defeated the devil with the Word of God.  Jesus simply spoke the Word of God aloud.  And it was powerful enough to defeat the devil.  Do you want to live the life of victory?  Learn to speak God’s Word.

The blessings that I’m begging God to give us are the blessings given to Abraham.  God told Abraham that God will bless Abraham with many children and everyone else will be blessed through him (Genesis 22).  God confirmed God’s promises to Abraham after Abraham passed the test.  If you want to be used by God and receive the abundant blessings from God, you must pass the test.  You can only pass the test through the obedience to God’s Word.  

Personally, if I can receive God’s ultimate blessings, I will do anything God tells me to do.  Won’t you?  Thank God that our God Is so much greater, powerful, merciful, and loving even to a person like me.  God loves you no matter what.  You do what God tells you to do.  Stay even closer to God’s Word.  You allow God to equip you, to use you, and to bless you all that God desires.  And go out and be a blessing to others.  That is the beginning of being God’s Church.  

As the Bible tells us,

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). 

Don’t worry about what the world says or thinks of you.  God Is only interested in what you think and say about God.  Stay close to God’s Word so that you may receive discernment to know “what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).  You only need to focus and worry about what is acceptable to our God no matter what this world says.  And allow God to build God’s Church upon you.  

As you face all kinds of challenges in life, you will come out saying, “Praise the LORD.  ‘If it had not been the LORD Who Was on our side,’ I would have been crushed and defeated by the enemies.  But I came out victorious only because of our LORD Who Is on our side.  Thank You, Jesus!”  Praise the LORD!  Amen.

August 20, 2023

LORD, Help Me

Matthew 15: 10 – 28 

While Jesus was physically with us, here on earth, engaged in ministry, a huge part of Jesus’ ministry was to proclaim the good news about salvation and everlasting life through Jesus.  Another major part of Jesus’ ministry was pastoral care.  Jesus was constantly teaching others.  The ones Jesus spent so much time and energy teaching was not the whole crowd, but the disciples.  Jesus spent a huge amount of time training disciples for the ministry, which will continue after Jesus ascends into Heaven, in front of them all.  The crowds happened to be there witnessing and overhearing the teachings, which were directed at the disciples.

Hungry and sick people were constantly coming to Jesus.  This happened because Jesus continued to feed and heal them.  In today’s Scripture Lesson, a non-Jewish woman, a nameless Gentile woman, comes to Jesus and asks Jesus to heal her daughter (v. 22).  I’m sure she heard about the miracles Jesus performed.  She probably came with great expectations or should we say, desperate expectations, and hope before Jesus.  Jesus probably was her last hope, even though Jesus should be our only true hope for us every day.

Jesus Who generously fed thousands of people and freely healed many sick people Was not very generous or kind to her.  When she came to Jesus, she did not just ask, but shouted, “My daughter is hurting.  Heal my daughter, please” (v. 22).  She was so sad, desperate, and even pitiful begging Jesus to save her daughter.  To this desperate woman, Jesus said, “I Was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (v. 24).

What Jesus said here is kinder compared to what Jesus said according to Matthew.  Jesus said, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27).  As cruel as it sounds, Jesus had to be testing this Gentile woman here.  Because Jesus had helped and even praised plenty of non-Jewish people.  However, she does not know that.

According to Matthew, she calls herself “a dog” (v. 27).  According to Mark, Jesus calls both of them, “dogs” (v. 27).  Can you imagine Jesus calling someone “a dog” in public today?  The press will go crazy saying, “Jesus called a helpless woman and her daughter, dogs!  Jesus Is so cruel and mean.  Jesus has no love.”  The news on every channel would talk about this every day.  Facebook and social media will have a field day over this.  The woman who had been called a dog will receive so many phone calls from news channels and talk shows to come and talk about how discriminating and unkind Jesus Was to her, focusing on how victimized and horrible she must feel.  

How would you respond to something like this?  No matter how desperate I may be, if someone insults me like this, I will just walk away.  Even though they want to help me, I will walk away from them and never go back.  However, things are different when it comes to our kids.  If it means to save my child’s life, I will kiss his feet if that’s what it takes.  I’m sure she was willing to endure any kind of insults if it will help her daughter to get better.

She responded to Jesus saying, “Yes, LORD, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table” (v. 27).  Can you feel her desperateness here?  She is telling Jesus, “LORD, You can call me whatever you want.  You can insult me all You want.  But LORD, please, have mercy and save my daughter.  With a little pity, please, save my daughter.”  

As a mother, I can totally empathize with her.  But I cannot deny that Jesus was not nice nor gracious here to her at all.  It breaks my heart to listen to her.  This is a very challenging test.  However, when it comes to our kids, we must do all we can to protect them.

This proves that Jesus Is God and we are not.  Jesus Who knows all things knew how desperate she was, how sincerely she was asking Jesus to heal her daughter.  Knowing Jesus, Jesus probably Was hurting for her and for her daughter.  Many people tried to make sense out of this.  As I told you, some think Jesus Was testing her faith.  It’s possible that Jesus wanted to see how far she was willing to go to save her daughter or how much she really trusted in Jesus.

Honestly, if I was not convinced that Jesus had the power to heal my child, I would not have put up with that kind of treatment towards me and especially to my daughter.  She must have known and believed that only Jesus could save her daughter’s life.  That is why she humbled herself, even as a dog, in order to receive Jesus’ healing touch upon her daughter.  She was willing to receive even the crumbs fallen from the table if it was coming from Jesus.  She knew that only Jesus had the power to save her daughter’s life.

Her faith in Jesus was clearly shown in her confession saying, “Yes, LORD, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table” (v. 27).  According to Mark, Jesus said to her, “For saying that, you may go – the demon has left your daughter” (7:29).  But according to Matthew, Jesus said to her, “Woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done for you according to your faith” (v. 28).  Jesus praises her faith.

Let’s really think about this.  If Jesus simply healed this woman’s daughter without any complications or challenges, she would have gone home happy.  However, through this challenge, she was given a chance to confess her faith before Jesus.  Through her confession, she received not only healing for her daughter, but also received encouragement and even praises from Jesus in Person.  

