1/4/2026 New Church, New Me, New Year

New Year's Worship 2026

Date: January 4, 2026

Title: New Church, New Me, New Year

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-19 (NIV)

[Matthew 16:13-19] 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Sermon

I pray that the Lord’s blessings for the New Year will be full upon this church and all of you.

As we worshiped together in my basement for the Watch Night Service, with children sitting close together singing and worshipping, the image of the early church from 2,000 years ago came to my mind.

Although they did not have instruments, projectors, or microphones like we do, they sat together like us, looking at the word, singing with psalms and hymns, and praying together. They likely shared warm food together, just like our rice cake soup.

During the few times of Great Revival in Christian history, large-scale gatherings were held continuously for special occasions. However, the most common form of the church appearing in the Bible was small enough to gather in a house, with a few dozen people at most.

As video and sound technology developed, the scale of churches was able to grow larger and larger. Now, we live in an era where we can listen to sermons and praise from famous churches all over the world through the internet and social networks without limit.

While this brings us benefits, there is a concerning phenomenon in Korea where 44% of people in their 20s call themselves Christians but do not go to church. They are often called "Canaan Saints" (a wordplay meaning they "do not go"), and this is closely related to digital culture.

Nearly half of Koreans in their 20s who identify as Christians do not attend church, and for those in their 30s, it is 39%. If we look at all age groups of Korean Christians, 31% do not attend church.

The situation in the United States is a bit more serious, where 38% of all people who identify as Christians do not go to church at all. Because touching and gracious content is constantly created online and can be accessed whenever and however one wants, people no longer feel the need for the local church.

If the church is viewed merely as a place to passively receive gracious content, digital devices are becoming so advanced that it is more comfortable to receive it at home. If that is the case, the reason to go to church disappears.

Therefore, a massive proportion—30% to 40%—of Christians no longer go to church but still consider themselves people of faith. This phenomenon is even more distinct among the younger generation, who feel more comfortable with digital communication than meeting in person.

In this situation, two extreme phenomena occurring in American churches recently caught my eye. Christian music albums are selling tremendously in Korea and the US, and it is hard to get tickets for worship team concerts, causing ticket prices to skyrocket.

In fact, these things are connected. Instead of going to church every week, people fill their spiritual needs with digital content and attend high-quality, grand-scale concerts a few times a year for a worship experience full of presence. In a way, this could be seen as a very inventive and effective way of religious life.

In this situation, mega-churches in the US are aggressively changing their interiors into the form of concert halls. Most install huge LED screens and have super-luxury bands, making them look like the most sophisticated concert venues.

Setting aside whether it is right or wrong, wherever such investments are made, people gather, and it clearly shows an effect in numerical growth. (Watch Slide #1 Video)

However, there are other types of churches showing noticeable growth in a completely different way; these are family-concept churches called Micro-Churches or House Churches. These churches showed a growth of 15% in 2025 alone.

(Slide #2) In reality, two types of churches going down extremely opposite paths are showing visible growth.

(Slide #3) Roughly, there are three types of churches: Number 1 and 2 are growing, but Number 3 is in rapid decline. But if the Apostle Paul, the first church planter, came in a time machine to see this, or if Jesus came now to see...

Which place, or which gathering, do you think He would call "My Church"? Isn't this a truly important question? What is the church to Jesus?

Basically, "Church" means Ekklesia, which means "a community called out from the crowd." The word Ek (out from) emphasizes that we do not belong to the world.

[John 17:13-16] 13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”

After Jesus came, there are two types of people in God's eyes: those who belong to Jesus Christ and those who belong to the world. If you are hated because you belong to Jesus, it becomes a blessing because it makes it clear that you belong to Him.

This is because you become the subject of the prayer that Jesus Himself prayed, recorded in John. He prays that His joy may be full in them, and that although they live in the world, they are kept from falling into evil by belonging to Jesus.

After Ek, the word Klesia combines the meaning of "calling" and "gathering." First, looking at the perspective of calling:

[John 10:3] "The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."

Besides this, the Bible frequently mentions that God calls His children and leads them. You came to this church because God called you in some way, whether through a friend's kind invitation or a clear inner voice.

And you responded by showing the faith to take that courageous step. The final meaning of the word Ekklesia is "Assembly" (gathering).

Last year, while doing street evangelism, I had a brief conversation with a unique young woman who seemed to be living on the streets. I greeted her, "Hello, I am from a nearby church."

She gave a strange smile and said, "I am a church myself." It seemed she wanted to emphasize that the church is not a building but people.

She meant that the church should be actual people, not an institution. She said she talks to God and worships alone, speaking with a slightly detached expression.

I told her, "It is good that you seek God, pray, and meet Him." Then I added, "However, you cannot be a church alone."

I told her that the church basically means a "gathering." Her expression changed, and she turned around and walked away.

Everyone, the church is a meeting and a community formed by believers gathering together. That is its most basic identity.

However, the reason so many "unchurched believers" appeared instantly in the US and Korea is that even when they went to church before, they were only attending the church, not belonging to the community.

Whether the church was big or small, they only played the role of passively receiving what the church prepared as individuals within a crowd. Therefore, they felt almost no discomfort when switching to online worship.

On the night of the Watch Night Service, we looked through almost the entire book of 1 John and heard the undeniable word of God. Christians must love God above all, but to love God, we must love the brothers and sisters of the church we belong to.

Once we know this, doesn't the church growing larger become a burden? Doesn't a dilemma arise? It is not about the number of an anonymous crowd increasing, but about the number of brothers and sisters I must personally know and love increasing, so it cannot help but be a burden.

I will quote a pastor named Eugene Peterson today. He passed away a few years ago, and he was an example in many ways, like a saint of this era, called "a pastor to pastors."

He is famous worldwide for writing The Message Bible, so his church could have grown rapidly, but Pastor Eugene Peterson prevented that in various ways. First, he did not expand the building or the parking lot.

He once said this: "I was appalled to read in a so-called bestselling church growth book that 'the size of the church parking lot has a far greater impact on the congregation than the choice of the sermon text.' I knew I was being deceived. I did not want to be a 'religious professional' who proves my worth by receiving people's recognition." — From The Pastor

He did not accept attractive programs that new people would like. He did not use any methods to make the church look flashy outwardly. He rarely accepted outside speaking invitations and served his own church his whole life.

Even so, when the number of saints eventually increased, he planted a new church instead of growing his own church bigger. This was because of his firm definition of the church.

"It is impossible to be a shepherd before an anonymous crowd. The essence of the church is Relational. If you do not know the people you pray with, talk to, and listen to, what is left for you?" — From an interview with Yancey Arrington

I think this is truly serious because this is not just this pastor's opinion, but because the Bible only acknowledges such a relational community as the church.

[Ephesians 2:21-22] 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

I used to be mistaken and thought this was speaking to each individual, but here it clearly uses the plural form "you." It does not say an individual is a temple, but that we become a temple when we are joined together.

That is when the Holy Spirit is perfectly present. But what if people are gathered in one place but not connected? They don't know who each other is, and naturally, they have never prayed together.

Then... they are not joined and do not become a temple. What if we don't know each other well but connect temporarily only when praying or worshiping together? Then we would experience the Holy Spirit coming fully only temporarily, right?

In the Middle Ages, many Catholic cathedrals were larger and more magnificent than the actual Temple in Jerusalem. Looking only at the building, it looks like something from heaven.

But did the priests on the high pulpit and the believers form a true church community? In Catholic churches worldwide, including the US, praise and sermons were conducted in Latin until 1970.

Naturally, most believers could not understand at all. They were representative buildings that came to mind when thinking of "church," but in reality, the church did not exist within them.

If most people worshiping together are complete "strangers" who wouldn't even recognize each other outside... they may be members belonging to the same religious institution, but they cannot be "members" in the sense of parts of a body.

Eventually, they fail to become a community, meaning that gathering fails to become a church.

"There can be no anonymity in the Christian faith. The gospel is always personal. God calls our names, and we also call each other's names. However, many churches today are frantic to gather a 'Crowd.' A crowd is an anonymous group. In a crowd, no one needs to take responsibility, and no one needs to reveal themselves. A crowd is not a place to make disciples, but a place to mass-produce religious consumers. If the pastor does not know the names of the congregation, and the congregation does not know each other's pain, it is no longer the church the Bible speaks of." — Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor

In church-related surveys conducted in Korea and the US, it has been revealed for years that the biggest reason people prefer larger churches is precisely this "anonymity." What does that tell us?

Although people like Pastor Eugene Peterson warned and cried out, the majority continues to go down that easy and wide path. However, let's look at the danger of the thought, "I have faith, so I don't need to belong to a church, right?"

[Ephesians 5:25] Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Christ giving Himself for the whole world means He opened the way of salvation for everyone in the world. However, who are the people who will eventually receive and enjoy the fruit of that sacrifice? It is the church.

Ephesians ultimately says that what Christ loved and the object for whom He gave Himself is the church.

[Acts 20:28] Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

Here too, it says that what God bought with His own blood is the church. Earlier, we confirmed the clear basic definition of the church as "people called out of the world and gathered together."

When Jesus first proclaimed that He would build the church, He used the first-person possessive form for Ekklesia. He said, "My church." This means the church belongs to Jesus; Jesus is the owner.

Us becoming Jesus' possession and Jesus becoming our possession does not happen individually, but through the community called the church.

And if you look closely at the verses with promises of blessing, provision, and protection that we often recite, they are in the plural "you" (y'all), not the singular "you." Ultimately, the "church" is the object of blessing, provision, and protection.

1 Corinthians 3:16: "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?"

Here too, "you yourselves" refers to the community—the church. When we are joined together with our respective roles to form one community, it becomes a temple before the Lord, and the Lord is fully present within it.

So, such a community—a real church—has the Lord with it wherever it is. Whether in South Dakota, Times Square, or even in my basement! The Lord is present where we gather.

But isn't the place important? The only place where Jesus proclaimed He would build His church was none other than Caesarea Philippi.

The place where the church began with the coming of the Holy Spirit was Jerusalem. It was a place full of religious leaders who killed Jesus and hostile crowds who followed them.

And in Caesarea Philippi, there is a cave shaped like a gaping mouth that is still called the "Gates of Hell." The common point of the locations of all churches appearing in the Bible is this: they were not built in quiet areas where we can live peacefully among ourselves, but in places like the center of the world.

If that important commonality were missing, perhaps the churches doing the most biblical faith life in America would be the Amish. But Caesarea Philippi at that time was an emperor's city, as the name Caesarea indicates.

There was a giant statue of the emperor, there were temples, and even before Rome entered, it was called the city of Pan and had been a city of idols since ancient times. It was in such a place that Jesus said, "I will build my church."

And He said He would give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to this church.

[Matthew 18:18-20] 18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

He is speaking of the authority given to the church. Earth and heaven mean the present world and the afterlife; He emphasized that the church on earth and the Kingdom of God in heaven are connected.

The keys of heaven were not given to an individual, but to the church. Not the keys to a church building... not something like US citizenship... but the keys to eternal citizenship in heaven... the keys of eternal life!

He gave these amazing keys of heaven to Christ's church. Isn't this indeed the greatest authority the church possesses? Other abilities given to the church are all important, but nothing is more important than this.

But what if we don't use these keys and just keep them as decorations? The Lord demands much from those to whom much is given. The power God gives always comes with duty.

When we fulfill the role of the church well like that, the church becomes one, a perfect man, a person of love, reaching the measure of the fullness of Christ.

[Ephesians 4:11-15] 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

The commands Jesus gave to the church are ultimately to lead us to live like a church, not to be shaken by the world's deceit, temptations, all kinds of teachings, and trendy winds, but to grow up to Jesus Christ. This is Jesus' church.

But are modern churches fulfilling the mission of the church well? There is one thing our church has realized while doing street evangelism for the past 18 years.

It is that the people we meet on the street almost never come to our church. In fact, there may be more people who left the church because the burden of us doing street evangelism was too great.

Come to think of it, almost no large churches in New York do street evangelism... I think I finally know the reason. There is a very realistic reason. It is not helpful to the church.

The people we evangelize don't become members of our church, and existing members leave because of the burden... so there is no rational reason to evangelize.

However... "It is not helpful to the church..." Which church are we talking about here? Whose church is it, and who judges what is right or wrong? Is it truly the "My Church" that Jesus spoke of?

If it has the name "church" but is full of spectators gathered to enjoy a flashy spectacle... hasn't it become closer to the Roman Colosseum of the same era than the church appearing in the Bible?

It is a matter for us to beat our chests and cry out about. I think the number of people I have met on the street from the time I was a new believer in this church until now probably reaches thousands.

I went out almost every month, and for about 4 years, I evangelized on the street every week. Since our church is here, the number of people met for evangelism might be ten thousand.

People from all over the world gather freely every week, and among them, there are certainly those whose only opportunity to hear the gospel is during their time here. Didn't we meet such people?

Although there is almost no chance those people will come to our church... if that meeting was their first and last meeting with a Christian... how would the Lord's heart, who loves that one soul, feel?

It is not helpful to the church? What on earth is the church they are talking about?

Is the fact that more people gather in places where the keys of heaven are hung only as decorations proof that it is a living church that pleases the Lord? We will do missions, street evangelism, street praise, and Cross (ministry) this year as well.

Because that is what Jesus, our Master, is pleased with... and... because that is the reason the true Lord's church exists in the world.

Even if a cross is hung and there is a big sign saying "Church"... a place that provides only comfort, encouragement, and collective psychotherapy for people, by people, using the Bible as a tool, cannot be the church of Jesus Christ.

Like the Lord's warning, one who does not love his brother is a liar. If he does not love God either... can one who does not know his brother personally meet that God personally?

He said the church is the fullness of Christ appearing in the world. It is natural for His body to handle the works Jesus would do if He were here now, and through this community—the church living like Jesus—Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.

[Ephesians 1:23] And the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Prayer

12/28/2025 The Day the Written Word Becomes the Word of Life

Sermon Title: The Day the Written Word Becomes the Word of Life

Scripture: Acts 13:24-31 (NIV)

Acts 13:24-31 (NIV) 24 Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.

25 As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for. But there is someone coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’

26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.

27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus. By condemning him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.

28 Even though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.

30 But God raised him from the dead,

31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.

[Sermon Content] (After watching the <Jew for Jesus> video for 5 minutes)

The only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ alone. Even the Jewish people are no exception. The first disciples targeted their evangelism toward the Jews. If they were automatically saved, why would James, the first martyr, give his life to preach the Gospel to them?

When I was attending art school in New York, I had a Jewish friend in my class. I wondered how I could share the Gospel with that friend. In the process of searching, I discovered organizations like Jew for Jesus that conduct these kinds of activities.

When we look at the Jewish people, we think of them as a very religious nation because they strictly observe their clothing and the Sabbath. However, it is surprising to see that they react to the records in the Book of Isaiah as if they are seeing them for the first time.

In verse 27, it says the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, even though they recited the words of the prophets every Sabbath. How is it possible to memorize the words but not know what they mean?

Jesus rebuked them, saying they have eyes but cannot see, and ears but cannot hear. Now, let us read Isaiah chapter 53 together.

Isaiah 53:1-5 (NIV) 1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Seven hundred years before Jesus came to this earth, Isaiah recorded the prophecy about the Lamb of God who would carry the sins of the world. Exactly 700 years later, Jesus was offered as a guilt offering and bore all the sins of the world.

My original major was painting. After believing in Jesus, I wanted to paint His image, so I diligently searched for verses to meditate on His appearance. However, there are actually almost no verses in the Bible that speak about Jesus’ physical appearance.

When the Pharisees rebuked Jesus, they said, "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!" Since Jesus was in His early thirties at the time, the fact they didn't say "not even forty" but "not even fifty" suggests that He did not look especially young for His age.

That is how little His appearance is mentioned. However, Isaiah describes the appearance of the Messiah relatively specifically: "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."

When Jesus lived on this earth, He had no physical charm or impressive stature. He lived with a background and appearance that could easily be ignored. Have you ever thought deeply about this image of Jesus?

We Christians have also read the Bible many times. But do we treat it like the scriptures of a religion called Christianity—nice stories that exist far away, which we believe are true but have little to do with our daily lives?

Like followers of other religions, we may have tried hard to read it our whole lives. But has the Bible actually filled your soul as the living language of God?

In the video earlier, we saw the hostility of the Jewish people toward the New Testament. To them, the New Testament is treated like a "forbidden book." The evangelist asked them, "Why don't you read it? Are you afraid of being influenced by it?"

Jewish people have been told that the New Testament is a fake created by someone. However, when they actually open their hearts and read it, they encounter something they cannot deny. They feel the breath of God that no human could ever fabricate.

That is why it is said that the best way to evangelize to Messianic Jews is to have them read the Gospels. But do we, in fact, love those precious Gospels ourselves?

The religious Jews Paul encountered were reading and even memorizing Isaiah every week. Yet, they did not realize who the Lamb of God was, and those who claimed to know the Word best were the ones who stepped forward to kill the Messiah.

Matthew 27:23-25 (NIV) 23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

What is shocking is that it wasn't the Gentiles who didn't know God's Word, but the Jews. They traveled to the Temple several times a year to offer sacrifices and gathered in the synagogue every week to read and memorize the Old Testament, yet they failed to recognize and even killed the Messiah they had been waiting for so long.

How can one live as a "blind person with eyes wide open"? But are we Christians any different? Just as many Jews were simply going to the synagogue every week and reading the Bible, have we too become similar without realizing it?

We also read the Bible consistently and meditate faithfully. But if that stays only as intellectual satisfaction or a sense of relief from fulfilling a religious duty, we can read the Bible and still completely miss God's will and His heart.

I believed in Jesus after becoming an adult, so I didn't spend much time attending church without faith. My biblical knowledge was very lacking, but I took the parts I knew very seriously. For example, I truly believed in promises like "these signs will accompany those who believe"—healing and driving out demons!

Once, I even stretched out my hand toward a homeless person who was threatening people with strange noises, and I prayed a declaration for the demon to be cast out and for the man to be set free. What happened? Nothing happened. The man continued to scream.

At the time, I didn't understand why my prayer didn't work. I still remember it vividly—my confused self, wondering what was wrong. I was confused that the spiritual powers promised in the Bible for all believers were not manifesting in me.

I also often felt frustrated and disappointed by the sinful nature that troubled me and by my lack of love. Now, I know very well why God's power did not manifest through me back then. To answer briefly, if those powers had already come to me then, I might have become seriously corrupt.

God was protecting me. Now, when I pray for even more amazing things, He is responding in even more miraculous ways. Let me share my testimony. During the last Cross event, I shared how God provided $1,800 for the airfare of our first mission trip to Mongolia.

Last week, something similar happened, but on a much larger scale. When our church moved to the location in Times Square, it wasn't because our church could fully afford it. However, we went in faith, certain of God's leading.

At that time, the C&MA denomination headquarters had a program called Dream Incentive. It was a program that provided seed money to churches that had gospel-centered events or ministry ideas but lacked finances. Out of those who applied, they supported a few places per year after a review.

Naturally, it wasn't intended to support church rent. However, since the deadline was the Sunday we were moving into the Times Square location, we submitted the application in faith. I wrote: "Didn't our C&MA denomination start in Times Square? Our church going there to worship is a gospel experiment in itself, so please support us. Then we will worship and evangelize there."

Miraculously, it was selected, and we received support. But after about two years, as one might expect, a situation of shortage began to occur again. As the representative of the church, I knew the bank balance but didn't look into it deeply. I just felt that there were some financial difficulties.

Then, in August, while going to a pastors' conference, I took the time to look closely at the church balance. Even though I am insensitive to this part, I confirmed it had dropped far below the "safety zone" our administrative staff had mentioned.

During the conference, I knelt alone in my room and cried out to God. I told Him I didn't understand. I couldn't help but ask again and again how this could happen when He was bringing about so many good changes in our church this year, including the missions.

On the way back from the conference, the Lord gave me a message in my heart. I felt it was a shout from God to wake us up and to move forward more boldly without hesitation. So, during the prayer meetings for the Saturday night service, I shouted often: "Let's treat every week like our last service! Let's not hesitate and do everything we can!" I felt that was what the Lord wanted.

And we really worshipped the Lord more passionately than ever through the fall united retreat, street praise, and the Cross event. Every time, God was with us with a great presence. There were so many instances of God's hand reaching out and helping us that I cannot mention them all.

Then last week, I met an elderly couple. They were the parents of a member who served our church and then went back to Korea. I had met them before, but it was the first time I visited their home and the first time we actually had a conversation.

They shared stories of living through economic hardships after immigrating. In the midst of that, they faithfully tithed, and they shared with emotion how God repaid them abundantly. They also shared how God filled their children, business, and health to overflowing.

Listening to them, I was truly comforted, challenged, and grateful. Just meeting them and having such a conversation was a thankful time that warmed my heart. I was moved because the God I meet was working so similarly in their lives.

While we were talking, they suddenly went into the room and brought out a check. On that check was a large amount that I could never have imagined. They said they wanted to give this amount as an offering to our church. I couldn't help but feel a shiver.

It's not that they are particularly wealthy; they live very simply and modestly. But there was the abundant grace God had given them in their lives, and they felt it was something they should rightfully give back to God. During prayer, they felt the heart to give it to this church.

When I received it, deposited it, and checked the church balance again, it was filled back up to the "safety zone" the administrative staff wanted. Hallelujah! Since we shouldn't exalt people in worship, I won't reveal who they are specifically. I hope you will focus more on God, the true director of this work, and live like them.

Once again, I experienced God who hears my groaning and God who loves us. I am actually still meditating on this amazing miracle. It's not just about how much was filled; I'm staying in that emotion because I want to understand God's heart. I'm certain it's an experience that will make my heart swell even if I meditate on it for a lifetime.

I think the timing is also amazing. As it turns out, they originally planned to contact me and meet at the end of July. But because things kept coming up, they delayed it and felt they had to meet before this year ended. So, we met right before Christmas.

The Lord gave a wonderful and necessary gift to this church for Christmas. When our prayers are answered, it's not just the problem being solved that makes us happy, right? More than that, the joy from the fact that the Lord is with me and hears my prayer is actually greater. That is the joy the children of God should rightfully enjoy.

What I find so regrettable in my life of faith is: "Why do the things God promised rarely appear in the lives of Christians?" Moreover, most Christians don't even have questions about this issue. There is no expectation, no disappointment, and no crying out.

And that is exactly the reason why the power does not appear. While reading the Word, they say they believe that those things happened to people back then, but they don't find it strange that those promises don't apply to them. What exactly do they believe?

How many Christians are living as spiritual blind people while reading the Bible and attending church? What can wake them up? Let's look at Luke 7:31-32.

Luke 7:31-32 (NIV) 31 Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?

32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’”

That's why Jesus' messages included songs of love like those to a child, but also very scary warnings depending on the audience. By proportion, there were more warnings. It was to shake them awake.

In movies, you see someone slapping the cheeks of a comrade falling asleep in a cold place. That has a medical basis. When you fall asleep, your metabolism slows down, and you feel hallucinations and a daze, even feeling warm. When you are awake, you shiver violently to raise your body temperature, but if you fall asleep, your temperature drops uncontrollably, and your life is in danger.

John the Baptist took on the role of waking up the people who were heading toward destruction as spiritual blind people with their eyes closed, unaware and in a daze. The problems in our lives are exactly what wake us up, like John the Baptist.

When we enter the wrong path, they help us turn back! When we are hesitating, they are a voice crying out to trust God more and move forward boldly! These are things to cry out about. Are you crying out?

In today's text, Paul says, "As John was completing his work..." What does this mean? It means John lived a life that fulfilled all of God's will. To the eyes of the world, he was a voice crying in the wilderness who died unfairly in his early thirties leaving nothing behind, but he was a person who achieved the full purpose of his life.

John the Baptist, Apostle Paul, the disciples... and even Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Does their life look like a life you want to emulate? If their lives look regrettable and unhappy to you, then that person is believing in God as a realistic religious person like a Jew, not with the faith of a Christian.

If the life of Jesus Christ does not look like a beautiful life you want to follow, if you cannot see His life as a truly successful one, what does that prove? It proves you are still asleep. In that dazed state, you see yourself, the people around you, and the world only in a hallucination; you cannot see the reality correctly.

That's why dreams, expectations, and prayers all remain only in this world. But how can the power of eternal life unfold for such a person? When you worship, when you open the Bible, listen to these serious voices that wake up your life so that you can meet God. Wake up from your sleep.

And like a child, humbly accept that the Lord is the Master first. Not just in words, but standing before Him every day with a heart that truly wants the Lord's will to be my will. Then, the Bible will become the light of God's life and penetrate every part of my life. The light of Jesus Christ will shine in every corner.

As you welcome the New Year, many of you might be thinking about reading through the Bible. This time, don't just read it, but accept the living Word of God as it is! Submit before the Word and obey. Then you must also feel the stings and pricks that wake you up.

By meeting the living Word and realizing it seriously, the Spirit of God—the Holy Spirit—becomes more and more a reality in your life. Then, finally, God's promises begin to happen one by one in your life. Prayers are answered, healing happens when you lay on hands, and dying souls come alive and run about.

Too many people see the Bible like the Jews. They sustain their lives with a religious life, like checking an attendance sheet on the Sabbath like the Jews. They even end up envying the Jews. This proves that the life of Jesus Christ is absent or very faint within them.

As seen in the video earlier, a Jewish young man who was in despair has now become a voice crying in the wilderness in Israel, shouting to his fellow Jews that Jesus is the Christ! Because the water of life cannot stay stagnant. We are not a pond or a lake, but a river that powerfully makes a path.

God made that young man see the New Testament everywhere he turned his head. Is God's invitation, His love letter, not waiting to be opened in your home and on your phone as well? Even if you don't understand everything, look at the One who wrote the letter beyond the content.

Feel His heart beyond the content. Then you will know God in a way that transcends language—you will know what life is and who God is. That is how the most important purpose for giving us the Bible is fulfilled.

And if there are things in our lives that absolutely cannot be done by my own strength... if there are problems piercing you... cry out! Don't just bite your lip as if you're okay, but open your mouth wide and appeal to the Lord, petition, and cry out!

If you find something to repent for, cry out and repent first. John the Baptist was sent for that. After such true repentance, you will be prepared. Welcome the living Lord who came as the baby Jesus 2,000 years ago to know us more closely, lived a life less than ordinary to be an example to all, died on the cross to pay the heavy price for our sins, and now wants to dwell among us as the Holy Spirit, making this church His temple.

Let us pray.

12/21/2025 What is Christmas all about? #1

MMC 2025 Christmas Sunday Message

Date: December 21, 2025

Title: What is Christmas all about? #1

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25

[Matthew 1:18-25 NIV] 18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us"). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Message

The story of Christmas is the most well-known story, not just to Christians, but to everyone in the world. It is very familiar to us, but if you look closely, there are actually many strange things about the Christmas story.

First, why did God allow an unmarried virgin to become pregnant? I have seen people answer this question by saying, "Oh, it is because there was a prophecy in Isaiah 700 years ago that He would be born of a virgin." But isn't that too simple of an answer? The question asks why He had to be born specifically from Mary while she was still a virgin. Answering with just the prophecy is like saying, "Oh, it was just supposed to happen that way."

This question is not about the theological argument that Jesus could not be born with the DNA of Joseph and Mary, who possessed a sinful nature. The Bible clearly records that the two did not consummate their marriage until Jesus was born anyway.

Although they were pledged to be married, the fact that Mary, still a virgin, became pregnant meant she could face divorce. Furthermore, she could have been considered a disgrace to her family and kicked out. Why did God choose that specific moment for His Son to be conceived? If she had become pregnant just a few months later, after being officially married, couldn't they have avoided many misunderstandings and dangers?

When Joseph found out about the pregnancy, he actually intended to divorce her quietly. However, an angel visited him and reassured him, allowing Joseph to accept this incomprehensible situation.

For Mary, who had done nothing wrong, this pregnancy was more of a confusion than a blessing. She experienced the heart of a woman carrying a child no one could welcome. And the baby, even in the womb, experienced the rejection of family and parents who could not simply rejoice at His conception.

Have you ever felt unwelcome? Not because you were wearing the wrong clothes or something like that. Have you ever been unwelcome simply because you are "you"? Jesus empathizes with that feeling.

Second, why did they have to travel to Bethlehem during the cold season? And why was there no room for Jesus, the King of kings, to lay His head?

The Roman Emperor ordered a census, and everyone had to travel to their ancestral town to register. It just so happened that this order was given when Mary was already heavily pregnant. Since everyone from Bethlehem who was scattered across the country returned home, it was obvious that lodging would be scarce if they didn't arrive quickly. Because Mary was heavily pregnant, the journey took much longer for them. By the time they arrived, all the houses with warm rooms were already full.

However, God surely knew all these circumstances. Unless God performed a miracle through an angel to provide a room, it was obvious that the only place left for Mary and Joseph was a stable. But God did not do that. This implies that the stable was exactly where God wanted Him to be. And so, Jesus was born in the darkest, smelliest, and lowest place in Bethlehem at that time.

God knows the heart of a mother who has no warm room to lay her beloved child. God knows the heart of a father desperately wiping down a manger—a feeding trough for animals—to make it clean. God empathized with the hearts of such parents.

Third, another strange thing is that after spending time in Bethlehem, Jesus’ family moved back to Nazareth in Galilee, where Joseph and Mary originally lived.

In the Gospels, we see that the Jews looked down on the Galilee region itself. Among the towns there, Nazareth was so despised that people thought nothing good could come from it. Also, the Galilean accent was so strong that anyone could recognize it immediately. Located on the border of Israel, Nazareth had a mixed population of foreigners, making it a region that was treated with even more contempt.

Historical records show that during Jesus' time, there were many large Roman construction projects in Nazareth. Most common people lived as hard-working laborers called "carpenters." Therefore, being a carpenter in Nazareth was one of the most common and low-paying jobs. At that time, children in Israel started helping with housework around age five. When boys turned twelve, they would take over their father’s trade and begin working in earnest.

The Son of God lived for 30 years as an unknown member of the lower class, in a despised region, with a job that was looked down upon. Since the time Jesus appeared to the world, performed miracles, and taught God's word was only about three years, He spent more than 90% of His life as an unknown, lower-class laborer in Nazareth.

This is the hardest part to understand. Wouldn't it have been much more efficient for Him to meet more people, heal the sick, and teach God’s word at least after He became an adult? Did someone as precious as Jesus waste most of His life on a dusty construction site in the outskirts?

Unless God truly wanted it this way, we cannot find any other reason for it. Yes, God wanted it. He allowed Jesus to spend most of His time on earth living that way. He made Him live most of His life in the lowest place, lower than even an ordinary life. God desired this.

Why on earth? If we think about the direction of all these events, it is clear. He deliberately came to a place lower than ordinary.

He was unwelcome, rejected, had no warm home to lay His head, lived in a humble town with a humble job, and worked covered in sweat and dust every day. He did this to embrace all of us who live that way every day. Jesus wanted to experience everything we experience in life. Isaiah says that Jesus is familiar with suffering and knows our pain well. That is exactly why. It is to empathize with our hearts.

If you love someone, you want to know how they live. As a parent, when you visit your child's classroom once or twice a year and sit in the small chair your child sits in every day, you feel something touching in your heart. God was even more so. He wanted to be born as a baby, to fall, get hurt, stand up, and run... He wanted to go through all those processes just like us. Because He loves us. He wanted to know and experience it all.

Christmas is a day to remember and celebrate that love. "God loved us this much. He really wanted to experience every moment of life that we go through." All because of love.

However, that is not all. Another important reason Jesus came with such an ordinary background and appearance is this: "What I can do, you can do too."

"I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." (John 13:15)

The Gospel says that humans can never overcome sin by their own strength, but are saved only by God's grace. However, the Bible says that those who have received that life by grace are now led by the life of Jesus, so they want to become like Him, and they can become like Him!

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34)

"Do to one another what I have done to you!" Jesus clearly commands this multiple times in the Bible. So why do we Christians treat it as an option that we can choose to do or not do? Therefore, those who say that Jesus' commands are not a duty for Christians are actually all false prophets.

"Jesus said this, but He didn't mean that." Who can decide that? Isn't opposing God's clear word the deception and temptation of Satan? What is the fruit of that deception? Does it not prevent God's children from being led by the Holy Spirit to become people of love like Jesus, and hinder God's promised blessings from unfolding in their lives?

You are a child of God, but you live most of your life like a child of the world. Who is whispering that following God's will is optional, leading you to a regretful life with no fruit, where everything turns to ash on the day you meet the Lord?

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:29)

A yoke is a wooden bar placed on a cow's neck to pull heavy loads. Across the world, yokes look similar, and they were always used to make cows work. Looking at this yoke, it seems like something used to bind prisoners. But Jesus is speaking a paradox: that wearing this yoke brings rest.

To take Jesus' yoke means to stand where He stood and follow the path He walked. Is there any room for another interpretation? He is saying that His yoke is never heavy. Rather, He says that carrying that yoke gives you rest.

A life following God may look like a narrow road or a path of carrying a cross from the outside. But once you actually take that yoke and walk, you will realize something. You will realize that the yoke is like wings. The more I fully give myself to the Lord, my Master, and the more I entrust myself to Him, it does not become hard labor. Instead, it becomes rest. The path of obedience may look like the burden of wearing a yoke, but it actually sets me free.

"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)

My cross is the very yoke Jesus gave me. To carry this, I must "deny myself." This means admitting that I am no longer the master of my own life.