Because she passed this test, she received so much more than what she was hoping to receive.  Can you imagine the impact this experience had on her life and on her daughter’s?  Her faith in Jesus not only saves them physically, but also spiritually, which means new life here on earth and in that Everlasting Life.  Through her testimony, many others will learn to put their faith in Jesus as well.  Because Jesus Is God, the Almighty God, Jesus made this happen for this woman, for her daughter, and for many other.s

What an amazing story happened because Jesus Is God, our Almighty God.  However, we are not God.  Therefore, we have no right to call anyone a dog or any belittling, insulting, or mocking names or comments to anybody.  Whatever we do, we must make sure to do it in Christ’s love.

God does not want us to be an evil doer nor a pushover or get stepped on all over by whoever.  God gave us the discernment and intelligence to know what is right and wrong.  Jesus said, “I AM sending you out like sheep among wolves.  Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).  God wants us to use the wisdom given to us through the Word of God, the Bible.  Also, remember to do it all in Christ’s love.  

When we trust in Jesus, we are able to endure all things in Jesus.  This Gentile woman knew what she wanted and needed.  When Jesus insulted her, she could have turned around and walked away from Jesus.  However, she wasn’t going to leave until she received what Jesus had for her.  She was willing to endure hardships and even harshness to receive everything that Jesus has for her.  Remember, Jacob said to the angel, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26)?  We need faith like these people have to have victory in our lives every day.

When I went to California for work, I saw one Church in St. Francisco called, “The Perfect Church.”  That really made me think.  What is their definition of Perfect?  How can any Church dare to call themselves Perfect?  We all know that all Churches go through some type of conflicts and problems.  I have not yet seen one Church without any problems.

Because we are all human beings who are not perfect, we make mistakes and hurt others unconsciously or even intentionally.  Did you know that the Church is full of sinners?  Sometimes, our sin gets so bad that we stink to high Heaven.  We all are in desperate need of forgiveness and salvation through our LORD Jesus.  

If we don’t receive that salvation in Jesus’ Name, we cannot make it to Heaven.  We need to become like this Gentile woman who was willing to endure through any kinds of hardship in order to receive what Jesus has for her.  We need to cry out to Jesus, “LORD, help me” every day.

One time at VCU, I went to a new place to worship as a student.  And this one person insulted me pretty badly.  What did God say to me right there and then?  God said, “Remember, you are not here because of them.  You are here because of ME.  Focus on ME.  You are here to Worship ME.”  God told me this so loud and clearly.  I went back the following week and every week.  

In time, I became very involved with that campus ministry.  I led seven Bible Studies a week and the Praise Band the whole time I was there.  I received God’s calling as a full time ordained minister while I was serving there.

What would have happened if I left and never went back to that Campus Ministry again?  What if I had never gone back there again thinking, “You treated me like a dog and still call yourself a Christian, you hypocrite?  I will not be treated this way by you nor by anyone else.  You hurt my feelings and I will never forgive you.  I’m never coming back here again”?  If that really happened, I may not be here today.  My life could have changed drastically.  Who knows which way I could have gone?

Thank God that God directed me to God and not to those mean people.  Sometimes, we forget why we are here.  We are not here to impress others.  We are not here to judge others.  We are not here to get accepted by others or to receive approval by others.  We are here because of our God.  We are here to Worship and to glorify our God.  Also, we are here to receive absolutely everything that God has for us.

Be like that nameless Gentile woman.  “You can call me a dog or insult me or hurt me all you want.  But You Are not going to make me leave this place and make me miss out on all that God has for me.  Nothing that you do or say to me will make me quit or give up serving My God!”  Be like Jacob who said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26).  When the devil tries to lead you astray, you tell the devil, “devil, you stir me up through these people, but you will never win.  Because my God Is with me!”

No matter what happens to you, put your focus on God, not on people or on the situations.  Your focus always needs to be on God.  No one has the power to give you that Everlasting Life, only God does.  Out of the whole Bible, not one verse tells us to make everyone happy.  That is not in God’s will.  Jesus could not even do that.  Jesus made a lot of people mad.  

The only One you need to focus on making happy is our God.  You are not called to make everyone happy, but to make our God happy, by loving everyone in Christ’s love.  So, you continue to love everyone in Christ’s love and do all you can to make our God happy by obeying God’s Word.  You will receive everything that God has for you in this life and in that Life Everlasting.  Amen.

August 13, 2023

Take Heart, It Is I

Matthew 14: 22 – 33

     Today’s Scripture Lesson talks about Jesus, walking on water.  This is a very well known story and we recently taught it during Vacation Bible School.  There are so many lessons to learn from this story.  Here, Jesus purposely sent the disciples away “while Jesus dismissed the crowd” (v. 22).  Why?  Because Jesus wanted to be alone.  Not just alone, but alone with God.  Jesus being God, God-Self, knew the importance of spending time with God, to always stay close to God the Father.

     During Jesus’ ministry, Jesus regularly found time to be alone with God.  Jesus was constantly surrounded by crowds of people.  Once you make yourself available to people, give away free food, and heal people for free, you will be surrounded by a crowd of people constantly, also.  People will not leave you alone.  There are a whole lot more needy people out there than you think, now and way back then during Jesus’ time as well.

     Jesus was pretty much always surrounded by people.  Yet, Jesus purposely took time away from everything and everyone to spend time with God.  Jesus needed God in order to do what Jesus had to do as God needed Jesus.  We need God.  We need Jesus.  Jesus said, “If you remain in ME and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from ME you can do nothing” (John 15:5).   Spending personal time with God regularly and staying close to God every day are so much more important than you can imagine.  

     Now, the disciples who are always with Jesus are not with Jesus.  They are all alone, away from Jesus right in the middle of the sea.  The sea can be a scary place.  When danger comes, there are no places to hide.  You are exposed to any kind of danger without protection.  The disciples were in the middle of the storm, out in the sea, without Jesus.

     This is a huge problem.  You always want Jesus to be with you.  The wonderful thing about our LORD Jesus is that Jesus Is always with us, even though we feel all alone.  When the disciples were faced with a huge problem and not crying out to God, Jesus came to them.  Know this.  When Jesus comes to you, Jesus may not come exactly the way you expect Jesus to come.  Which means that you may not recognize Jesus.