The world—even most children's animations—gives the same message: "You are the master of your life! No one else can be your master!" But the Bible says that everything in the world came from God and was created by God. So, isn't God originally the Master of everything? Therefore, the root of sin is the attempt to be independent from God, the Creator and Source of life. Separation from the Source of life is already the beginning of death.

When Jesus lived on earth, He showed complete dependence on God. "Jesus gave them this answer: 'Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.'" (John 5:19)

On the first Christmas, Jesus came to the low and dark place of Bethlehem. The reason He lived for 30 years as an unknown laborer in the outskirts was to become one of us—coming to a place lower than ordinary—to be our Savior. And also, He wanted to show us that we can live that way too.

To save us, God did not just throw us a life vest. Instead, He sent His Son, in the same form as us, to jump into the water where we were struggling in fear. He showed us where to go and how to swim. He showed us His Son so that we could gain courage and faith by watching Him. And now, He hopes that we will also jump into the water for someone else and show them the way of salvation.

This Christmas, we must see Jesus Christ, the One who jumped into the water to save me. We must see my humble King who came to the lowest place to find us. He says this is the evidence of God's love.

But we must not stop there. He lived for 30 years in a humble family as an unknown laborer to become one of us. All of this was to show that even ordinary people like us can follow Jesus' path. So why do we treat that part as if it has nothing to do with us?

As we celebrate Christmas, the day Jesus came to this earth, if you have only realized part of His purpose—whether by avoidance or deception—now welcome Jesus more fully and clearly.

Now, listen to the Lord's word and take up His yoke. It will be a Christmas where you taste the Master's promised joy. Because we follow the Lord clearly, I pray that His guidance, protection, and blessings will also appear clearly in our lives in a way that no one can doubt.

[Hebrews 4:15-16 NIV] 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

12/14/2025 Choices that make promises come true

Acts Sermon Series 68
Date: 12/14/2025
Title: Choices that make promises come true
Text: Acts 13:21-23

[Acts 13:21-23] 21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ 23 From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.

The first king of Israel was Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. Saul was a man so shy and humble that he hid among the baggage during his coronation. At one time, he was filled with the Spirit of God and even prophesied.

However, sadly, he began to walk the path of corruption only two years after becoming king.

[1 Samuel 13:8-9] 8 He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. 9 So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering.

Looking at the situation at that time, a huge number of enemy troops were ready to attack, and the people had already started to run away. Furthermore, Samuel, who promised to come, did not appear. What would you have done?

In that urgent situation, isn't it amazing that he even waited for seven days? However, as soon as Saul offered the sacrifice himself, Samuel appeared and was deeply grieved. He suffered as if a terrible sin had been committed and everything was over.

But despite such expressions, Samuel still remained by Saul's side for a while. God also helped Israel in that war and defeated their enemies. However, in the war that followed, Saul once again disobeyed God's command.

It is a bit long, but let me summarize the words of 1 Samuel 15:11-35.

[1 Samuel 15:11-35] 11 “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. 12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.” 13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” 15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” 16 “Stop!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied. 17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” 20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 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.” 22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.” 26 But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” 27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. 29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.” 30 Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord. 32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.” Agag came to him confidently, thinking, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33 But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Samuel mourned, and the Lord God regretted making Saul king. The statement that God regretted making Saul king appears twice. How should we understand that God felt regret?

King Saul was not a person who did not believe in God. He was a figure who prophesied while filled with God's Spirit and led unwinnable wars to victory by the power of God's Spirit. When God made him king, both God and Samuel praised him, saying there was no one like him in Israel, and he was extremely humble.

Saul did not fully keep God's command, but he did not completely ignore God either. He destroyed most of the enemies, but he took Agag, the king of Amalek, as a prisoner and spared only the fat and good animals.

But do you think Saul's actions were such a serious sin that they would disappoint Samuel and God so much? Was it truly enough for God to say He regretted making him king? Doesn't it actually make you feel confused?

Although God said to destroy everything, wouldn't the enemy king be a prisoner with much information and use? Also, the fat animals are great wealth, whether used for food, sacrifice, or money. Isn't it a waste to just kill them?

You could feed the soldiers well with them. He fought in God's name, defeated a strong Gentile tribe, and annihilated the enemy army. The important work was done, so isn't that much okay?

Since he realistically compromised only on the relatively unimportant parts while following God's command, isn't that actually wise? To say we must obey so thoroughly... doesn't it feel a bit harsh that God takes it so seriously if we don't?

We also know what God wants, but when that causes us loss and inconvenience, we stand in the same position as Saul. He gave the glory of the war's victory to God, built an altar, and offered sacrifices.

However, along with that, the thought "This much is okay..." was increasing within him. "I don't need to go that far... I just need to give some to God too..." That compromising heart was continuing to grow.

Samuel grieves and rebukes Saul. [1 Samuel 15:22-23] 22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

Following only part of the command and not following it completely is like the sin of divination. Stubbornly insisting on one's own will is even like the sin of bowing down to idols. God sees it that seriously.

Why is it so extreme? Jesus spoke about why this is a more serious problem than it appears on the surface.

[Matthew 6:24] “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

And He continued to speak:

[Matthew 6:31-34] 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Saul generally followed God's commands, but he kept taking things that he felt were necessary in his own eyes. In the end, he only followed God when God's thoughts matched his own thoughts. When he had a better idea for himself, he just did as he pleased.

But we still have to live in the world; we are not just spirits but have bodies that need to eat well, so shouldn't we take care of practical needs? Shouldn't we take care of both God and money?

Christians also go to work, do business, earn money, and pay taxes. Shouldn't we pay the same costs as worldly people to buy and eat food?

That is all true, but Jesus tells us not to live in order to gain those necessary things. People often say, "We do it all to eat and live." Is that right? Everyone, Christians do not work just to eat and live.

What does Matthew 6:33, which we just read, say? Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

What does this mean? It means if we prioritize the Kingdom of God in our lives and pray for our neighbors and God's Kingdom more than for ourselves, our Heavenly Father will take care of filling all the needs of our lives! That is what He said.

The difference between a person who relies on God and a person who relies on themselves is not in how much they earn or what kind of house they live in. It is in the answer to the question: "Who gave all this?"

There are people who believe they work hard with their own ability and earn money as the price of that labor to live by their own strength. And there are those who say, "I worked with the health and talent God gave me, following the opportunity God gave... and God fed me and filled me through the company. It is all given by God."

It divides into those who live believing God is the source of everything they enjoy, and those who live thinking their ability is their boss.

And those who think they obtained it themselves mostly believe in luck—being lucky or unlucky. This is because even elementary school students experience the fact that not everyone gets the same result even with the same effort under the same conditions.

However, we are people who believe in God. We believe God is my Creator and the One who protects and saves me and the people I love. Isn't that why we gathered to worship that God on this cold day?

But do you truly believe that all the good things you have are God's grace? Or do you think, "I am living this well because I managed things smartly for about half of it"?

If so, exactly that amount has nothing to do with God, and those are things God does not need to protect. And for exactly that amount, you will be anxious about losing it.

Doesn't everyone compromise to the extent that Saul did—killing only the weak and worthless animals and keeping the fat and healthy ones? God didn't stop it and allowed it, so isn't it okay? Since there was no hindrance or discipline, it seems God also just let it pass...

Is that really so? The incident of Saul's disobedience that we examined in detail today happened in the second year of his reign. But Saul met his miserable death a full 38 years later.

During those 38 years, he still lived a luxurious life as a king in the palace. God's wrath did not strike him immediately. But was his life peaceful because of that?

Looking at the records of Saul during this period, he was generally always anxious. He suddenly threw a spear at David, his son-in-law who had become more popular than him. Later, he led an army just to catch David.

Although he was in the royal palace, his soul had to spend 38 years like hell. Like this, when something is not given by God, humans only become more unhappy even if they possess it.

On the other hand, David had to run away unfairly for that long time. However, in that process, David showed himself giving up a golden opportunity for revenge—a chance where he could have become king.

He exchanged the legitimate opportunity for revenge given to him for an opportunity for Saul to repent. And in such moments, Saul also showed a brief appearance of repentance. He even called David "my son" and shed tears.

However, not long after, he ground his teeth again to destroy David. When good things happen in life, anyone's grateful heart comes alive for a moment and they recover pure eyes. But if it does not lead to true repentance, they are soon captured by evil spirits again.

The image of him struggling not to lose what he has, clutching it tight, is not unfamiliar to humans. If you are not a person who truly accepts Jesus Christ as the Master of everything that belongs to you—not just in words, but in truth—then no matter how it looks on the outside, you are repeating anxiety, desire, emptiness, and fleeting pleasure, struggling not to lose something in your hand.

The Bible compares Saul, who lost grace, with David, who was praised for fulfilling all of God's will, and appeals to us. It tells us not to walk the path of Saul, but to walk the path of David.

What is surprising is that Saul, who had left God, reigned for 40 years. The number 40 has a very important meaning in the Bible.

Moses' life was 40 years as an Egyptian prince, 40 years as a shepherd in the wilderness, and 40 years as the savior of Israel. David's reign was also 40 years. The number 40 signifies the fulfillment of God's plan.

But for King Saul, it is truly strange that he could remain as king for 40 years—remaining for 38 years even after disobeying God's command and after Samuel declared that he was finished as king.

Thinking about it, the fact that David gave up the opportunity to legitimately take revenge on Saul means something deeper. In fact, every time that happened, God was giving Saul a chance to repent, not through David, but through God Himself. That was the representative appearance of David fulfilling God's will.

What if Saul had changed his mind like David's hope and stood upright before God at that time? If he had accepted David as the next king chosen by God, formed a good relationship, and been given enough time for training...

The Bible showing us Saul's foolish and evil actions in detail is shouting at us not to fall into the same foolishness. As the message given to this church two weeks ago said, our choices now do not just change the future; they change the entire meaning of life.

There is an answer in the meaning held by this single sentence: "David fulfilled all of God's will." It means God has a different will for each of us.

However, the fact that David fulfilled all of God's will implies that, conversely, Saul did not. It doesn't mean David lived only according to God's will 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It means his life achieved the calling God expected of him—at least the minimum dream.

And the fact that this was enough for David to receive huge praise as a man after God's own heart implies something else. It means there are not many people who fulfill the calling God seeks in our lives—that minimum dream.

Even if they didn't become corrupt like Saul, there were almost no people at that time who lived a life of obedience fulfilling God's will like David.

But about 2,000 years ago around this time, One Person came. Someone who walked with God every moment more perfectly than David, without missing a single moment, and fulfilled all of God's will. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, came.

Compared to Jesus Christ, David is merely a small shadow showing only a small part of a man after God's heart. That is why Paul compared the Old Testament to elementary principles. Because the true One who becomes our model, the real One and not the shadow, has come.

David is a figure who revealed and left behind his songs, prayers, and inner heart through the Psalms more than any other figure in the Bible. That is how much God wanted to show him off to us.

So when we read the Psalms, which are like letters he wrote to God, they naturally become praise and prayer. Nevertheless, David did not receive as much grace as we have.

For David, the Holy Spirit did not live within him; the Spirit stayed with him, left, and came back again. To offer sacrifices, he had to go to the Tabernacle, and he needed priests and offerings. Sometimes, a prophet had to be sent to rebuke him when he fell into sin.

This is because it was before Jesus' death on the cross, His resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So no matter how much time David spent with the Holy Spirit, we are enjoying a privilege incomparably greater than his. The Holy Spirit lives within us.

[Hebrews 11:39-40] 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

What does that mean? It means we can discern God's will more certainly than David, and the life and power of Jesus, who lived perfectly according to that will, are living together within us!

So when we follow God's will, we are happy and enjoy greater satisfaction. Things that used to give us no guilt and that we even used to enjoy no longer give us joy.

We experience a change in the purpose and source of everything. My life's center used to be my job or family. The reason I went to church was that I wanted to live more happily in my workplace and family.

But now, all of that begins to look different. I start to see them as spaces and people God called me to, so I can worship more sincerely and love these people entrusted to me.

For such people, life choices change, the purpose of everything changes, and eventually, they live for God and for God's Kingdom.

But if I live like that, will my own life, which I didn't take care of, become a mess? Absolutely not. The Lord, who knows my needs better than I do, leads me to a life where those things follow me even if I don't struggle to chase them.

Because I, and everything that belongs to me, are the Lord's... The Lord protects them all. Whether it is business success, promotion, a wonderful spouse, or children... Whatever it is, the Lord gives, the Lord protects, and the Lord takes responsibility!

The important thing is that the person can live a satisfied life without feeling a lack, regardless of whether they have those things or not. This is because God knows best and fills all those needs.

Saul did not trust this. He did not trust the fact that God knows better and that God would take responsibility. So he tried to keep taking more for himself. He tried to keep his position. He considered that he had a better idea than God's thoughts.

Satan tries to plant the same thought in us. "I must take care of my life. That is the number one priority of everything." Is that the Lord's word?

Eventually, it makes us unable to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and only hover around the outside. So there is no peace, and joy is only a passing moment.

What does it mean for you to seek God's Kingdom first? Do you have the courage to make such a choice? Do you have that much faith?

Not only this promise made by Jesus, but many verses we like and memorize are all promises of numerous blessings. Do you want those promises to come true in your life?

If so, you must escape from the deception that you can serve both God and the world like Saul. Even if God let it pass for now, even if He allowed it, these are things you will eventually regret.

Go beyond the path of David, where God's will for me is fulfilled. Become a "little Jesus" for the small world surrounding me, just like Jesus the Son of God, and walk the path of Jesus.

The Bible clearly emphasizes that this is neither impossible nor difficult. For those with whom the Spirit of God is present, it is the best path and the path of true abundance that gives eternal satisfaction.

Since the Spirit of Jesus is within us, when we walk the path of Jesus, we become most free, most peaceful, and most complete.

Reject and defeat the spirits that captured Saul—the spirit that says "just do it moderately." Follow the Spirit of God that made David sing and obey completely... but now we can become one with that Spirit.

The life of Jesus, who loved God more completely than David, will make our lives more complete as well. This is the Lord's will for you and me. Let us walk the path of Jesus together with the Spirit of Jesus.

11/30/2025 A Church After God’s Own Heart

Sermon on Acts 67

Title: A Church After God’s Own Heart Scripture: Acts 13:17-22 

[Acts 13:17-22 NIV] 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; 18 for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19 and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. “After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’

English Translation

Opening

This year, I truly feel that God continues to pour out His grace upon this church. One of the members who serves diligently behind the scenes said something to me.

They asked if I felt a sense of refreshing release, as if something clogged had been opened up. That is correct. I had that exact feeling.

After the Times Square street worship, another brother described it as a "huge success." Even looking at the number of guests who visited our CROSS event this year, considering the size of our church, many people came. As I recall, over 20 guests visited us.

However, more than the numbers, when I thought about who those visitors were, I could feel the hearts of the people who invited them. I could feel the hearts of those who had been praying for that one specific person.

When those guests opened the door and walked into the room, I saw big, beaming smiles that could not be hidden. I felt the excitement and love in the air. Because of that, throughout the event, I felt recharged and captivated by something special.

If there was one problem, it was the internet connection. There were moments when it cut out during important times, which made me sweat a little.

But thinking back later, I realized that those situations actually made people focus more. It made them listen even more carefully when I was sharing the message. Just like the scripture I shared that day, I experienced God making all things work together for good.

I cannot express how proud I am that we finished the event we prepared so hard for, and how proud I am of each and every one of you. God was truly with us, and He was very pleased.

But the most important thing is this: if even one person there opened their heart just a little bit to Jesus that day, aren't all our prayers and efforts already more than rewarded?

When I went home and read the prayer letters you left for me, my heart felt so warm and moved. The innocent prayer requests written by the children were so lovely.

As I offered those prayers up to the Lord, the Father’s heart of love for them filled me as well. I felt the love that God feels toward us when we pray.

How can we express such a precious person as just a number, saying "a few people came"? As I read those prayers with tears in my eyes, I realized that to someone, these people are like the universe—worth more than the whole world.

In the message at CROSS that day, I testified about how God worked in three of my beloved coworkers. But God worked not only in them but in everyone here; there is no one I haven't prayed for, and we have experienced various miracles together.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

In the Bible, Jesus speaks as if it is obvious. He says that if a man has a hundred sheep and loses one, he will leave the ninety-nine to go look for the one lost sheep in danger.

And when he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders and is so happy that he calls his neighbors together to have a feast. Then Jesus asks us, "Wouldn't you do the same?"

Do you do the same? How would you answer Jesus' question? You might think, 'Well... I don't know. Isn't it okay to lose just one?'

You might think, ' Shouldn't we take good care of the ninety-nine right now? We don't know where that lost sheep is or how dangerous the place might be.' That seems like a more common sense and natural reaction for us, doesn't it?

Theologians' commentaries or famous sermons often explain this text this way: They say that if someone had a hundred sheep, there were likely fellow shepherds, so he could leave the ninety-nine with them.

But did Jesus really mean it that way? What Jesus is saying here is that the ninety-nine are safe together! But that one sheep who is not part of the community—that poor thing is in trouble.