     While the disciples were fighting against waves and wind, Jesus came to them walking on water.  The disciples were scared already.  Now, they are seeing someone walking on water.  The Bible said that “they were terrified” (v. 26).  They “cried in fear” saying, “it’s a ghost” (v. 26).  Honestly, I don’t blame them.  I would have been terrified as well.

     Praise the LORD.  No matter what form Jesus came, our LORD Jesus has the power to turn fear and sadness into joy right away.  Jesus proved that at the resurrection.  Jesus turned all the mourning into joy overnight.  Jesus told them, “Take Heart” which means to “Take courage!  It Is I.  Don’t be afraid” (v. 27).    Once the disciples realized that it was not a ghost but Jesus, they were comforted and strengthened right away.

     They believed in Jesus, which changed the whole perspective of their situation.  What was a life-threatening situation, now became an opportunity to experience God’s powerful work.  Peter asked, “LORD, if it’s You, tell me to come to You on the water” (v. 28).  This is so like Peter.  Do you know anyone who likes to put one’s whole foot in one’s mouth and sticks out like a sore thumb constantly?  That would be Peter.  Remember, Peter was the one who was told by Jesus, “Get behind ME, satan” (Matthew 16:23)?

     Another wonderful thing about our God is, as long as we stay close to our God, any of our negative characteristics and personalities would turn into something positive, something beneficial to us and to others.  Peter normally speaks out loud without thinking about it first.  However, this created an opportunity for Peter to experience Jesus in such a powerful way.

     Remember, Jesus once told us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7)?  Peter dared to ask Jesus to let him do the impossible.  What Is Jesus going to say to him?  “Come” (v. 29).  Jesus told Peter to “Come to ME.”  Now, what does Peter have to do?  Peter simply must go to Jesus.

     However, this had to be one of the most difficult challenges Peter ever experienced.  Where Is Jesus standing?  Jesus Is standing on water.  Not only that, the wind is still blowing and waves are still high.  Would you walk on water in that situation, only because Jesus said, “Come”?

     In our mind, in human logic, this is not only dangerous but also very foolish.  Who will do something that you know will lead you to failure?  It is foolish.  It will never work in this secular business world.  However, we, Christians, the believers of the LORD, call this Faith.  Did you know that if you are not willing to fail, you will never succeed?  If you only do things that are guaranteed success, you do not need faith.

     What we just accomplished for VBS was purely based on faith.  We really did not know how many children would participate when the ladies stayed outside passing out the fliers to the parents.  We did not know whether this event would be successful or not.  We jumped in knowing that God Is with us.

     The secular business company would have done a statistical study to find out how many children of what ages will participate.  Also, they would have studied which Bible stories are more popular and what style of teaching would have work and all that.  Did we do any of that?  Instead of taking control of every situation and possibility to guarantee success, we allowed the Holy Spirit to guide us in our faith in God.  We communicated with God through prayers trying to do all that we feel God wants us to do.

     We must remember that we are not running a secular business here.  Guaranteed success does not drive us.  We are here willing to go with our God, even walking on water, if that is what our God Is calling us to do.  We cannot function like the worldly businesses and hope to have a successful ministry.  Even though we may look like we have succeeded, if that is not what God Is calling us to do or the way that our God Is calling us to work, then we become nothing but failures to our God, no matter what this world says.

     The world might call us successful, but we will be no good to our God.  For example, God clearly told Saul, the king, exactly how he needed to lead God’s army to bring victory.  However, Saul disobeyed God’s commands because that did not guarantee the approval and acceptance of the people.  He chose the most popular way by the people.  

     What happened?  When the prophet Samuel grieved over Saul’s disobedient behavior, God told him, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as a king over Israel?” (1 Samuel 16:1).  God rejected Saul because he was no good to God anymore.  We cannot be considered no good to God and still call ourselves, Christians, a Church.  We must function based on our faith in God according to God’s Word.

     When Peter stepped out of the boat and into the water, it was guaranteed failure.  What fools will do such a thing, clearly knowing what might happen?  But what happened to Peter?  Even though Peter did not stay there too long, he walked on water.  Peter experienced God doing the impossible through his life because he was willing to step out of his boat in obedience to the command of the LORD Jesus.

     How did Peter fall into the water?  Peter fell into water because he took his eyes away from Jesus.  If only Peter had kept his eyes on Jesus the whole time, no matter what was happening around him and held onto the Word of the LORD saying, “Take heart/Take courage, it Is I.  Do not be afraid,” he would not have fallen into the water.  The moment you take your eyes off Jesus, life will overwhelm you right away.  Instead of seeing what God can do, you will only see what cannot be done.

     Praise the LORD.  Even though Peter was told, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”, Jesus was right there to pull him out of the water.  With Jesus right by his side, Peter made it into the boat safely and experienced God’s mighty power (v. 31).

     Many times, we must act as though we are fools to obey God’s Word if we want to experience the mighty work of God.  The Bible tells us, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27).  Our God’s economy works the opposite way of this world.  If you are not willing to let go of the worldly ways, you will have a very hard time following Jesus.

     There are many fools or should I say fools for God all around us.  My parents were foolish according to this world’s logic when they decided to give all the money back to the Church and only kept $400 to raise four teenagers.  Twenty years ago, one gentleman gave up a six figure salary to serve the LORD in a small Church only because God called him.  He was definitely a fool according to this world.  

     One lady would have retired in four years and would have received a nice benefit for the rest of her life.  However, she gave that up and became a pastor only because God had called her into ministry.  She was a fool for the LORD.  They all foolishly gave up something good simply to obey God’s callings.

     What did they gain?  They would have never experienced what they have experienced if they did not obey God’s calling.  What my parents did, not only influenced them but myself and all my siblings.  No matter what happens, I know and know and know that God will provide.  

     Many Christians think you have to die and go to Heaven to receive the blessed rewards God has for you because of your sacrifices.  Not at all!  God will bless you in this life as well as in that Life Everlasting.  My parents may be struggling with health issues, as many elderly members do.  But they are living in those blessings from the LORD right now.

     We, foolish Christians, are called to keep our eyes on Jesus and to hold onto God’s Word, God’s Promises no matter what happens.  You may not see any glimpse of something good happening even though you try.  You may only see the disastrous results.  However, we still put our trust in Jesus.  We still hold onto Hope and Faith in our God knowing that our God will bring something amazing out of our dead situations, whatever they may be.

     Circumstances have no power over you.  What Jesus says, “Take heart/take courage; it Is I.  Do not be afraid,” will cover you with protection and power if you choose to believe and obey in it.  You will experience God doing more than delivering you from your situations.  

     The theme song from the animated movie about Moses has these lyrics:

Many nights we prayed with no proof, anyone could hear

in our hearts a hopeful song we barely understood

Now, we are not afraid although we know there’s much to fear

We were moving mountains long before we knew we could

There can be miracles when you believe

Though hope is frail, it’s hard to kill

Who knows what miracles you can achieve?

When you believe somehow you will

You will when you believe

     Sometimes, God will call you in the dark.  And all you can see is a huge body of water ready to swallow you up alive while your enemies chase after you to destroy you.  That was exactly what happened to Israelites as they stood in front of the Red Sea.  However, what happened to them when one person, Moses, obeyed exactly what God told him to do?  In front of those fearful, scared people, God parted the Red Sea.  In front of their enemies, they walked right through this huge body of water.

     Once again, God will call you in the dark sometimes where you see no glimpse of hope whatsoever.  You are not going to see the point of trying because the situation only tells you the disastrous results.  The big body of water represents chaos, the things out of control.  If God tells you to walk on or through that water, you keep on walking with your eyes fixed on Jesus standing in front of you and hold onto the Promises of the LORD.

     The situation may be hopeless.  I may feel like a fool to even try to do anything.  All I see may be a huge body of water in front of me or a valley full of dead bones.  But if Jesus says, “Come to ME,” you walk on or through that water.  If God says, “Speak to those dead bones,” you speak to those dead bones.  You will experience God parting the water.  You will see God raising up and giving life to those dead bones.  You will experience God doing more than delivering you from your impossible situations.

     May you become like Peter, who dared to walk on water, only because Jesus commanded him, even knowing that he might fall into the water.  May you learn to step out of the boat, step out of your comfort to obey God to do impossible works in the Name of Jesus.  May your life be filled with living testimony of God’s miracles because you believe, because you obey God’s Living Word, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

July 30, 2023

Seek God First

Exodus 8: 1 – 11

Both our Scripture Lessons talk about what God has done to bring Israelites out of Egypt from their lives of slavery. In order to rescue God’s people from their miserable life under their enemies, God literally moved heaven and earth. God      sent ten plagues to Egypt, excluding where Israelites lived, every time Pharaoh refused to let go of Israelites.

Through Moses, God said to Pharaoh, “Let My people go, so that they may Worship ME” (v. 1). At first, all God wanted was for God’s people to go to God’s Holy Mountain and Worship God, celebrate God. All those plagues happened because Pharaoh refused to listen to God’s commands. Pharaoh ended up losing Israelites altogether.

Any of you remember what those ten plagues were? These are the order of which those plagues came upon Egyptians. First, water turned into very stinky blood where no one could drink it (Exodus 7:17-18). Then the frogs came (Exodus 8:2), then lice/nets came (Exodus 8:16), then flies (Exodus 8:21). Then the pestilence spread among the livestock, (Exodus 9:2) then boils and spread on both people and animals (Exodus 9:9). Hail fell out of the clear blue sky (Exodus 9:19). Then the locusts came and ate everything that was green (Exodus 10:4). Then the darkness covered their little world over Egyptians (Exodus 10:21). The final plague was killing of the firstborn sons and all first born male animals (Exodus 11:5). Not one plague was pleasant. They were all horrifying and scary.

Today’s Scripture Lesson talks about the plague of frogs. My kids like frogs. They think frogs are cute. Personally, I do not like frogs. Let’s listen to what was happening with frogs in Egypt way back then. “This is what the LORD [said]:” Let My people go, so that they may Worship ME. If you, [Pharaoh], refused to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and into your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials” (vv. 1-4).

Let’s imagine this. Whether you like frogs or not, they are everywhere, in your bedroom, in your bed tub, out of your toilet, jumping into your cereal bowl while you are eating, into your pot of soup, inside your bed cover, and absolutely everywhere else. You cannot go out jogging or ride a bike without crushing them. Can you imagine driving into or out of your driveway? Can you hear crunching sounds every time you move a little? How long would you like to have them around? Let me change the question. How quickly do you want frogs to go away if possible? Well, Pharaoh had enough with the frogs himself. He called Moses and said, “Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD” (v. 8). So, Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile” (v. 9).

Moses was pretty much saying, “I will let you tell me when you want me to pray to God to get rid of frogs. So, just say when and it will happen!” What will be your answer? I will say, “Now. Get rid of them right now.” However, Pharaoh’s answer was, “Tomorrow” (v. 10). Seriously? Pharaoh wants to live with frogs in this manner for another whole day, sleeping with frogs all around him? He better not sleep with his mouth open. Frogs will be jumping into his mouth while he is sleeping. To wait until the next day to get rid of frogs was absolutely foolish and nonsense. To me, to get rid ofthose frogs yesterday would have been too late.

Yesterday during VBS, in the play about being a good neighbor to others, the lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” The true neighbor was the one who lent the helping hand to the one who was in need even though that person was Samaritan who was despised by Israelites. Now, here is a question for you. What is or what are your frogs? Did you know we all have frogs in our lives ? These frogs represent anything that is harmful to you and anything that you need to get rid of, out of your life. How many times do we say, “Tomorrow,” even though we clearly know that they need to go and start working on getting rid of them right now? For example, how many of us know that we need to start eating healthil and exercise because our health depends on it? However, the most common answer to this is, “I’ll start my diet and exercise tomorrow.” Have you done that before? I have!