So, He leaves the ninety-nine behind. And eventually, if we go and suffer to find that one sheep, we would feel good carrying it on our shoulders because we found what was lost.

But is that something to call the whole neighborhood together for a feast? To have a party over saving just one animal? Does that make sense to you?

The Parable of the Lost Coin

To make His meaning clearer, Jesus immediately tells the story of the lost drachma.

[Luke 15:8-9 NIV] 8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’

Those who have attended church for a long time have probably heard sermons on this. They say this coin was part of a ten-piece wedding necklace, so losing one is like losing a wedding ring.

Most interpretations add that this is why the woman searched so diligently. But just like the parable of the shepherd saving the sheep, the important part is that when she found the coin, she called her friends and neighbors for a feast.

It is no accident that Jesus clearly specified the unit of money as a 'drachma.' A drachma is a day's wage. It is not small, but it is not a huge treasure either.

It is something extremely ordinary. To people, it doesn't have huge value like a talent worth millions. It's just the amount where you might say, "Ah, I wasted a day's work."

One out of a hundred. This time, one out of ten. He turns the whole house upside down until He finds that one thing that doesn't seem very important. He leaves the ninety-nine to go find it. That is the point.

To people, it looks extremely ordinary and not very important. But to Jesus, that is never the case! That is who the Lord is.

Actually, this is very hard to understand. That is why theologians and preachers add interpretations. They say it wasn't just one out of ten, but part of a set, so without it, the set is incomplete.

They say that’s why she swept the house and threw a party that cost much more than the coin itself. They add these interpretations because only when the coin means more than just a coin does it resonate with us.

However, the Lord seeks and focuses on not only those who look like shiny, noble gold to everyone else. He seeks that one ordinary person like a drachma coin. He looks for that one sheep whose absence out of a hundred wouldn't even be noticed.

God’s Heart at the Event

I saw this at the CROSS event this time. After inviting one person, you must have prayed many times over the past few weeks and contacted them carefully.

And when the door opened and that person appeared, your eyes sparkled. I saw you hovering around them, wanting to take care of even one more thing for them.

In that moment, you became Jesus. You became His eyes, His hands, and His feet. Literally, everyone who came that day looked like a V.I.P.

The feeling that this one person looks so precious. A feast prepared for that one person. It was exactly that kind of day.

To the Lord's question, "Wouldn't you do the same?"—on that day, at least, our hearts responded, "Yes, Lord! That's right! We should definitely throw a big party just for this one person!" It was that kind of feast.

On the Saturday night prayer meeting before CROSS, and the leaders' prayer meeting suddenly held on Monday... As I prepared for the prayer meeting, I had certain thoughts naturally.

I thought, 'Our church invested a large amount of money to rent the biggest room, prepared lots of food, and worked hard on the program. Let's challenge everyone to invite people diligently until the end so we have no regrets!'

But when I actually started praying, God's heart overwhelmed me. I realized that the people gathered at the prayer meeting, Pastor Jung, my wife, and even myself... we were all once that "one soul."

Someone had prayed for us and shyly, carefully invited us long ago. The truth that we were once the lost VIPs suddenly overwhelmed me as a massive reality.

After realizing that, "one soul is more precious than the whole world" wasn't just words. If we can see the possibility that this one person can become a wonderful person of God... If we can see with that faith...

Then preparing all of this just to find one drachma, for just one of them, is not a waste at all. I was overwhelmed by that truth. While we prayed, I could feel Jesus' sincere heart completely.

And last Sunday at 12 o'clock, we witnessed together how wonderfully that prayer was answered.

The Parable of the Lost Son

If you look closely at the parable of the lost son, the younger son was a terrible child. He was the shame of the family. To anyone else, and even to himself, he was someone who did not deserve to be accepted back.

However, the older brother could not accept the father who threw a feast for him. He was so angry and fuming that he wouldn't even enter the house filled with the sounds of the party. To him, the father says something incomprehensible.

[Luke 15:32 NIV] But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

But actually, he hadn't really died and come back to life. In reality, he took his inheritance while his father was perfectly alive, left home on his own, squandered all the wealth, and disgraced the family.

He wasn't exactly "lost" either. Didn't he leave on his own? Doesn't the father's statement make no sense at all to the older son?

Hearing that reason, would the older son understand and say, "Ah, now that you mention it, you're right"? No, he would have wanted to argue back more angrily, "Father, what are you talking about!?"

But the point is, to the father, it looked exactly that way. He saw him only as something lost that must be found. He saw him only as a dead life that must be brought back to life.

It wasn't about what he did or how he disgraced the father. The father only saw him as a child who was lost but must be found, and who must be saved!

So, in these continuous parables in Luke, we see the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine, the woman who lost one drachma, and this father. They seem neither realistic nor rational.

Theologians have tried hard to understand why Jesus had a perspective so different from ours, and why He asked questions we can't nod along to as if they were obvious. But the essence of Jesus' parables lies right there.

"It doesn't make sense and it's strange, isn't it? But I want you to look at that soul the way I do."

A Challenge for the Coming Year

Last year, as we finished CROSS, I gave you a challenge. I said we would prepare the event well, so you should serve, be patient, and show love to the people you want to invite for the next year.

Inviting someone who feels no fragrance of Jesus Christ from me is bound to be an extremely painful and difficult task. I didn't ask you to fake perfection.

I asked you to boast about the undeniable life within you as you change into a person of love. It was a challenge to love your colleagues and neighbors more for a year so that the life of Jesus might appear gently in your life.

Those who practiced this know that this was not just a challenge for this event. In fact, isn't it Jesus' only command? "Love God and love your neighbor as yourself."

Ultimately, living as a child of God is the perfect way to open the path to the greatest blessings. There are surely people around you who can only see the church through you, and who can only experience Christ's fragrance and love through you.

If you live with the purpose of inviting them to CROSS next year, you will surely become a person who prays more. You will recognize the Lord more often in your daily life. The Lord's will be revealed more clearly and fully in your life.

If one soul gradually becomes the most important thing in the life the Lord has entrusted to you, then your life, which seeks God's Kingdom and His righteousness first, will lack nothing.

A Person After God's Heart

In today's text, God speaks about David like this: "I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do."

There are a few interesting expressions here. The expression that God "found" David, that he was "after God's heart," and that "he will do everything I want him to do." God gave David a huge compliment, calling him a man who has God's heart.

However, we know very well that David was by no means a perfect person. The phrase that puzzles us even more is "he will do everything I want him to do."

David was certainly one of the greatest kings in Israel's history. But he committed serious sins that were hard to erase.

He coveted his subordinate's wife, seized an opportunity to use his status as king to commit adultery. When the woman became pregnant, he sent that subordinate to the most dangerous battlefield. Effectively, he killed him without dirtying his own hands.

Then, he took the woman, now naturally a widow carrying his child, as his own wife. He was even praised as a generous king who took care of his subordinate's family.

It started with impulse and he dreamed of a cowardly perfect crime. Looking at the details, isn't it safe to say this was one of the worst sins a human could commit? Yet, God says He accomplished all His will with this David.

Did such a crime accomplish God's will? Absolutely not. We must conclude that the meaning of "accomplishing all of God's will" is different from our thinking.

It is clear that even a person like David, whom God said would accomplish all His will, was not a flawless human being. Paul defines his journey of faith in his final letter like this:

[2 Timothy 4:7 NIV] I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

"Fought the good fight." His journey of faith did not happen automatically; it was a fierce battle to overcome evil with good!

"Finished the race." Life had a clear destination and a path to get there, and he did not just walk but ran to reach the finish line.

And he says he "kept the faith." This means even the Apostle Paul had to actively fight against doubt, temptation, and persecution to keep his faith.

That David lived a life accomplishing God's will means that although he did not always win, he fought the good fight for holiness throughout his life.

Although there were days he strayed from the path, he eventually returned to the right way and reached the finish line. It means he kept the faith.

For both Paul and David, all of this appeared as love—loving God, forgiving people, treating them kindly, and leading them to the right path.

God Sees the Whole Picture

Now, let's think about God "finding" David. When was that? This question is natural for us who are bound by time and space.

But for a Being who transcends all that, "when" and "where" have a completely different meaning. God can see all of David's time at once.

He saw the boy David playing the harp in the fields praising God under the moonlight. He saw the moment he was chosen as king. He saw him facing the giant everyone feared with faith alone.

He saw him wandering the wilderness as a miserable fugitive. He saw him dancing with joy before the Ark of the Covenant. He also saw him when he was seized by desire and ruining everything.

He saw the time he cried out while paying an unforgettable price. And He saw his humble appearance standing before God in his final years. The Lord saw David's entire life and all his choices at once.

And at one point, He told us: "I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do." He said this while looking at all the choices and journeys of David's life.

He spoke while looking at his whole life—not flawless, but fighting the good fight, walking the path of holiness, and changing into a person of love.

Once we realize this, there is a surprising fact we discover. It is about how the Lord looks at our lives.

The decisions we make now and the actions we take in the future do not just change our future. They change everything. This means we all still have infinite possibilities to become a person after God's own heart.

Will you fight the good fight? Will you know your path and run towards it? Will you defeat pressure, temptation, and doubt to keep the faith? Those choices will completely change the meaning of our lives.

It is okay if there were huge failures in life or times of despair where everything seemed to collapse. David, Paul, and all the figures in the Bible were like that.

Nevertheless, I can run now to the One who can even change the meaning of all those misfortunes. This is the Gospel. Just as God's will was beautifully realized in Paul's life, it can be realized more and more fully in our lives.

We can change into people of love who value one ordinary person around us. We can become people who forgive humbly, people who are peaceful and generous.

That is the person who has the heart of the shepherd who went to find the lost sheep. That is the person who has the heart of the father waiting for the son who left him.

These are the people who have God's heart, and these are the lives where God's will is fully accomplished.

Closing

For us to dream what God dreams, to become the Lord's hands, feet, and body, and to accomplish God's dream in this generation... That is the reason this church exists.

And the Lord will say to such a church: "I have found MMC (your church name), a church after my own heart. It will do everything I want it to do!" Amen!

Becoming a church that the Lord speaks of in this way, becoming the most blessed church, depends on the choices we will make from now on after hearing this message.

Let us pray.

Communion

[1 Corinthians 10:16-17 NIV] 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

[1 Corinthians 11:23-25 NIV] 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

[1 Corinthians 11:26-29 NIV] 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.

11/16/2025 Hear, oh God Fearer

Acts Sermon 66 - Hear, oh God Fearer

Date: 11/16/2025

Scripture : [Acts 13:16-20]

Acts 13:16-20 (NIV)

16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; 18 for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19 and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.”

Intro

Paul and Barnabas arrived at the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch and joined the meeting there. At that time, the Temple still stood in Jerusalem, so worship (sacrifices) could only be done at the Temple. This gathering in the synagogue on the Sabbath was called a ‘meeting’ or ‘gathering.’

The order of the synagogue meeting at that time was: First, they recited the Shema.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV) 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Then, they would sing a community prayer like a song. They would read from the Torah - the books of the Law. Then, they would read from the Prophets that connected to the theme of the Torah reading. After that, there would be a sermon and a word of encouragement.

Doesn’t this order seem familiar? The modern church service is very similar: we recite the Lord’s Prayer together like the Shema, we sing praises together led by a worship leader, we read the Bible passage, and then we have a sermon.

This is natural, of course. The way of the Jewish synagogue meeting was carried directly into the early church. Paul, Barnabas, and the other disciples did not think they were spreading a new religion. They believed they were bringing ‘reformation’ to Judaism.

However, there is a huge difference between a synagogue meeting and church worship. The synagogue meeting was called a ‘gathering,’ but we call ours ‘worship.’ Worship originally meant ‘sacrifice’; the most important part was offering a sacrifice. That is why in Judaism, sacrifices could only be offered at the Temple, where animals could be presented on the altar.

But for us, a perfect and eternal sacrifice has been offered, so we no longer need to offer physical sacrifices. Instead, we can now worship in spirit and in truth. This means offering our lives as a living sacrifice! We offer true worship by living like Jesus Christ, who was the true sacrifice. It is worshiping by proclaiming the truth and living according to that truth.

Judaism was established as a religion when Moses received the Word from God and wrote the Pentateuch - the books of the Law. There was nothing wrong with this religion and its laws, which God gave to the people. But at some point, it became a dead religion, with only the form and shell remaining, without the presence of God.

This is why Jesus and the disciples tried to restore the true essence of faith.

So, what is the essence of faith? A teacher of the law asked Jesus the same question.

Mark 12:29-31 (NIV) 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ > 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Jesus was also quoting the Shema: "Hear, O Israel!" This emphasizes again that the problem was not with Judaism or the Law itself.

But Jesus added one more thing: “The second is this.” And then He said, “There is no commandment greater than these.” This means that both of these commandments are equally the greatest commandment.

In fact, this is obvious. If someone values and loves me, can they treat my children badly and despise them? In the same way, a person who loves God cannot despise God’s children. If they can, they are deceiving themselves and do not truly love God. The book of 1 John says this exactly.

In the Old Testament, God clearly reveals His heart, and one of those times is in the book of Hosea.

Hosea 6:6 (NIV) For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

The word for "mercy" here is hesed, which refers to a sacrificial love that cares for the orphan and the widow. So, the foundation of the Shema is to love God, and this must be shown by caring for and loving your neighbor! This is what it means.

But what was the condition of Israel when Jesus came? It was backward. They offered all kinds of sacrifices very strictly, but there was almost no love to be seen.

Jesus healed the sick and the blind who had suffered their whole lives. These were people the religious leaders saw every week in the synagogue. But when they were healed, the leaders did not rejoice at all. Instead, they made an issue of Jesus healing on the Sabbath and questioned the people who were healed. Is there any love here? Not at all.

The problem was not that they were trying to live diligently according to the Law. The problem was that the core was missing. The essence of faith—love—was gone.

The reason God gave complex and detailed laws was so that people would not do them carelessly. By going through the difficult process, they were meant to humble the center of their hearts once more.

We have seen in the Bible how Judaism, established by God through Moses, became corrupt. And in our own history, we witnessed the Roman Catholic church become corrupt in almost the exact same way.

We can see that this is not a problem with doctrine or the religion itself. It is a problem with people. If so, are the churches that came after the Reformation okay?

The Bible is filled with warnings and examples about this human problem, speaking of it countless times. It is the problem of not "fearing God." A clearer expression is "not being afraid of God."

Today, when Paul begins his sermon, he starts by calling out, “you who fear God!” In English, these people are called “God-fearers.” That is, people who are afraid of God.

The Bible divides humanity into two types of people: those who fear God and those who do not fear God. It promises blessings and salvation to those who fear God, and it warns of judgment and destruction for those who do not fear God. Through the stories of many eras and many people, the Bible continues to show us these two paths.

In English, the word is clearly "fear." The original Greek word is phobeomai, which is the root of the word "phobia," meaning terror. But in Korean, it is often translated with the religious term ‘경외하다’ (to revere or hold in awe). Because of this, the meaning has been watered down quite a bit.

This is because the expression "fear" itself feels very negative to us, so we resist it. But there is a part of the Bible where we cannot translate it any other way.

Matthew 10:28 (NIV) Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

It is the same word, but here the meaning becomes clear. Jesus is saying: Do not be afraid of the world’s threats, which can do nothing more than kill the body. Instead, be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell!

These two fears are opposite sides of the same coin. If you do not fear God, you will fear the world. In other words, fearing the world means you do not fear God enough.

Jesus is saying that fearing God is a good thing; it is something we absolutely need.

Proverbs 1:7 (NIV) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

A person who does not fear God is, in fact, a person who ignores and despises God. Fearing the Lord! That is the most basic foundation of faith for a human being.

But... Doesn't the Bible say, "Do not be afraid!" hundreds of times? This means, as Jesus taught, "Do not be afraid of the world by fearing God!"

Some of you might be thinking, "God is love. Pastor, what are you talking about?"

But think about it. You have small children. You carry them in your arms all the time. When they grow and start to walk, you think it will get easier. But you can't take your eyes off them for even a second, right? They always touch the one thing they must not touch. They run gleefully toward dangerous places.

What does a mother do in that moment? Doesn’t she call their name in the scariest voice possible, so loud the child almost jumps out of their skin? A scary voice that probably surprises her and freezes her husband standing next to her! She has to do it. To protect her beloved child, she becomes the scariest person possible.

But what happens if the child is not scared of that voice at all? If a young child is not afraid of their mother at all and thinks she is a pushover, it's big trouble. It is truly dangerous.

When Israel came to possess the land of Canaan... In that promised land, Israel enjoyed great abundance. After Joshua, the time of the Judges began, and the exact same pattern repeats over and over.

What is that pattern? When prosperity continues, they begin to sin. They even worship idols. Then what happens? A time of judgment comes when they are attacked and oppressed by foreign powers.

Only then, in their pain, does Israel cry out to God in repentance. At that time, a Judge appears and saves Israel from the brink of destruction.