How many of you have a financial problem? Most of us do. You go out shopping and see something that you must have but can’t afford it. You should walk away from it, but it is on sale. You say to yourself, “I’ll just buy this today and start saving money tomorrow.” How about our addictions? Everybody has some kind of addiction. One gentleman who passed away during my last year at the past appointment had addiction of collection anything, absolutely everything about racecars. He had ahuge nicely furnished basement. All his walls were covered with racecar stuff. It was like a miniature museum. You couldn’t help yourself but to say, “Wow!” What did kids do after he passed away? Some were given away. Sold some of them to strangers. I’m sure some of them ended up at the yard sale. He spent his lifetime collecting them, but that is how they disappeared. I know a very sweet lady who gives away her collections little by little to those she loves. She told me, “I know my kids will not keep all of these. I do not want any of them to end up at a yard sale. I rather give them to the ones who would appreciate them and will take care of them.”

Any kind of addiction is not good for you whether it is to material things or some kind of substance addiction. Don’t say, “I’ll stop drinking tomorrow” or “I’ll stop using drugs tomorrow.” Those things not only work toward killing you but also hurting your loved ones very deeply. Things like that must go right now. If you can’t do it on your own, ask for help. That will save you and your loves ones. How about your personal relationships with others? How many of us are in a hurtful relationship? I know a number of people who got into a relationship knowing that it is going to be a horrible one because they didn’t think anyone else will love them. Don’t let anyone lay hands on you or on your children. Such a person is not worth keeping. Pastor Joyce Meyer said that she married her first husband knowing that this relationship will be a horrible one. He lied to her, ran around with other women, and stole things from her. She said those five years of marriage were nothing but a nightmare. She married him because she thought no one else would love her because she came from an abusive family. Thank God she met Dave whom she is married to about 50 years now.

You are worth so much more than you can imagine. You do not deserve to be treated in any horrible ways. Jesus, Who Is a God, died for you. You are a precious child of God. Whether you have a lot of money or not, you deserved to be treated like kings and queens with such loving, tender care, and respect. Remember that!

How about your walk with God? How many of you know that you are saved in the Name of Jesus Christ? The Bible tells us, Jesus said, “Behold, I AM coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake” which means to stay ready to receive Jesus (Revelation 16:15). “Keeping [one’s] garments on.” The garment represents faith. This means to keep the faith in God. “That one may not go about naked and be seen exposed.” “Go about naked” means to live your life like you don’t know God not representing Jesus to the world and being a bad example as a child of God in this world. I’ve heard some folks saying, “I’m going to live the way I like it. Then I’ll accept Jesus as my LORD and Saviour right before I die.” Seriously? Any of you know when the last day of your life here on earth is? I don’t. I’ll be amazed if you do know.

At one Church which I served as a youth minister, we invited one minister for our lock-in plus revival. This pastor said, “No one knows what will happen tomorrow. I can be going home and get into a car accident tonight. Who knows? Only God knows.” What do you know. He got into a car accident on his way home which shocked everyone. He ended up in a hospital but made it through. Not one person suspected that he would have an accident on that day.

The fact is that no one knows what will happen tomorrow. If you have any form of frogs lingering around in your life, you need to get rid of them today, right now. If you did not know this before, you will not be able to say, “I did not know” after today. Jesus Is coming back soon, any day, now. Jesus said, “when the Son of Man, [Jesus] comes, will Jesus find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)? Jesus Is not expecting us to accomplish great things in life. Jesus Is simply looking for ones with faith in God. Our God Is a God of Just. Just means to make wrong right. Jesus said, “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly” (Luke 18:8). When you trust in God, in Jesus, your God will bring justice in your life. However, it will not happen unless you trust in God.

When I taught your children, I made sure they know that our God Is Almighty, All Powerful, and Is Able to do absolutely everything. You are a child of this Almighty God. Our God Is able and Is willing to change your life for good. There are about 6,000 promises, blessings which God made to us. You can claim them all. Did you know that God does not necessarily has to say Yes to whatever you request, ask of God? However, God Is forced to keep the Words which God has spoken. You can demand God to give you blessings which God promised through the Word of God, that is the Bible.

I have a notebook that I use to write down any blessings I see in the Bible so that I can claim them all. In order to demand and claim God’s blessings, you have to know what they are. You simply have to know them and believe that God will give them to you. If you don’t know what they are, how can you claim them? It may take some time for such blessings to come to you but start claiming them today. Don’t wait until tomorrow.

Both my parents served in ministry for most of their lives. They struggled so much financially and emotionally. I grew up watching them. For many, many years, they gave the money back to Church from their salary but $400. There were four of us. They raised four teenagers with $400 for many years. I don’t know how they did it. I know they were paying $320 as mortgage every month. They struggled so much trying to feed and cloth four growing teenagers for many, many years with $400. Even though they struggled for many years, God has blessed them in their older age. They are not living off $400 anymore. As God promised them through the Word of God. The Bible says, “the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12) and saying, “the glory of your latter house will be greater than the former and in this place you will have peace” (Haggai 2:9), my parents are living in those blessings right now. God has blessed them so much more in their later days. My parents kept their faith in God no matter what and God kept promises God made with them through the Word of God, the Bible, in God’s perfect timing.

So, do not put things away until tomorrow. Sometime, God does not have to convince you what is bad for you and hurting you. You don’t need five series of sermons to convince you that you have a bad case of frogs in your life. You already know what they are and that they have to go, get out of your life. Do not wait until tomorrow to walk away from things that are hurting you and your family. Do not wait until tomorrow to put your trust in God and to accept Jesus as your LORD and Saviour. If there is something that God wants to bless you, start trusting God today. Because today is one day closer to that day. God will not give them to you unless you believe and are mature enough to receive them. Giving something to a person who is not ready to receive such will ruin that person’s life. God loves you too much to do that to you. God loves you. Remember that. No matter what happens, put your trust in God. Love God as God wants to be loved by you. And walk and live in God’s love. The most basic way to show your love to God is to Worship God regularly and faithfully. Come back to Church and be a part of the Body of Christ. And receive absolutely everything God has for you. Come to know God more and more in Person. And allow God to love you and bless you every day. Don’t wait till tomorrow. Seek God first today.

And pray with me if you have not received Jesus as your LORD and Saviour. Let us pray.

Dear LORD Jesus, please come into my life and be my LORD and Saviour. Please, forgive all my sins. Help us to walk away from anything that is sinful and to walk closer to you every day. Teach us your Word. Help us to live a life obedient to Your Word. And look upon us with your blessings and favor. We love You. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

June 11, 2023

I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

 In today’s Scripture Lesson, Jesus tells the people what Jesus wants, what Jesus desires.  Isn’t it easier when people tell you what they want instead of having to guess what they might want?  Here, Jesus clearly tells us what Jesus, what God desires.  We don’t have to guess what God wants.  We know what we need to do to make God happy.  It can’t get easier than this.

Let’s see what has happened here.  Jesus was walking and going somewhere.  Then Jesus saw Matthew.  Matthew was a tax collector “sitting at the tax booth” (v. 9).  Matthew was doing what he usually did, taking care of taxes.  Then Jesus spotted him.  Jesus noticed him.  Jesus called Matthew saying, “Follow ME” (v. 9).  Then Matthew responded by getting up and he “followed Jesus.”

What just happened here is so much more important than you think.  Because Matthew obeyed Jesus’ command, Matthew became one of twelve disciples of Jesus.  Now, Jesus called another person who was a rich young man to follow Jesus.  This young man came to Jesus and asked Jesus about the “eternal life” (Mark 10:17).  Jesus told him to obey God’s commandments (Mark 10:18).  When this young man said, “all these I have kept since I was a boy,” the Bible tells us that “Jesus looked at him and loved him” (Mark 10:21).

This rich young man impressed Jesus.  Jesus loved him and told him to do one more thing.  Jesus told him, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Mark 10:21).  Then Jesus invited this young man in Person to follow Jesus.  Jesus told him, “Then come, follow ME.”  Can you imagine being called, invited by Jesus in Person?  What an incredibly honorable, blessed thing just happened.

However, this young man refused to follow Jesus, refused to accept this Personal invitation of Jesus because he did not want to do one thing Jesus told him to do, which is to “sell everything [he has] and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21).  He did not want to give up his earthly treasure in order to receive heavenly treasure as Jesus promised.  He rejected Jesus over his money.  This is why the Bible tells us, “For many are called/invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).

God calls many people every day to be in ministry with God.  However, not everyone responds to God’s calling and goes with God.  Praise the LORD.  Matthew “got up and followed Jesus” as soon as Jesus called him.  Remember, Matthew was a tax collector.  Tax collectors were known as sinners, really bad sinners because of their deceptions.  Jews had to pay taxes to the Roman government.  Jewish tax collectors would gather the taxes and hand them over to the Roman government.

In the process of doing that, these tax collectors were known to gather more money than what they should collect to keep for themselves.  They cheat and lie.  And that is how they became rich.  They were obviously known sinners.  People despised tax collectors and looked down on them.  No religious person in their right mind would associate with tax collectors.  However, Jesus went to the house of a tax collector and Was having dinner with them (v. 10).

When the life of an obviously extreme sinner has changed for good, this is a great reason to celebrate.  For example, when the prodigal son came home from the life of sinfulness, his father gave a big party (Luke 15).  What do you do when the lost and stray child comes back home?  You have a party.  That is a normal and right thing to do.  Then why would these religious Pharisees get upset about this?

Do they not want the sinners to repent and be right with God?  Do they not want God’s people to be saved?  Shouldn’t the salvation for God’s people be the reason for serving God in obedience to God’s calling?  Those religious people should be celebrating and rejoicing in the Name of the LORD because salvation has come to this household of sinners.  Yet, they are upset, very upset.

Why?  Because Jesus dared to eat dinner with these sinners.  In their minds, all God’s people must be perfect to be saved according to their standard, not necessarily God’s.  This means keeping all the written laws including the laws which they came up with as well, perfectly.  Their law books were bigger than the Law Books which God gave us.  All religious people must do whatever these leaders think is right, not what God thinks is right.  To them, righteousness comes from doing exactly what they say to do, not what God says to do.  

This even goes with Jesus.  If Jesus does not live up to their expectations, Jesus Is no good to them.  In order for those religious leaders to love and accept Jesus, Jesus must obey them, not God.  How sad and scary is that?  Do you want to know what God thinks about all those religious leaders?  Jesus made it very clear once again.  Jesus gave them seven woes (Luke 11:37-54, Matthew 23:1-39).  Woe means “great sorrow, distress, or troubles.”  This means to be extremely, painfully upset.  Those religious leaders received seven woes from Jesus.  Jesus definitely is not happy with them at all.

The way people worship and make sacrifices to God must be done exactly the way those leaders think is right.  People’s lifestyles must meet their expectations.  People must think, dress, speak, and do everything the ways these leaders set for people regardless of what God says, wants, and desires.  Jesus failed to live up to their expectations.  Therefore, they are mad at Jesus, disappointed with Jesus.  In their eyes, Jesus Is No One but another sinner Who Is no good to them.  So, they had to kill Jesus, to get rid of Jesus, out of their sight.

Let us not make this mistake.  God must be God in your life, not you.  God has to be the One Who calls the shots in all decision making processes, not you.  You cannot be God and still be a Christian.  Who is in charge in your life, God or you, determines the quality of your walk with God.  How can you call yourself Christian if God Is not God in your life, if your place is above God’s?  Who do you aim to please, to satisfy, God or you?  Do you know what God desires from you?  Do you think of what God might desire and want from you in whatever you do?  It is so important to think of God first before you do anything, especially in ministry.

It is also very important to give God room to do what God desires to do.  God does not expect any of us to do everything perfectly, to always have successful ministry, or to have perfect performances whether we worship or serve God in any part of ministry.  Doing ministry perfectly is not as important to God as trusting God completely.  God Is more interested in how and how much we trust God than for us to do everything perfectly.

What did Jesus say Jesus desires?  Jesus said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (v. 17).  Mercy is something that comes from your heart but cannot see.  On the other hand, sacrifice is something everyone can see.  God Is more interested in what is in your heart than what you look like outside.  When the prophet Samuel went to the home of Jesse looking for the next king of Israel, God made it very clear to Samuel saying, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The LORD does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  It can’t get more clear than this.