But this pattern doesn't just repeat; it gets worse and worse. By the time of Samson, even the Judge himself is corrupt. You all know the story of Samson very well, don't you?

As a Judge, it was a sin for Samson to even meet Delilah, a foreign woman. But not only did he meet her, he knew she was acting as an enemy spy... Even after being tricked several times, he went back to her again.

In the end, he told Delilah the secret of his strength, his hair was cut, and he lost his power. Samson did not break free from Delilah until his eyes were gouged out and he was in a miserable state.

Sin is always exactly like a drug. It tempts you with pleasure, makes you an addict, and turns you into a slave. Then, when you are ruined, it abandons you.

But is it possible that Samson had no faith in God? He himself was a living miracle! Could he deny that God was the one who gave him strength that no ordinary man had? He definitely had faith.

What was the problem? He did not fear God. When the temptation to sin came, he did not fear God enough to overcome it.

Why do people sin, regret it, and then repeat it again? It’s not necessarily because they don't believe in God, is it?

In the verse from Proverbs, what was the opposite of "fear"? It was "to despise" or "to ignore." To ignore something is to treat it as if it isn't there, even though it is. It is to not listen when spoken to, to not react, and to not be influenced.

On the other hand, what is "fear" like? When our brain's amygdala sends a signal that "something important is happening!" the sympathetic nervous system activates, releasing adrenaline and cortisol. As a result, the following symptoms appear: Increased heart rate (your heart pounds). Breathing becomes faster. Palms get sweaty. A tightening feeling in the stomach. A surge of energy. All senses become hyper-focused on that object.

What did the Shema say earlier?

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Giving all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength—this is hyper-focus. It means to live hyper-focused on God.

In verse 8, it says to tie this Shema to your hands and bind it on your foreheads. This is why, when Jewish people pray, they actually wrap the tefillin, which contains the Shema, on their arm and forehead.

Why the head and the arm? It means that in all your thoughts and all your actions, you must use loving God as your standard.

But then, what if our thoughts move in a direction that does not love God? What if our actions try to do something that does not love God? At that moment, it is right for us to feel fear. It is right for us to feel shame.

If I had not avoided that fear, if I had not deceived myself and had feared God in that moment... How many of our big regrets and sighs in life would be gone?

Everyone, where is God right now? God is clearly here with us right now. Are you feeling and aware of that? Perhaps there is no other time in the week when you are as focused on God as you are in this one hour.

But when worship is over, when this one hour passes, where does God go? Or, does God stay in the same place, but our hearts scatter in ten thousand directions? Does it make us almost unaware of Him, as if the Lord has left for heaven, far away in the universe? If so, is fearing God really a bad thing?

If students think their teacher is a pushover, the school becomes a mess. If children ignore their parents, what happens to the home?

The book of Judges ends with these words:

Judges 21:25 (NIV) In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

The original word for "king" here is melek—meaning "ruler." It means that Israel had come to completely despise God, their true ruler, and everyone was doing whatever they wanted.

But if you look closely at this expression... "Israel had no king" doesn't just describe the state of Israel ignoring God. It also means that God had simply let them go.

Romans 1:24 (NIV) Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity...

The state of Israel in Judges 21 was worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. It became that way "because Israel had no king," their God. That is the most terrifying judgment from God: to be given over, to be let go.

Amazingly, God gave us, His creation, the freedom to reject Him. In other words, He gave us the right to decide our distance from Him. But the distance between God, who is Spirit, and us, who are spiritual beings, is not a physical distance. What kind of distance is it? It is a cognitive distance. It is the distance of the heart.

We confess that we love the Lord thousands of times when we sing praise. If you love someone that much, would you want to keep them far away? Is once a week, for one hour, the right amount? The Lord has kept that distance for you... Is that really what the Lord wants from you?

For us, who are still so easily tempted by sin, who find it most natural to make selfish choices... Fearing God is like the first gate we must pass through to get close to Him. That fear stimulates us and leads us to repentance, to return to the Lord, to draw closer, and to hold on to Him.

But the Lord wants us to come even further than that. He didn't say, "Fear the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength!" He said, "Love!" We must reach that point.

1 John 4:18 (NIV) There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

The "fear" mentioned here is the fear of the world, which we feel because our love for God is lacking. The fear of God, who loves us so much, will be our medicine. It is just like how it is necessary for immature children to fear their parents. To be free from sin, we must fear God.

Believing you can solve the problem of temptation and sin without the fear of God... is the same as believing you can raise a child with praise alone.

But, as a parent myself, I do not enjoy being a scary dad to my children. There is nothing more painful than scolding my kids. The Lord did not say "Fear God" because He enjoys it.

Even a father like me, who is full of sin, desperately wants my children to know my love and trust that love. I want them to follow my words even if they don't understand, and even if I don't have to speak sternly. If even a flawed father like me feels this way, what about our Lord, our perfect heavenly Father?

How tragic must it be for Him that He cannot lead and change us with only good words and praise? If we know our Lord's heart... We can focus more on His heart, to try and reach a place of perfect love for Him. Even if we fall again in that process and have moments where we must be afraid... We must know that even that fear is love, and we must draw closer to the Lord.

Let us not be deceived by the lies that make us step back, but let us draw nearer to the Lord's embrace. Even then, the Lord's arms are wide open. We ask for forgiveness with a heart that is fearful and trembling. In this way, we must continue to shrink the spaces in our lives where we have been ignoring God.

Earlier, I scientifically explained the physical reaction that fear causes. When our brain's amygdala signals "something important is happening," the sympathetic nervous system activates... It releases adrenaline and cortisol... And as a result, the heart rate increases... palms sweat... and energy surges.

But there is one other thing that causes this exact same phenomenon. It is "excitement" or "anticipation." Scientists have said that it is much more possible and beneficial to change fear into excitement—which is physically the same state—than to change it into calmness.

Our fear of God the Father, who loves us, is not something to be avoided or covered up, as long as we have parts of us that are still stained by the world, parts that need to be fixed and must die.

We must take that fear and go to the Lord, step into the light, and experience that sting. We must truly repent in that fear. At that time, we will experience forgiveness again and come to love God even more. That fear is what God wants for us, because He loves us.

If you continue to shrink the spaces where you ignored God... the times of excitement will become more frequent than the times of fear. And the Bible promises that one day, we can reach a place of perfect love where no fear remains! It promises that we can become like Jesus, reaching the full measure of Christ.

The truth—the Word of God—has been proclaimed, which goes against the voice of the world that says all fear is bad. Now, how will you receive this Word?

Let us pray.

11/9/2025 The Vessel the Lord Loves to Use

Acts Sermon 65

Sermon Date: 11/9/2025

Title: The Vessel the Lord Loves to Use

Text: [Acts 13:13-16, NIV]

The Journey Begins

We are now looking at Paul's first missionary journey. The church in Syrian Antioch, the first church established in a Roman city, sent out Barnabas and Paul as its first missionaries.

They took with them a young man named Mark, the son of the owner of the house known as the Upper Room, the very first church in history in Jerusalem. He was to be their assistant on the mission.

A Great Success and a Setback

If you look at the map, they traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch, and then from Antioch to Cyprus. In Paphos, on Cyprus, the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, met the mission team, heard the Gospel, and became a Christian.

Imagine if we went on a mission to a country, and that country's president heard the Gospel from us and was saved. That would be an amazing event. This was a great achievement for the first mission team.

The team now left Paphos and headed towards Pamphylia, which is also in the region of modern-day Turkey. However, for some reason, John Mark left them there.

As we saw last week, the journey from Perga back to his home in Jerusalem was very dangerous for the young John Mark. However, Paul later said that Mark had abandoned the team, which shows Mark acted irresponsibly and certainly harmed the entire team.

This incident must have been a deep hurt for the mission team, who had been full of high hopes after their recent great success. The young man had left, and the team had to continue the mission without knowing if he was safe until they returned. This must have been a heavy burden on their hearts.

Saul Becomes Paul

It was during this time of failure—Mark's departure—that Saul, who was also called Paul, completely shed the name 'Saul' and was only called 'Paul' from then on. Mark's failure became a significant milestone in Paul's spiritual growth journey.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if life only had success? But would that really be good? When everything seems to be going well for a while, with no problems, are your souls truly well?

In my own spiritual life and while praying for others, I notice a sad pattern that repeats. When people have a sincere prayer request, they may be facing great need and difficulty, but their thirst for God is also very serious. Their prayers and worship are full of genuine sincerity, like a thirsty deer seeking a stream.

But what happens after the prayer is answered, after the problem is solved, after the need is met, and life becomes comfortable? Does the hunger for the Lord still remain?

That time might actually be when our souls are in real danger. The time when our prayers and worship become merely formal is truly dangerous.

When there are no major problems in our own lives, a genuine community's key role is to help us pray with the same sincere and desperate heart. This is because there are always brothers and sisters within our community who need concern, love, and prayer. When a brother's problem becomes my prayer, or the church's difficulty becomes my earnest prayer, it becomes a blessing to everyone.

How earnestly Paul and Barnabas must have prayed when Mark left! They must have prayed constantly for Mark's safe return home. They would have also continuously poured out their hearts for the remaining team to stay united and unshaken.

It was no accident that Paul, who was also called Saul, fully gave up the name Saul and was only called Paul at this very moment. It was in this situation that they moved from Pamphylia to Pisidian Antioch.

A Chosen Vessel

It is known that Seleucus, who conquered much land under Alexander the Great, built sixteen cities named Antioch, after his father, Antiochus. Two Antiochs appear in the Bible. The place where the first Roman city church was founded was Syrian Antioch. The place where Paul preached in the synagogue in today's passage was Pisidian Antioch. Both are in the region of modern-day Turkey.

The journey from Perga to Pisidian Antioch took another week of walking and included high altitudes—a very difficult path. The reason the mission team immediately headed there, instead of staying in the port city where they arrived, is shown in today's passage: there was a famous Jewish synagogue there.

In the modern-day Turkish city of Yalvaç, you can find a ruin site, which can be searched on Google Maps as Pisidian Antioch. Amazingly, part of the synagogue Paul visited is believed to still be there.

Just looking at the remaining structure, it must have been a very magnificent building. So this synagogue was probably well-known among the Jewish Diaspora at the time. Paul deliberately sought out this synagogue first. Why?

He felt deep pity for his fellow Jewish Diaspora brothers, like his former self, who lived as blind men; they lived as devout Pharisees, praying prayers that were perhaps just self-talk, and practicing their faith diligently by trying to obey the Law, only guessing that God would be pleased. They studied and memorized the Scriptures so earnestly yet failed to recognize the Messiah. He sought out the synagogue first because they were there.

In fact, immediately after Saul first met Jesus on the road to Damascus, the first place he went, after recovering, was the synagogue in Damascus.

[Acts 9:18-20, NIV] 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

Saul, blinded upon meeting Jesus, neither ate nor drank for three days due to the shock. He could have eaten food even if he couldn't see. Why did he fast?

He had spent his whole life strictly obeying the Law, waiting for the Messiah. Yet, not only had he failed to recognize Jesus, but he had helped to have the Messiah crucified and was now capturing His followers. Didn't the martyrs, like Stephen, whom he had actively participated in killing, come to his mind?

At that time, he believed that people like Stephen were apostates who deserved death, and that killing such unrighteous people was justice. But he found out the truth was the exact opposite!

Stephen and the Christians were the ones who knew the truth and followed the Messiah. He, the chief priests, and the Pharisees were the truly blind ones—tools of Satan and cruel persecutors of the Messiah. The fact that they had killed the Messiah was an immense shock.

When he met Jesus and faced that truth, didn't the faces of the people he had cruelly persecuted and arrested come back to him? The three days Paul spent blind were, in fact, a time of repentance.

"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" "Who are you, Lord?" "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." The Lord identified all who were being persecuted for following Him with Himself, Jesus.

This is what it means for the Church to be the Body of Christ. It is the meaning of being in Jesus. When we are in Jesus, any harm done to us is done to Jesus, and anyone who opposes us is opposing Jesus.

How safe is a soul when Jesus calls that person His own, calls them "Jesus"? Even if the world harms them, that soul will never sink.

But the reason Jesus came to Saul was not to punish or discipline him. Jesus came to forgive him, an enemy, to offer him a chance, and to call him to be His disciple.

Isn't that shocking? Among all mankind at that time, Jesus came to the one person who had most actively harassed Him—the person who should absolutely not be shown grace or forgiveness.

Therefore, if Jesus can forgive a person like this, then there is no one Jesus cannot forgive. If Jesus can love someone who arrested and killed His own brothers, there is no one Jesus cannot love.

Knowing this is what completely overturns a person—it is what is felt at the moment of conversion. "Ah, Jesus loves me? He forgives me?!" "Ah... there is no one without hope before Jesus!" "This is the love of God!"

Being utterly transformed by that amazing love is conversion. Saul groaned under the weight of the terrible crimes he had committed as a tool of Satan against God's people and his victims. At the same time, he was so overwhelmed by the love that forgave him that he could neither eat nor drink.

The Earthen Vessels

At that time, Jesus appeared to another person in Damascus—one of His disciples named Ananias. Ananias had remained to protect the church, even after hearing that Saul and his group were coming to Damascus to persecute the church and arrest Christians. He was ready for martyrdom.

Yet, Jesus came to him and told him to go to the persecutor Saul, lay hands on him, and pray.

[Acts 9:13-14, NIV] 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

This was a truly incomprehensible command. How much did he dislike walking right into the den of the church's persecutors to lay hands on his enemy and pray? Ananias even questioned Jesus, saying, "Isn't this wrong?" Yet, he finally obeyed.

If you think about it, Jesus had already appeared directly to Saul. Jesus was the one who had blinded him. Couldn't Jesus have visited him again and restored his sight directly? But the Lord chose to accomplish this work more difficultly through His disciple, Ananias.

This is a question we will inevitably continue to ask throughout our Christian lives. Consider: Why do Barnabas and Paul have to travel such a long and difficult way by boat, walking, and then by boat again?

Jesus answered Ananias's doubt: [Acts 9:15, NIV] But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” It is because we are vessels of Jesus.

A vessel is made to be used. The unemployment rate for Gen Z in Korea and the United States is very high and shows no signs of improving. Ask those who can live without working because they have their parents' support, who have money, if they are happy.

People desire to be useful. They are happy when they feel they are pulling their weight. No one can fully explain why; they can only say it is an innate nature. But the Bible clearly reveals the reason.

[Genesis 1:27-29, NIV] 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”

'Fill,' 'subdue,' 'rule over'—these are all tasks and duties given to humanity. God gave them food, but He did not set the table for them; He intended for them to work for their food.

[Genesis 2:15, NIV] The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. We were created as vessels with a physical body, made in the image of God.

The first sacred calling was to cultivate the ground and rule over the animals—shepherding and farming. Therefore, for us Christians, we consider all kinds of work entrusted to us by God to be a sacred calling.

This is why we must do whatever work we do for God and for His glory, as ministers. God provides for us then. Christians do not work to simply earn money or make a living.

If a job or work is led by God, we can certainly discover God's purpose within it. We can find out why we must be there and who the souls are that we need to care for. There is no greater purpose than becoming an Ananias to someone.

Paul's Growth

After being baptized in Damascus and recovering, Saul immediately went to the Jewish synagogue there. He excitedly shouted out of the blue, "Jesus is the Son of God! Jesus is the Christ—the Messiah!"

However, in today's passage, Paul, having traveled this long way to Pisidian Antioch, sits down upon reaching the synagogue and waits for his turn. There is a clear contrast between 'Saul' in the Damascus synagogue and 'Paul' in the Pisidian Antioch synagogue.

Then, he stands up, gestures with his hand, and begins to speak. This was the first sermon of Paul recorded in the Bible. We will look at the content of that sermon next week.

Jesus called Paul His chosen instrument (vessel). And that vessel was created in the image of God. We are vessels made with God's mold, perfectly resembling Him.

However, if a vessel is full of other things, it cannot be used. For God to use the vessel named Paul, there needed to be a process of emptying out 'Saul'. That was the time Paul spent in seclusion and his experiences of failure.

The Lord wants that vessel to be filled—filled with the Spirit of Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. But if the vessel, filled with living water, also gets some impurities in it, it must be emptied again.

Then, it is refilled. That is the journey of faith. The perfect vessel, created in the image of God and filled with the Holy Spirit, was Jesus Christ.

Jesus' vessel was always full, and His cup overflowed. By showing us the perfect, physical vessel, Jesus, God desired for us to become vessels like Him.

[Ephesians 1:23, NIV] which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. The church is a vessel. You are God's vessels.

But some vessels are cracked or broken and cannot be used, and some are already full of something and cannot be used. The Lord will empty that vessel to use it. He will make us discard things we need to get rid of.

Some vessels will need to be mended and patched up where they are cracked. Still others will need to be completely broken, mixed with water, turned back into a lump of clay, and recreated completely new.

We are being reborn as vessels that God will fill and use. I have many cups in my house, but there are some that I reach for more often. I hope that you and I can be a church like those cups. A vessel that is always familiar to the Lord's hand, a vessel that the Lord loves to use.

Then, we will be not only vessels into which living water is poured from above but also the Lord's vessels from which that living water springs up eternally.

In his last letter, 2 Timothy, Paul wrote:

[2 Timothy 2:20-21, NIV] 20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

What kind of vessel do you want to be? A precious vessel only brought out once or twice a year when guests visit? Or a vessel that the Lord happily uses every day until it is worn out? I want to be that kind of vessel.

Let us pray. [2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV] But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

11/2/2025 Leaving Me For Finding Me

Date: 11/2/2025

Title: Leaving Me to Finding Me

Scripture:

[Acts 13:9-14]

9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elimas and said,

10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop turning the straight ways of the Lord into crooked ones?

11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.1

12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was 2astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.3

14 From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat dow4n.

Overview

We are returning to the Book of Acts after a break for a retreat.

To briefly review the past events: the first Gentile church was established in Antioch of Syria, which was the third largest city of the Roman Empire. The amazing news reached the Jerusalem church that Gentiles and Jews were worshiping together there. Barnabas was sent to Antioch to strengthen this church.

This tells us that Barnabas was the first missionary officially sent by the Jerusalem church, the first church of humanity. We can see the enormous trust the church had in Barnabas.

As we study Acts, the Lord shines a light on the person of Barnabas, urging us to pay attention to him. He was a Jewish immigrant (Diaspora) who was born and raised in Cyprus, not Israel. However, Barnabas was not his birth name; it was a name given to him by people.

What does Barnabas mean? It means 'Son of Encouragement.'

Barnabas's first appearance was remarkable: when the first church community in Jerusalem was facing financial hardship, he was the first to volunteer to share his possessions. He proved to the world that the church was an astonishing community of love, one that the world had never seen.

You can understand why he was named Barnabas, right? Was this brother truly a source of strength for God and the church? Yes, he was!

His second appearance was when Saul, a zealous young Pharisee who had been arresting Christians, had a dramatic encounter with Jesus in Damascus. Now, being pursued by the Jews, Saul barely made it to the Jerusalem church.

At the time, even the church members doubted Saul's conversion and would not accept him. It was Barnabas again who first believed in Saul's conversion and vouched for his safety.

What great strength that must have been for Saul, who was trapped! And how pleasing and joyful must Barnabas's actions have been to our Father God!

Barnabas truly was the Son of Encouragement to God and his people.

Barnabas then became a key figure in the first revival among the Gentiles.

[Acts 11:24 (NIV)] He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

The Holy Spirit is not visible, and faith itself is not visible. So, what did people see in Barnabas?

They saw that he was good. Even evil people, and those in the world who do not know God, recognize a good person and are moved by them.

Look at the nine fruits of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Aren't all of these summed up by the everyday word 'good' in the world?

Jesus also said this:

[Matthew 5:16 (NIV)] In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

The way Christians shine God's light to the world is through good deeds (or 'good behavior'). This both moves the world and brings glory to God.

Friends, if you look at the life of Jesus, one thing is clear: Jesus was a truly good person. The Gospels state that although not everything could be recorded, wherever He went, He healed the sick people lined up and waiting, even until He was exhausted.

However, the healing of the body is temporary compared to eternal life, isn't it? The person would eventually weaken and face death. While it would have been enough for Jesus to hold a few large gatherings and show miraculous signs to prove that He was the Son of God, He never turned away the people who came to Him, and He healed them all.

The reason was that Jesus was a good person who shared in their pain. He wept over Lazarus' death, even though He was about to raise him. Why? Because He sympathized with the grief of Mary and Martha.

Jesus was a warm-hearted person who first felt their pain and wept with people, even those who were sick and suffering because of their own sins.

True fullness of the Holy Spirit is shown to the world through this kind of good character and actions.

Especially to unbelievers who do not yet know the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit is shown by being a good neighbor to them.

Failure in the Fullness of the Spirit

However, even when living a life full of the Holy Spirit for the Lord, one can experience failure.

Look at the young man, John Mark, who appears in our passage today. He grew up in an environment where the Holy Spirit descended on his own house at Pentecost, and his house became the location of the very first Christian church in history.

Mark was also chosen as a team member for the first world mission. Amazing things happened on the mission trip with Barnabas and Paul. A sorcerer was blinded, and the proconsul of Cyprus came to believe in Jesus. Mark witnessed these great events directly.

He did not leave because he was disappointed following an ordinary pastor. This young man, who was with Barnabas and Paul—men recognized by God, guaranteed by Scripture as being the most Spirit-filled, and closest followers of Jesus' disciples—gave up halfway and returned home.

Look at the map. The passage reveals that the place he departed from was Perga in Pamphylia.

To return to Jerusalem from Perga (which is at the bottom right of the map), they had to travel by land to the port city of Attalia, then take a ship to Antioch in Caesarea, and then travel a long distance by land to get home. Even if ships were immediately available, it was a journey of over 1,000 km, taking at least three weeks, and realistically, a month.

In that time, they couldn't make online reservations or call their families in advance, and they faced a difficult, unpredictable journey. The fact that he left the team and went home means that something was seriously wrong; he had firmly decided to leave Paul and Barnabas.

The concern and disappointment he caused were so great that when they were preparing for the second mission trip, Barnabas insisted on taking John Mark, but Paul strongly disagreed. They had a sharp argument and separated, going on separate missions. This shows that, whatever the specific reason, John caused a major issue when he left the mission team.

Even the mission team of Paul and Barnabas, great as they were, had conflict and desertion. The fact that there was division among co-workers, not just hardship from the outside world, is, in some ways, a comfort.

Even in a faithful family, couples argue, and conflicts with children arise, don't they? Just like John Mark, who grew up in a faithful and good environment, there are times when people leave the church for a while.

Just as this was not Paul and Barnabas's fault, the religious wandering of a child is not always the fault of the parents. This is a comfort.

And eventually, John Mark grew up to be a disciple who made an enormous contribution to church history. He is the one who wrote the Gospel of Mark. Furthermore, he became a person whom both Paul and Peter trusted and loved like a son.

When we read the Bible, there is a very important perspective we need to adopt. Christians often miss this perspective, even when they do many Bible studies (Q.T.) and memorize many verses.

The Bible is entirely about the faith development of God's people, including Old Testament figures like Abraham, Moses, and David, as well as Jesus' disciples like Peter and Paul.

Unfortunately, many of our evangelical churches tend to view things simply as 'before and after'—before and after salvation, before and after conversion, before and after being born again, before and after the Holy Spirit's coming—seeing it in black and white.

Of course, the difference between 'before and after' being born again is eternal. However, the Bible records a story of continuous growth with ups and downs, starting from that point. This crucial perspective of continuous growth is often not fully appreciated.

Paul's Journey

The departure of Mark, who was his key assistant, was a painful failure for Paul. But surprisingly, it is right at this point that the Bible stops calling him 'Saul, who was also called Paul,' and starts calling him simply 'Paul'—a completely changed name.

This experience of failure also led to another step of change for Paul.

The name Saul is derived from the Hebrew verb sha'al, meaning 'to ask' or 'to beg.' Saul means 'one obtained by asking God.' The most famous person with this name was King Saul of Israel; he truly was the one the Israelites obtained by asking God for a king.

The name 'Saul' carried the image of a great and important person.

On the other hand, 'Paul' is a Roman name that means 'small' or 'humble.'

There are two theories: one is that this was his original Greek name, given to Saul, who was born in Tarsus (a Roman region); the other is that it was a new name he took after meeting Jesus to humble himself.

However, what is more important than the origin is that Saul wanted to completely drop the name 'Saul' and be called only 'Paul.' This is key.

Immediately after Paul regained his sight upon meeting Jesus, he went to the Jewish synagogues and declared, "Jesus is the Christ!" The Bible shows that he was an energetic, fearless, and justice-driven, heroic character.

Because of this, the period of retirement in his hometown immediately afterward must have been even more painful for Saul. There was no knowing when he could go out into the world again, and he was cut off from the people he used to associate with. During that time, he was becoming a person more suited to the name 'Paul.'

It was at that time that Barnabas sought him out. More accurately, the Holy Spirit sent Barnabas to call Paul out again. This meant he was ready.

However, it does not mean he had become a perfect being.

For example, one of the earliest letters Paul wrote is Galatians, and it contains very sharp and harsh language.

For instance, there is a scene where he severely criticizes Peter and Barnabas, calling them hypocrites and saying they were carried away by temptation. This happened when they got up from eating with Gentile believers after some Jewish believers from Judea arrived.

Of course, Peter and Barnabas could have handled the situation better, but could there not have been a reasonable explanation for their actions? They might have been showing consideration because the brothers from Judea were still uncomfortable in a Gentile environment. The fact that Paul used such severe terms as "hypocrites" and "carried away by temptation" shows that, even if he was right, his manner was harsh.

Yet, in later letters like Romans, Ephesians, and Philippians, he seems like a completely different person, full of love and acceptance.

Ephesians 4:2-3 (NIV)

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

Barnabas might have been naturally gentle and good-natured. Therefore, his growth might not be as obvious. But Paul's transformation is clearly visible in his letters, which later became Scripture.

I believe one of the reasons God highlights Paul over other disciples, including Peter and Barnabas, is precisely this.

It's because it shows so clearly how this person, who was harsh and quick to condemn directly, became a person of gentleness and love as he grew to be more like Jesus.

Paul's journey, simply put: a zealous Pharisee before meeting Jesus $\rightarrow$ zealous new believer Saul, immediately proclaiming Jesus as the Christ in the synagogue $\rightarrow$ years of isolation $\rightarrow$ starting a Spirit-filled ministry as a missionary with Barnabas $\rightarrow$ wanting to be called only Paul after the failure of Mark's desertion during ministry.

Even after Paul emerged from his isolation and began Spirit-filled ministry, and even after his new identity as Paul was established, he certainly did not stop there. He continued on the journey of walking with Jesus and becoming more like Him.

If we look at the Bible through the lens of continuous growth—that God wants to show us Saul becoming Paul, and Paul's ongoing development—then Paul's letters clearly show his transformation.

Our evangelical churches generally judge faith by dividing it into two states: having faith or not, being born again or not. They tried to explain all states of faith with these two categories. What has been the result?

Is it possible that too many people, even after decades of Christian life, are simply moving back and forth between these two extremes, making no real progress?

If we don't see faith as continuous growth, does it not lead people to think, "I must not have faith, I must not be a true Christian," and give up when they fail at being good? Going back and forth between extremes? That's how Christian life has been lived, which is why many Korean Christians are vulnerable to cults.

Paul failed, and Barnabas made mistakes. So, we, too, will never give up. We are continually becoming more wonderful children of God. We are continuously growing through all these processes. We challenge ourselves, reflect, and start over for this reason. This is one reason why we are given a Sabbath day of worship every seven days.

We lay down past failures and mistakes before the Lord and start anew. After several years, we will surely have grown.

However, this does not happen by grace alone, automatically.

[Psalm 63:8 (NIV)] My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

The original word for 'clings' means to stick close, or to chase after with the intent to catch up. This indicates a powerful act of will. It is not a passive wish but the fervent effort of the soul.

A quote by Dallas Willard, cited in a book we read on Wednesdays, truly resonates:

"Grace is opposed to earning, not effort. The key to the Kingdom of God, and to a quiet, yet powerful life and ministry, is our well-aimed, decisive, and persistent effort."

Our confession that we are saved by grace alone means that no effort of ours is sufficient to pay for our sins.

However, for those who have received grace, a life of wholeheartedly loving God and serving their neighbors is the path to the life and power—the abundant life promised by the Lord—which can only be realized as they continually change to become more like a child of God.

This fullness comes to us more and more as we add our hearts and efforts, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is the blessing that should happen in our lives. As time passes, we become people of deep love with a more spacious capacity for others.

And all of this flows eternally from the Lord, who is eternal life, into us.

Then, those who used to wield harsh words are transformed into people who speak gentle and comforting words.

Barnabas's Growth

[Acts 15:37-39 (NIV)]

37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus5,

What if Barnabas had backed down to avoid conflict, according to his naturally peaceful nature? They would have left Mark behind, as Paul wished.

But if that had happened, what about Mark? How much guilt would he have carried, thinking his major mistake meant he would never get another chance?

This time, however, Barnabas did not retreat from his firm intention to take Mark. Isn't this uncharacteristic of Barnabas? Barnabas, too, was growing during that time. He was not just a peace-seeker but a person who would not back down when he was certain of God's will. Barnabas had grown.

The place Barnabas took Mark is so moving. Where did they sail to? Cyprus... He took him directly back to the route of his failed first mission.

This is an act of God's love—forgiveness—like how Jesus came to Peter, who had denied Him three times, and gave him three opportunities to confess his love. Barnabas was putting this into practice.

How touching, isn't it? Barnabas is so good! It's because he is becoming like Jesus.

In Paul's final letter, 2 Timothy, his high praise for Mark is surely not a coincidence; it reflects Barnabas's influence. Just as Barnabas learned decisiveness and courage from Paul, Paul also learned acceptance and gentleness through Barnabas, and he grew.

All of us in Christ Jesus are in this process.

We all need to be changed anew every day.

If Paul and Barnabas needed continuous transformation, how much more do you and I?

That is why I don't mind getting older. In Christ, will tomorrow not bring me closer to being a person of greater hope, and next year a person of deeper love?

There, I will find the true me I have longed for all my life...

A me that I am not ashamed of...

A me I don't need to try to prove.

This is what we have been searching for.

Let us pray.

10/26/2025 The Spying on Canaan and Rahab’s Report

10/26/25: Sermon: The Spying on Canaan and Rahab’s Report 

Scripture: Joshua 2:1-24

1Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

2The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 

3So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

4But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 

5At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 

6(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 

7So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

8Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 

9and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 

10We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 

11When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

12“Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 

13that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”

14“Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”

15So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 

16She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”

17Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 

18unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 

19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. 

20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”

21“Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”

So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

22When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them. 

23Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them. 

24They said to Joshua, “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”

The people of Israel are preparing to enter the land of Canaan, a place they have never been to before. Soon, the land of Canaan will belong to Israel. 

Why are the Canaanites losing their land? It is because they did things that were detestable in the eyes of God. Idolatry and human sacrifices are only part of the evil acts they committed.

Israel now stands on the verge of entering the land that God promised to their ancestor Abraham. To prepare for the conquest of Canaan, God brings about a change of generations. He appoints a new leader, Joshua, and commands him to rise up and lead the people into the land of Canaan—the land He promised to the ancestors of Israel.

When God called Abraham, He made the following promise (Genesis 12:2–3):

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

 The reason God called Abraham was to bless all nations through him so that they might come to know the Lord God. 

Although God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham, it was not until 400 years later that his descendants actually possessed it. This was because the sin of the Amorites who lived in that land had not yet reached its full measure.

“In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
Genesis 15:16

At the joint retreat gathering, I proclaimed the message from Joshua chapter 1. In this chapter, God commands Joshua to tell the people to prepare their provisions within three days, because in three days they would cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land that God had given to their ancestors.

Joshua, in obedience, relayed God’s command to the leaders of the tribes, and they in turn passed it on to the people. Moreover, Joshua went to the two and a half tribes—Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—who had already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan, reminding them of the oath they had made to Moses.

Joshua was not a leader who worked alone; he was a leader who shared his leadership, cooperating and working together with others.

God promised Joshua that He would be with him just as He had been with Moses. This was crucial, because conquering the land of Canaan would be a great challenge for Israel. God also commanded Joshua to be faithful to His Word. 

The most important response required of Joshua was to delight in God’s Word, meditate on it day and night, and never let it depart from his mouth. For true success and prosperity depend on quietly meditating on God’s Word and deeply understanding it.

In Joshua chapter 2, Joshua secretly sends spies into Jericho. He sends two men as spies to explore the land and see what it is like. Why does Joshua send spies in secret?

Numbers chapters 13 and 14 describe how Moses sent twelve spies—one from each tribe—to explore the land of Canaan. When those twelve spies returned and gave their report, the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. Because of this, God’s anger burned against them, and Moses had to intercede on their behalf.

As a result of their grumbling, the Israelites were condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years. Moreover, those who had brought back a bad report, saying that the land was impossible for them to enter, died by a plague before the Lord. Among those twelve spies, only Joshua and Caleb survived (Numbers 14:26–36).

Joshua had personally experienced the consequences of that earlier spying mission and its outcome for Israel. Therefore, his decision to send spies secretly this time was a wise one. There are matters that should be made known to everyone from the beginning, and there are others that are best kept quiet until the right time. Joshua needed to act with caution and prepare wisely.

In fact, one might think that sending spies was unnecessary, because God had already given Joshua clear instructions:

“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.”
Joshua 1:2

However, by sending spies to observe the condition of the land they were about to enter, Joshua demonstrates careful and prudent leadership. When you begin something new, what are the areas where you especially need to prepare with wisdom and caution?