If you want to make God happy, you must do what actually makes God happy, not what you force God to be happy with.  Have you seen some people giving gifts of what they like and not what the receivers might like?  My brother used to ask me, “Do you think Mae-Hyung (meaning husband of older sister, which is David) would like this gift?”  I often tell him, “This is what you like.  This gift is so you, not him.  Look for something he likes.”  He is sweet and meant well.  But he needed a little guidance when it came to gifts.  

What you want to do for God is not as important as doing what God wants you to do.  If you want to make God happy, give God what God desires.  Here, Jesus said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (v. 13).  We must give God mercy, which means to treat each other with mercy.  This means to be kind to others and deal with others with respect and love, the love of Christ.  The way you treat others shows how you feel about God, how you love God.  Loving others in Christ’s love is loving God.

Why?  Because you represent God in this world.  Because loving others and being a good neighbor to others are God’s commandments.  Jesus said,

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.  The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31)

This goes with the Golden Rule which God gave us, “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).  God Is so good to us.  God makes all this important information open and clear to us.  You don’t have to guess, to have three-part series sermons, or receive proclamations from an angel to know whether you need to be good to people, to help needy people or not.  We know how to make God happy.

God told us what God desires loud and clear in another place.  When King Saul of Israel disobeyed God’s direct order, God sent the prophet Samuel and told Saul, 

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.  Because you have rejected the Word of the LORD, the LORD has rejected you as king. (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

God did not hide what God thinks about disobedience to God’s Word here.  God called disobedience to God’s Word sin, arrogance, evil, idolatry, and rejection of God.  No great works or gifts express love to God if they are done and given in disobedience to God’s Word.  They are nothing but sinfulness, arrogance, evil and wickedness, idolatry, and rejection of God.  God told king Saul, “Because you have rejected the Word of the LORD, the LORD has rejected you as king” (1 Samuel 15:23).

Do you want to be accepted by God and make God happy and proud?  Do what God tells you to do through the Word of God.  Get to know God’s Word, the Bible and obey God’s commands.  God Is not delighted or impressed by the sizes of your accomplishments or your gifts.  You may not have accomplished great things, but when you do it in obedience to God’s Word, God appreciates you, honors you, treasures you, blesses you, and truly feels your love.

There is another place where God tells us what God desires from us.  All those desires of God go together.  God said through the prophet Zechariah,

This is what the LORD Almighty says: Administer true justice (meaning God’s justice); show mercy and compassion to one another.  Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.  In your hearts, do not think evil of each other (Zechariah 7:9).

God also said through the prophet Micah,

The LORD has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

What God desires from us is no secret.  God said it throughout the whole Bible that God desires mercy and obedience, not your accomplishments.  Remember, God said, “the people look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

I pray to God you will be right with God and make God very happy with your heart and mind as you live a life of obedience to God’s Word, so that your deeds and actions will cry out to God how much you truly love God.  May all your gifts and works be accepted and honored by our God.  May your obedient walk with God be evident and a living testimony of Jesus to this world to help others to put their trust in our God.  May the LORD be pleased with you and bless you tremendously in this life and in that life everlasting.  Praise be to our God.  Amen!

June 4, 2023

Make Disciples of All Nations

Matthew 28: 16 – 20

According to the Bible, this scene happened right after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Jesus told the eleven disciples to go to the mountain in Galilee.  There, Jesus gave this Great Commission of:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (vv. 19-20)

Our God does not work like the earthly masters.  Earthly masters would send the servants out by themselves and wait for them to come back and report to the master what the servants have accomplished.  Our God does not work like them.  Our God goes with the servants and works with and through the servants.  Jesus promised them, promised us, “Surely I AM with you always, to the very end of the age” (v. 20).  So, you don’t have to worry about doing what Jesus commanded us all by yourself.  Jesus Is with you and will never leave you no matter what.

Jesus clearly lives in you.  Also, the Holy Spirit, Who Is the Helper, Is with you and “will teach you everything and help you remember everything [Jesus] has told you” (John 14:26).  Our Triune God Is in us and all around us.  Therefore, we are never alone.  We simply have to focus on doing what Jesus has commanded us.  Let’s see what Jesus said again,

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the 

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (v. 20).

There are several specific commands Jesus gave us.  First, Jesus said, “Go” (v. 20).  To go where?  There is no specific location where Jesus commands us to go.  Where do you think Jesus wants us to go?  It is anywhere you need to or want to go.  The mission field is no other than wherever you are.  This can literally be your backyard where you can see and talk to your neighbor.  Jesus may send you to your workplace, grocery stores, school, gas station, or wherever you are.  Wherever you meet people is your mission field.

Then Jesus said to “make disciples of all nations” (v. 20).  This command is the tricky one.  How do you make disciples of anyone?  First of all, we have to understand about disciples.  Who are the disciples?  Jesus had twelve main disciples who followed Jesus everywhere.  Jesus also had numerous disciples of different people.  Who are they and what did they do?  They are the followers of Jesus who chose to live by God’s Word as Jesus did.  They obeyed whatever Jesus told them to do.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, they were empowered by the Holy Spirit to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere they went.  They were constantly serving in ministry with people by feeding the hungry, tending the poor, and healing the sick while “teaching them to obey everything that [Jesus had] commanded [them]” through God’s Word.

Being a disciple goes along with teaching people God’s Word.  So, in order to make disciples, you must become a disciple of Jesus Christ first.  In order to teach others about God’s Word, you must know God’s Word first.  If you teach others what you do not know, it will be the blind leading the blind.  You must know God’s Word first.  This is very crucial.  Knowing God’s Word, understanding God’s Word, is one of the most important things you need to do in your walk with God.

People who love God but do not know God’s Word are the easiest targets for the devil.  As long as the devil mentions Jesus and God, these people will go along with the devil.  This is why so many people fall into the most ridiculous cults of all kinds.  I just watched a documentary about one specific cult.  They are called Christians.  They have a mega Church building.  They have one head pastor who is in prison for sexually assaulting and raping many women in the name of religion.