When the two spies entered the land of Canaan, the first Canaanite they met was Rahab, a prostitute. Although there is no evidence of any sexual contact between her and the spies, it is clear that Rahab was indeed a prostitute in the region of Canaan. The book of Hebrews says that the spies stayed in Rahab’s house and that she welcomed them with kindness (Hebrews 11:31).

Let us remember that God often works through unexpected people. When you encounter someone who is not the kind of person you normally deal with—someone completely different—listen to their story carefully.

At that time, there was great tension in the land of Canaan. The people of Jericho were anxious and fearful, because they knew that the Israelites were right at their doorstep, ready to take possession of the land. So the king of Jericho sent messengers to Rahab, ordering her to bring out the spies who were hiding in her house (Joshua 2:3).

But Rahab disobeyed and betrayed the king’s command. She hid the two spies and lied, saying that the men had indeed come to her but that she did not know where they came from and that they had already left her house. Rahab was indeed a traitor—not to God, but to the king of Jericho.

Though she was a Gentile woman, raised in a culture of idolatry, and engaged in an occupation that required moral compromise, Rahab showed clear kindness toward the spies who were God’s people. She was also a Gentile who believed in the Lord, the God of Israel—the one who brings salvation even in a land destined for judgment.

Through Rahab, the two spies heard what could be called breaking news: she told them that the Lord had already given the land to Israel, that the people of Canaan were terrified of them, and that their courage had melted away (Joshua 2:8–11).

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, Rahab went up on the roof
9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.
10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.
11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

In this way, Rahab revealed to the spies the condition of the land of Canaan and the mindset of its people. There could not have been a more precise or groundbreaking report for the spies to receive. Rahab lived among the people of the land, in a place where she met many visitors and could hear the latest news.

Rahab told them that the Canaanites had heard about what the Lord had done for Israel—the exodus from Egypt, the miracle of the Red Sea, and all the signs and wonders performed in the wilderness. Because of this, their hearts melted in fear; they had lost all courage to fight against Israel.

When the two spies later returned and reported to Joshua, they simply repeated what Rahab had told them (Joshua 6:23–24).

Rahab not only showed kindness to the spies by giving them valuable information about the situation in Canaan, but she also cooperated in God’s plan by hiding them from the king of Jericho and helping them escape. But it didn’t end there—Rahab confessed her faith in the God of Israel:

“When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”
Joshua 2:11

Here, we are prompted to ask: Who truly belongs to Israel? Who is included among God’s people?

The owner of the land is God Himself. He is the one who establishes where people live and determines their boundaries. The land of Canaan was not an empty, unclaimed territory waiting for Israel to occupy; it was already inhabited by the Canaanites.

It took more than 400 years for Abraham’s descendants to possess that land because the sin of the Amorites had not yet reached its full measure. God is patient—He delays judgment again and again. Why would God bring judgment if people turn from their sin and repent?

But the Canaanites, through their wicked and detestable practices, left God no choice but to drive them out of the land.

So then, who can continue to live rightfully in the land that belongs to God? If God gave this land to Israel, who truly counts as Israel?

Is being a physical descendant of Abraham what makes someone part of Israel?

Rahab, by birth, was a descendant of the Canaanites—but now, she has become part of Israel.

After that, Rahab made the following request to the two spies (Joshua 2:12–13):

12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign
13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”

Then the spies made a covenant with Rahab. They swore that if she kept their mission secret, when the Israelites entered the land, they would spare her and her family. The sign of this promise was a red cord tied in the window of her house. When the Israelites saw the scarlet cord, they would know to rescue everyone in that household from destruction.

That promise was kept. Rahab and her entire family were saved (Joshua 6:22–25):

22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.”
23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.
25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

If God’s purpose had simply been to destroy the Canaanites because of their detestable practices, Rahab would have been the first person to perish. Yet, Rahab confessed her faith, declaring that the Lord, who delivered Israel from Egypt, was her God.

Through this, we see that the book of Joshua already answers the question, “Who is Israel?” — and it includes Gentiles. Therefore, the book of Joshua naturally carries a missionary theme.

The very first person the two spies met in the land of Canaan—the most unlikely person, Rahab—became part of Israel, the people who would continue to live in the land after its conquest. And this was because of her confession of faith.

The condition for dwelling in the land that God has given is this: it is only possible when one is in a right relationship with God.

Joshua chapter 9 tells the story of the Gibeonites, who deceived Joshua into making a peace treaty with them. Yet through that covenant of peace, they too became part of the Israelite community, choosing peace with God’s people rather than conflict.

However, there is also a contrasting story. In Joshua chapter 7, Achan, an Israelite, sinned against God, and as a result, he and his entire family were destroyed under God’s judgment.

So, who truly belongs to Israel?
Those who believe in the one true God—the Lord who saves—and who live in peace with Him through that faith are included in Israel.

The Canaanite nations, who stood against Israel and opposed the Lord, the true God, were driven out of the land. And later, when the Israelites themselves disobeyed God and worshiped other gods, they too were expelled from the land and taken into exile in Babylon.

The land belongs to God. Those who can rightly live in the land that God gives are the ones, like Rahab, who confess faith in Him—they are the true people of God, the true Israel.

Rahab, a resident of Canaan—a land God was about to judge because of its wickedness—was saved not because she trusted in the idols of her people, but because she confessed faith in the Lord, the God who rescued Israel from Pharaoh’s hand and delivered them from Egypt.

Rejecting her Canaanite identity and desiring instead to be united with God’s people, Rahab showed kindness to the Israelite spies who came to scout out Jericho. Instead of betraying them to the king of Jericho, she hid them and helped them escape.

Later, Rahab married Salmon, a man from the tribe of Judah, and together they had a son named Boaz. Boaz married Ruth, the Moabite woman, and they had a son named Obed. Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

Thus, Rahab—the former Canaanite prostitute—became the great-great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king, David (Matthew 1:5–6).

In Matthew 21:28–32, Jesus tells the story of the two sons:

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
31 Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

Who, then, are the people of God—the true Israel?
And what is the condition for continuing to live in the land that God has given?

The answer is this: those who, like Rahab, even while living in a corrupt and defiled land like Canaan, reject their old identity, confess faith in God, and enter into a right relationship with Him—these are the ones who belong to God’s people and can dwell in His land.

10/12 An Age for Prophets and Teachers

Acts Lecture 63 - Sermon 4 Date: 10/12/2025 Topic: An Age for Prophets and Teachers Scripture: Acts 13:1-12

Sermon Text

Barnabas, Saul, and Mark, who had joined them, have now returned to the church in Antioch. Barnabas was one of the leaders who had greatly helped the Jerusalem church by giving his own property when the first revival began there.

When the amazing news spread that Gentiles in Antioch were believing in Jesus and building a church together with Jews, it was Barnabas who was sent to help this new church.

However, this same Barnabas went to find Saul, who was living in seclusion in Tarsus at the time. Saul, who had been a zealous Pharisee among the orthodox, was brought to his knees by a powerful call from Jesus and, overnight, became a zealous disciple.

He had been a Bible teacher who had read the scriptures his whole life and preached well in the synagogues. But he felt the frustration of having lived like a blind man with the truth right before his eyes! Feeling compassion for his Jewish brothers still in that state, he immediately went to the synagogue in Damascus and proclaimed, "Jesus is the Christ!" This caused him to be branded a dangerous apostate by the Jews.

After fleeing, he arrived in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the believing church at that time. There, he faced the reality that even his Christian brothers could not immediately accept him.

And why would they? Wasn't he the one who, just a short time ago, had led the charge in arresting the disciples of Christ? Didn't he lead the brutal martyrdom of the beloved Stephen?

The very reason he went to Damascus was to capture Christians there. It was hard to believe that the Saul who returned, changed 180 degrees on that road, was sincere.

But at that moment, a man highly respected in the church stood up and defended him. Do you remember who it was?

His real name was Joseph, but everyone in the church knew him as Barnabas—a name meaning "Son of Encouragement."

As I have been studying and meditating on the book of Acts this time, I think I have fallen in love with the character of 'Barnabas.' How wonderful must a person be for 'a man of encouragement' to become their nickname, to the point where everyone who knows them thinks of it as their real name?

And something I've been thankful for recently is that our church members seem to be becoming like this Barnabas. Even at the pastor's ordination ceremony, so many of you went all the way to Flushing. And last week, the wedding song for our Sunny in South Dakota was so moving. The wedding gift money collected was also much more than I expected.

You are all wonderful Barnabases. You are people who give strength to the Lord.

I felt that our church is a community filled with people like Barnabas. And I am so thankful that this heart is maturing and growing more and more.

Prophets and Teachers

Looking at the names recorded as prophets and teachers alongside Barnabas in today's text, there is something surprising. Simeon was called Niger, which means black. Lucius of Cyrene was likely a Greek, as Cyrene was a North African city dominated by Greeks and his name is Greek.

In addition, Barnabas and Paul were Jews, and most surprisingly, the group included royalty, a man who was like a foster brother or cousin to Herod the tetrarch.

It is a truly moving picture that this first church established outside of Jerusalem had people from four different ethnic groups serving as prophets and teachers. The nations that God had to scatter from Babel by confusing their languages were once again forming a community of love through Jesus Christ.

And this church in a Gentile land, in turn, even helped the church in Jerusalem, which was like their parent church. Isn't that wonderful?

We instinctively seek out people of similar age and feel a sense of stability near those who are like us. This is especially strong among Koreans, who pride themselves on being a single-race nation, and Jews with their chosen-people mindset.

While having a sense of stability among similar people is necessary to some extent, what the church should pursue is for diverse people to form a community together, maturing through the discomforts that arise.

In Jesus Christ, those differences create spaces that can be filled only with grace. This summer, for the South Dakota mission, our team united with more people from the outside than our own team. Even though they were all Koreans... Pastor Chun, Pastor Park... and I are all very different characters, aren't we? The churches were all different too.

However, I witnessed and experienced the love of Jesus filling those gaps, making everything beautifully complete.

Today's passage calls the leaders of the Antioch church prophets and teachers. In the Bible, a prophet’s role was often to travel, simply declare God's will, and then leave; it wasn't to explain things or set an example for people.

On the other hand, teachers are exactly those kinds of people. In Ephesians, Paul describes pastors and teachers as doing the same work. A pastor’s role is to care, and a teacher’s role is to instruct, but in the church, these often happen together. Yet, in the Antioch church, these people fulfilled both the role of a prophet and a teacher.

The reason for this was that the Bible was not yet complete, so there was a need for roles where people could learn directly from the Holy Spirit and then teach.

Because it was such an era, false prophets were rampant in places where the word of God had not yet reached.

False Prophets

In today's text, a false prophet appears: a sorcerer named Bar-Jesus. He was a Jewish sorcerer who enjoyed power by attaching himself to the proconsul of the region of Cyprus.

There are many false prophets in the Bible, and they always use all sorts of schemes to keep us from meeting God.

And their approach is always similar. They win people over by telling them what they want to hear, not the truth.

Micah 3:5 (NIV): "This is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray: They cry ‘Peace’ if they have something to eat, but when one puts nothing into their mouths, they prepare to wage war against him."

False prophets see it only as a means of making money and have no interest in people.

In this age, too, there are so many fake Jesuses, cult leaders, and pseudo-religions. Their ultimate goal is to fulfill their own desires.

Even if a church appears orthodox, if its ultimate purpose is desire—for money, power, popularity—then its leaders are also false prophets.

Ultimately, they unknowingly prevent their followers from seeing God.

Matthew 23:13 (NIV): “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

However, it's not just religious things. Cultural content like music, dramas, and social media can plant so many lies in us if we consume them without discernment. In fact, the false prophets who have the greatest influence on us today are probably in the media.

Countless advertisements make us feel we need things that we don't really need. Most popular songs excessively amplify only certain emotions.

Meticulously produced movies, dramas, and entertainment shows with dozens of cameras can provide a thrill while watching. But if you indulge too much, they can make a peaceful daily life feel boring and meaningless. It's like eating fruit after eating candy and not tasting anything. You lose the ability to feel genuine emotions.

When consumed in moderation with discernment, all these things can be a healthy way to train our emotions to empathize with our friends in the world. But in excess, they become false prophets to us.

Let's listen to the warnings of two individuals who raised a prophetic voice in the early 20th century, when music and culture rapidly developed through the mass media of broadcasting and began to enter the church.

First, Martyn Lloyd-Jones of England strongly expressed his concern about worship songs that appealed to emotion rather than truth. I quote:

"The most important thing in worship is to hear and understand the truth of God. Hymns and prayers should all be offered in response to this truth... Singing, especially emotional songs, is a kind of intoxication. It stimulates you and makes you feel good... but it only helps you avoid the problems you really need to face.

This is not the joy given by the Holy Spirit, but merely something 'soulish.' Many people try to comfort themselves by singing hymns instead of speaking the truth to their souls.

In a true spiritual experience, emotion always follows as a 'result' of understanding the truth. That is the order. We must grasp the truth first. We must think. And as we think and understand, our hearts are moved.

It is always wrong to directly pursue emotion for its own sake."

To us today, this might feel too conservative. But he was strongly warning us not to lose the essence of what praise is. Aren't worldly songs often better at just touching emotions and changing the mood?

Let's also listen to the cry of A.W. Tozer from America.

"In modern evangelicalism, there is a cursed ambition to entertain one another instead of worshipping God. Worship has now been divided into performers and spectators. This is a blasphemy against the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because of this frantic desire to always please people, evangelicalism has produced a 'new cross.' It is as enjoyable as a social club and bears no resemblance to the old cross... The new cross does not put the sinner to death, but rather redirects him to continue as he is."

The fact that the church has become a place for people, not for God, is evident in many phenomena.

It has been reported, even in newspapers recently, that the most serious practical problem facing the American church today is not political bias or homosexuality... but the boom in the youth sports industry.

There are so many kids' sports games on Sundays that entire families are increasingly skipping church. And as household spending on youth sports becomes enormous, church offerings naturally decrease. These two phenomena are happening rapidly, becoming the most serious practical problem for the entire American church.

Looking at this trend, it seems the cries of these prophets from 70 years ago unfortunately did not change the larger current of the church becoming more and more for people.

What this means is that even with so many churches today... people are not living in the light of truth... and it is still an age where false prophets are rampant.

Discerning

Therefore, we must be able to discern them with the light of truth. We can understand the characteristics of false prophets through Paul's rebuke of Bar-Jesus, who was hindering the proconsul from coming to God.

"He said: 'You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?'"

First, he is 'full of all kinds of deceit and trickery.' This means not just acts that are obviously evil, but things that are actually evil but are falsely packaged as good deeds.

Things that seem good in themselves but essentially lead us away from God belong here. There are things that look like good deeds to anyone, but they prevent people from seeking God. Those are false prophets.

Second, he is 'a child of the devil.' In biblical language, to be a child of someone means to be their heir and to be loyal to them. This means he has inherited all the characteristics of the devil and therefore naturally follows the devil's ways. A prime example is lying.

Where is the point that constantly makes you exaggerate and lie? That point becomes the entry gate for the influence of a false prophet.

Third, the phrase 'an enemy of everything that is right' refers to a heart that opposes and dislikes what is righteous.

It's the feeling of not wanting to do something that is right and proper for no reason. It's something that is actually good for you, but when you are offered something righteous, there's a strange force that prevents you from following it. This is mainly a spirit of rebellion or defiance. Catchphrases, popular songs, or ways of speaking that inject a nuance of wanting to say 'No!' and just rejecting things, when you could just respond with good-natured compliance, all fall into this category.

Fourth, 'he perverts the right ways.' In short, this means making one's perspective crooked. It involves highlighting the bad points of a perfectly good person, causing you to judge the church or people by surreal standards. That is perverting the right way.

A long time ago, as a seminary student, there was a time when a certain pastor's shortcomings seemed to grow larger and larger, and my complaints kept piling up. Then, while praying, I saw the truth... I was comparing that pastor to Jesus.

To be fair, I should have compared him to other typical pastors of his age. If I had done that, there were many things I could understand, and he had many strengths. But I judged him by the standard of Jesus... what do you think would happen?

For another example, we look at young people in their 20s and say, "Why do they lack responsibility... so lazy... can't wake up in the morning?" But if you think about it, how much better was I in my 20s? It's about seeing things through a distorted lens, not a straight ruler.

So, when you have complaints about others, you need to pray and ask, "Am I really judging by a fair standard?" Anything that makes you judge unfairly or see things with a crooked perspective is a favorite method used by false prophets to ruin important relationships in our lives.

If even one of these four things is happening to me... a false prophet is influencing my life.

How can we avoid being influenced by such false prophets and, like Paul, become someone who rescues friends who are caught in such traps?