His two twin daughters serve as pastors after their dad went to prison.  These so-called pastors have brainwashed the people so badly.  One of the blessed rituals they do is to bend on their knees in front of the pastor's office.  One of the pastors would come out and throw cookies at them.  Then the people would catch the cookies with their mouth without touching them to eat them.  If the cookies fall on the floor, they will pick them up and eat them.  Why?  Because those cookies are the signs of blessings.

I have to remind you that these people are the one who love God very much.  That is why they do what they do, thinking they will be blessed by this.  This is what happens when people love God so much yet do not know the Word of God.  There is no understanding or discernment in their behaviors.  They simply do what they are told to do.  I am not even sure if those pastors know God’s Word.  If they do, they certainly will not lead people in such a way that is against God’s Word.  

I fear God too much to lead you away from God’s Word because I know what God said about that in the Bible.  God clearly says, “But a prophet who presumes to speak in My Name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the Name of other gods, is to be put to death” (Deuteronomy 18:20).  I don’t want death to be my punishment.  I’m not doing it.  Those pastors are foolishly brave.

First, you must do everything you can to know God’s Word every day.  So, how do you “make disciples of all nations?” (v. 19).  Did you hear that?  We are called to “make disciples of all nations.”  This means no one is excluded.  Everyone is called to be the disciples of Jesus Christ.  And God wants to do it through us.  God wants people of every race, color, ethnicity, gender, etc., to be God’s disciples. 

Do you go out and pass out tracks and little Bibles to people to make disciples of them?  Do you knock on doors at individual homes to tell them about Jesus?  Certainly, those are some of the ways you can spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the process of making them disciples of Jesus.  Do you talk to people about Jesus all the time and all day long?  Personally, I don’t think you want to do that.  If you talk about Jesus or any same subject repeatedly over and over again, people will start avoiding you.

You have to find ways that will motivate you to tell people about Jesus.  Sometimes, you don’t even have to mention Jesus at first.  You eventually need to tell people about Jesus.  However, you can start reaching out to people without mentioning Jesus.  There are great examples from God’s faithful disciples in our times.

One Korean lady learned about Jesus.  She was so excited about becoming a Christian, a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus that she wanted to tell the whole world.  However, she did not know how.  She did not know much about the Bible.  Yet, she wanted to tell others about Jesus somehow.  So, she started to make Thuck.  Thuck is Korean rice cake.  There are many, many different kinds of Thuck.  It’s texture is nothing like the cake that we know, but they are so good.  Korean people usually make Thuck for special occasions.

You have to take different kinds of grains to a special place to make different kinds of Thuck.  And it’s not cheap.  This lady was not rich at all.  She had to take on multiple different part time jobs to afford to make Thuck every day.  She invited her neighbors once a week to serve them Thuck.  People came week after week to eat her Thuck.  At first, people did not question her motives.  They just enjoyed eating her Thuck.

However, they started to feel guilty as weeks went by.  They asked her, “Is there anything you want to tell us?”  That was her cue.  She told them about Jesus.  This happened way before my time.  She was one of the greatest evangelists in Korea.  She didn’t even have a grand educational background.  After the Korean War, everyone was striving to survive, just to survive.  Seventy some years after the Korean War, Korea finally became one of the leading countries with technology and economy.  

Korea now sends more missionaries out into the world than any other country.  However, the process to get where they are was not easy.  During those most difficult times, she did what she could, which was to serve Thuck in the Name of Jesus to the needy neighbors around her.  Then God did what she could not, which is to make them the disciples of Jesus Christ.

I know an American lady who did the same thing.  This American lady served chicken soup instead of Thuck to her neighbors the same way the Korean lady did.  She brought more members to her Church than anyone else in their Church history.  She said, “I only served chicken soup and God did the rest.”  These ladies probably made more disciples of Jesus than many Christians we have.  

Jesus said to baptize everyone “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (v. 19).  This does not mean that you have to physically baptize them.  You bring them to Church.  You help them through prayers and encouragements to be disciples of Jesus by worshiping and serving God faithfully.  Then I can baptize them “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus also said to teach “them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (v. 20).  Did you hear that?  Jesus did not say, “‘teach them to obey” whatever they want to obey’ or “selectively” or “whatever they feel comfortable to obey.”  Jesus said, “teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded you.”  Jesus did not give us the option to choose which one we should or should not obey.  Jesus simply said, “teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded you.”  

This selective obedience to God’s Word is popular among believers, now.  Not God, but those individuals decided what is important to keep and what is not.  This means that “everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6).  In other words, people are doing whatever they think is right, not necessarily what God says is right.  Did you know that it is the theme key verse in the Book of Judges?  People “did as they saw fit” (NIV).  “People did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (NLT).  Do you know what the Bible says about this?  They “did evil in the eyes of the LORD” (Judges 3:7, 12, 15, 4:1,…).

Because “[God’s] thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways [God’s] ways,” what you think is right is not always right in the eyes of the LORD.  If you really want to do the right thing that is acceptable to God, you must do it God’s ways.  In order to do all things God’s ways so that our works are acceptable to God, we must know what God wants.  We must know God’s Word.

A chunk of your lifetime needs to be spent on studying God’s Word.  So, the important question you need to ask yourself is, “How much time do I invest in studying and understanding God’s Word?”  Do you want to stay in a close relationship with Jesus and get to know Jesus more and more every day?  You must experience Jesus in person as you walk with Jesus that goes along with the Word of God.

You need to know the Word of God to recognize God.  The Bible tells us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).  Those twin pastors do everything in the Name of the LORD our God.  However, everything they do is against the very Word of God.  They are the enemies of the LORD.  They are also raising armies of people to go against God.  You DO NOT want to be a part of that.  You want to stay as far away from that as possible.

The Bible tells us, “Come out of her, My people; so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).  Make sure that you are on God’s side, not against God.  Make sure that all your works done in the Name of the LORD are acceptable to our God.  Make sure that what you do will help others to become the disciples of Jesus Christ.

I pray that you will willingly serve the LORD, walk with the LORD and do all that God has called you to do with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  When we see Jesus face to face, may Jesus say to us, “Well done, My good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful…Come and share your Master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21).  Praise the LORD!  Amen.