Worship in Spirit and in Truth

In verse 2 of today's text, it says, "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting..." The phrase 'serving the Lord' is translated in English Bibles as 'worshipping the Lord.' This means that the Antioch church, which had many Gentiles, even fasted to worship the Lord.

At that time, the Holy Spirit spoke to the church. "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul."

But what's even more amazing is verse 3, which says that after hearing this voice, they fasted and prayed again. They fasted to worship God and hear His voice, and after hearing it, they fasted again before carrying it out. This shows how earnest and serious they were.

They were in a Gentile land, a polytheistic society that culturally still worshipped countless idols. In such an environment, could they live in truth and light by worshipping half-heartedly? False prophets were looking for someone to devour whenever they had a chance.

Isn't it the same now as it was then? Are we not surrounded by more false prophets than ever before?

Are you preparing your heart and worshiping with focused sincerity?

Being moved by praise in worship, being comforted by the message, and experiencing love—all of this should not come from the praise itself or the comforting words themselves. If it comes from those things, it's nothing more than an anesthetic that temporarily numbs the pain.

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV): "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 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—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Only in true worship, where I offer myself completely to the Lord, offering myself as a living sacrifice, can I enjoy God more and more fully. This happens through the birth of new life and the continuous experience of resurrection, being reborn as a newer, freer me.

The most basic meaning of fasting is to express to God a seriousness and earnestness so great as to give up food and drink. Let's offer that kind of worship.

In 2024, the average daily screen time for American adults finally exceeded 7 hours. I feel convicted by this too; how much time and energy do we waste on worthless things?

As Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, most of these things are anesthetics. They immediately stop your worries and make you feel better for a moment. But because they are never a cure, the pain becomes harder to bear when the anesthetic wears off, and you start looking for a stronger one, and that's how you get addicted.

What's frightening about addiction is that you can reach a point of no return without even knowing you're getting addicted.

The Bible describes the proconsul Sergius Paulus in today's passage as "an intelligent man."

In the Bible, an intelligent person is someone who has a longing for God.

That is why he sent for Barnabas and Saul and asked them to tell him about God. Although there was tremendous interference from the sorcerer Bar-Jesus... God saw his longing.

So when Paul, who found him, was filled with the Holy Spirit and rebuked the false prophet, the proconsul was set free from Bar-Jesus, believed in Jesus, and became a Christian.

Let's try rebuking them too. Let's rebuke the false prophets in our lives in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, with His authority. The false prophets that have been influencing you so much will lose their power before the name of Jesus! Your interest and curiosity in them will fade away!

So that they can no longer deceive...

Acts 13:10 (NIV): "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?"

When temptation and attacks come, if you rebuke them in the name of Jesus... the true identity of those false prophets will be revealed in the light, and they will lose their power before the name of Jesus.

Even the proconsul Sergius, who did not yet know the real Jesus, was able to hear the truth despite the sorcerer's interference because he had a longing for God.

No one can interfere with a longing for God!

In this age, in an environment like ours filled with plausible false prophets and fake lights, it is not easy for even Christians to overcome without a longing to meet God. It is difficult to stay awake and see the truth.

This is an age where the Bible is translated into almost every language and can be downloaded for free online... but isn't it also an age where hundreds of millions of times more false prophets are constantly being created, capturing our attention and hearts?

That is why this age also needs true prophets and teachers! It is an age that needs, more than ever, teachers who are also prophets who know the heart of God, and at the same time can lovingly care for and teach people at their eye level.

We need true prophets who will show the path of true light in a place packed with fakes and quiet the many noises in our hearts. We need, more than ever, true Christians who will spend time and practice love for one lost soul.

Revelation 19:20 (NIV): "But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur."

Let us pray.

10/5 The Driven Path to the Called Path

Sermon 62 on the Book of Acts

Date: 10/5/2025

Title: The Driven Path and the Called Path

Scripture: Acts 12:19-25

19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20 He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply. 21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish. 25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

Overview

Furious that he had lost Peter, King Herod immediately left for Caesarea, a distant city that was more than a ten-day journey away. The scripture also records that Barnabas, Saul, and Mark were heading toward Antioch, a destination that was even farther than Caesarea but effectively on the same road.

Although they were traveling along the same path, their inner worlds were polar opposites. The fates that awaited them at their destinations were also as different as heaven and hell.

Herod Agrippa was a very successful man, having surpassed the previous generation, which was divided and weakened. Though a vassal of Rome, he ruled over a unified kingdom, much like his grandfather, Herod the Great.

Today's passage shows how not only Israel but also the surrounding nations sought to please him and praised him extravagantly.

And yet, he does not seem at ease at all. He lives as if he is being chased by something.

19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

What is truly strange is that he insisted on recapturing Peter specifically and became enraged when he could not. He could have just arrested other disciples to replace Peter, though the effect might have been different.

This shows that Herod did not see this event as merely the escape of a death row inmate. He felt it was a personal failure that he could never admit.

Because he could not face that failure, he immediately fled to the distant city of Caesarea.

Yet even there, conflicts were arising with the surrounding cities. The scripture records that Herod was "quarreling with" the people of Tyre and Sidon. This phrase describes not just being angry, but being unable to hide that anger and lashing out violently.

Although he was the king who ruled all of Israel, he was acting like a child who throws his toys around when he doesn't get his way.

Ultimately, his anger was soothed only after the leaders of Tyre and Sidon persuaded and lobbied Blastus, who was in charge of the king's chamber and thus very close to him. They appeased him with something.

Although not directly mentioned, it is highly likely that the "royal robes" Herod proudly wore were a bribe from Tyre and Sidon. At the time, Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia were the most advanced regions for textile and dyeing technology, and clothing was a very expensive gift in ancient times.

Josephus, a Jewish man who became a Roman historian and left detailed historical records of the biblical era, wrote about this incident. I will quote him directly:

"On the second day of the festival, he put on a garment made wholly of silver and of a truly wonderful texture, and came into the theater early in the morning. At that time the silver of his garment, being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him."

The gathering place was the arena—an amphitheater—in Caesarea. Herod, in a very good mood, appeared triumphantly, wearing splendid, shining royal robes made of silver.

Both Josephus's record and the Bible testify that when Herod, who appeared in a glittering and magnificent outfit, began to speak, the people started showering him with immense flattery, saying it was the "voice of a god" and not of a man.

Josephus also recorded this event in great detail. I will quote him again:

"And presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another, (though not for his good,) that he was a god: and they added, ‘Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature.’ Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked up, he saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill tidings... and a severe pain arose in his belly, and began in a most violent manner. He therefore looked upon his friends, and said, ‘I, whom you call a god, am commanded presently to depart this life; while Providence thus reproves the lying words you have just now said to me; and I, who was by you called immortal, am immediately to be hurried away by death. But I am bound to accept of what Providence allots, as it pleases God; for we have by no means lived ill, but in a splendid and happy manner.’ When he said this, his pain was become violent. Accordingly he was carried into the palace; and the rumor went abroad everywhere, that he would certainly die in a little time... And when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life, being in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the seventh year of his reign."

The people calling him a god and praising him was blasphemous flattery, intolerable to Romans and even more so to Jews. Yet, Herod did not stop them; instead, he thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Bible briefly states that he was immediately eaten by worms, whereas Josephus records that he suffered from severe abdominal pain for five more days before dying.

However, a surprisingly unique commonality is found in these two independent records. They share five key elements: ① the festival in Caesarea, ② the king's splendid robes, ③ the people's deification of him, ④ his pride in not rejecting it, and ⑤ his sudden and terrible death.

Josephus also details other records related to the Herod family, portraying Herod Agrippa as a resourceful man skilled at handling people. He was popular because he catered to the desires of Jewish religious leaders and maintained a good relationship with the Roman emperor, achieving great success.

Yet his end was clearly so tragic, but was it only his end that was tragic?

In Gordon MacDonald's book, Ordering Your Private World, he compares two types of people.

First, the source of their identity is fundamentally different. The identity of a driven person is thoroughly based on what he does, on his performance. His self-worth is like an unstable stock, soaring and plummeting with the graph of his achievements.

A successful project makes him feel a reason for his existence for a moment, but a small failure plunges him into the abyss of worthlessness. He can never get off the treadmill of actions meant to prove his own value; his inner world is always noisy with self-judgment and evaluation.

On the other hand, the identity of a called person is deeply anchored in his very being in God, not his achievements. His value is not a goal to be obtained but a gift already given. This assurance provides a deep inner stability that is not easily shaken by external circumstances or people's opinions.

He enjoys the freedom to receive success with gratitude and cover failure with grace. He is liberated from the hard labor of having to prove himself and enjoys peace just as he is.

Second, the motivation that moves their lives is qualitatively different. A driven person’s day is dictated by the expectations of others, the success of competitors, and a vague anxiety about falling behind. He is not moving toward a true goal but running away from the ghost of failure.

Therefore, even his diligence is not pure passion but another expression of a deep-seated deficiency and fear. In contrast, a called person moves forward voluntarily, led by an inner calling and a sense of purpose that comes from a deep fellowship with God. He listens to the quiet voice within rather than the noise without.

This calling gives his life the 'right direction' and becomes the standard for discerning what is important and what is less important among many choices. Instead of passively reacting to external demands, he actively dedicates himself according to his calling.

Third, their attitude toward time and rest is different. To the driven person, time is a tyrant that constantly pressures him. An empty space on the calendar is a threatening void that signifies a lack of productivity. He considers rest an unaffordable luxury or even laziness, and he runs toward burnout, ignoring the cries of his body and soul.

But the called person understands time not as an object to be conquered but as a gift to be used wisely. He knows that true creativity and productivity come from a well-ordered and well-rested soul.

Therefore, he intentionally secures time for solitude, silence, and rest. This is not simply an escape from work but a sacred time to gain strength and wisdom to handle work better. His life has a healthy rhythm of work and rest.

Fourth, the depth of their relationships is different. A driven person often boasts of a wide network, but his relationships are mostly functional, their value often measured by how helpful they are to his success. Because he has no time or emotional capacity to invest in deep friendships, he feels a profound loneliness even when surrounded by many people.

On the other hand, a called person considers relationships to be the most precious thing in fulfilling his calling. He values love, trust, and community for their own sake. Therefore, he invests deeply in his relationships with people.

He knows how to reveal his weaknesses and empathize with the pain of others, and he cultivates life-giving relationships rather than energy-draining ones.

Fifth, their attitude toward failure is different. For the driven person, failure is like the death of his identity. It is not just an event but feels like a final verdict on his worth. Therefore, he tries to hide his mistakes, shift blame, and refuse to admit his weaknesses.

This ultimately creates a fragile, false self. In contrast, for the called person, failure is painful but not fatal. His identity is secure in the grace of God. Failure is not a judgment on his soul but is accepted as a lesson on his journey.

For him, it becomes an opportunity to learn humility, to experience God's forgiveness more deeply, and to cultivate compassion for others who have fallen.

In conclusion, the driven person lives an 'outside-in' life, reacting to external standards and pressures. But the called person lives an 'inside-out' life, navigating the world with the inner order and strength that comes from his relationship with God.

In today's passage, Barnabas, Saul, and Mark, though barely mentioned with only a simple note of their next destination, are the called people who stand in contrast to Herod.

They had come to Jerusalem with the relief funds collected by the church in Antioch to help the churches that were in great financial difficulty. During that time, tremendous events took place. James was publicly beheaded, and Peter was arrested to be executed as well, before an angel rescued him.

While such stormy events were happening outside, the Bible is very quiet about these important figures. This is because they were calmly and steadfastly carrying out the mission entrusted to them. Do you see the difference?

Coincidentally, the largest city they would encounter on their way back to Antioch was Caesarea. There is no doubt what the biggest news in that city would have been when they passed through it. King Herod had died suddenly under a curse from God.

Ultimately, the party of Barnabas and Saul became the first disciples to learn of the death of King Herod, the man who brutally killed their brother James and tried to execute Peter for his own popularity.

They traveled the same road. Yet Herod, who rode in a splendid royal chariot accompanied by numerous soldiers, was miserably killed by an invisible worm.

Meanwhile, Barnabas and Saul, who walked for at least two weeks from Antioch for the sole purpose of helping their suffering brothers, gave everything away and walked back again, enjoyed peace.

As the scripture testifies, the word of God flourished in Caesarea, in Jerusalem, in Antioch, and even more so in the hearts of Barnabas and Saul.

When you think about it, among the famous people who have lived glamorous lives, very few were truly happy or ended their lives beautifully. Isn't that so? Then why do we envy them?

What are you driven by? What is the purpose of your job? Why do you meet people? What is the honest motive behind all your choices and decisions?

If the answer to all these questions is not 'because I love God,' then it is likely because of some worry or fear. And sadly, a person driven by fear gradually becomes unable to love anyone but themselves.

Naturally, it becomes difficult for anyone to truly love that person. And in the end, they can't even love the self that is left all alone. They lose love itself.

But the reason it is said, "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose," is not because God is greedy and wants us to love Him and give Him all the glory.

It is because that is the best for everyone. God is love, and He is worthy of being loved and glorified. When we love God and give glory to God, we too become worthy. It is because we can be most free, most peaceful, and fully experience joy when we love God with all that we have!

When you are being chased, how much heavier, more breathless, and more tiring is it to walk the same distance? Don't you want to be free from that now? Even on the same path, if you walk with leisure and without fear, it's no longer a hardship but something you can enjoy.

When you have that leisure, blessings you couldn't see begin to appear one by one. You become a person who can admire the charming scenes of daily life you used to rush past—the fragrance and colors of wildflowers. The pieces of gratitude scattered here and there like wildflowers also start to come into view when you are not being chased but have leisure.

The most important difference in the life of a called person is that there is One who has called him.

And the One who called us is unimaginably great, the Creator of hundreds of millions of galaxies, and at the same time, He knows me, who is like a speck of dust in comparison. He knows my name and watches over me forever with eyes of love. If He is calling me, the best thing for me is to respond and follow.

That is why when we walk that path, we can fully enjoy the scenery around us and have the leisure to hold someone's hand. This is the life the Lord wants to give us.

Last week, the Lord invited us to share love through 'prayer.' When we pray, we come to know the Lord's heart, we love Him more, and that love then flows from the inside out.

As we will find out later, John Mark, who started on this journey with them, was far from being a help to Barnabas and Saul; he became a source of contention that caused the two to argue and part ways. At such times, one feels frustrated and empty.

However, after more time passed, this Mark grew to become a co-worker highly praised by Barnabas, as well as by Paul and Peter, and even wrote the Gospel of Mark. How proud and joyful Barnabas and Paul must have been to see this growth in Mark, who was like a son to them. That joy is greater than any treasure.

Seeing our spiritual friends and spiritual children grow up beautifully... that is the greatest joy.

At the same time, Barnabas and Paul also learned patience and love while dealing with the troublesome Mark, and they grew as well. Even though it is a path of following God's call, it is not without pain and problems. But in the end, like John Mark, these struggles become for us a heavenly joy... a crown.

As the Lord promised, for those who follow His calling, there will surely be beautiful and precious fruit produced by all things working together for good.

There is no happier life than for a person to be born, and upon leaving this world, to leave behind a fruit more beautiful and wonderful than themselves. That is true success, isn't it? If I can open my arms wider, letting go of my greed and selfishness, until the one person the Lord has entrusted to me becomes that fruit... if I can fulfill my mission as I have been called...

There is no better feeling than that. There is no life more successful.

Let us pray. That this church, and that you,

9/28/2025 Prayer is Love

Acts Sermon 61

Date: 09/28/2025

Title: Prayer is Love

Scripture: Acts 12:8-19

[Acts 12:8-19 NIV] 8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” 12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” 15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” 16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. 18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

English Translation

Sermon

Last week, we looked at the figure of Job, a man who was extremely diligent in his worship. He was the type of person who would offer sacrifices in advance, just in case he or his family had committed a sin, even without being certain.

This shows that Job’s spiritual state was similar to that of the Pharisees in Jesus' time. They kept the law meticulously, even to an excessive degree.

For example, when the apostle Paul was seized by the Jews and was to be flogged, he recorded it this way. In 2 Corinthians 11:24, he says, "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one."

This means that he was flogged five times, and each time he was struck exactly 39 times. But why 39 times?

Deuteronomy 25 says, "If the guilty person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, but not more than forty. If you beat them more than forty lashes, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes."

The maximum was 40 lashes, so why did they only administer 39? It was because if they miscounted and struck 41 times, they would have broken the law. So, to be safe, they administered 39 lashes.

Doesn't this sound similar to Job? Didn't he offer sacrifices in advance, going a little overboard just to be safe and avoid upsetting God?

Misfortune struck Job, a man who enjoyed blessings and diligently offered sacrifices to protect them. His three friends came and tried to explain who God is, much like false prophets who speak without truly knowing God.

Then, the final appearance of Elihu correctly defines God. Elihu, acting like John the Baptist who prepared the way for the Lord, rightly explained that if we could understand all of God's will, He would not be God, and that God can allow suffering to help us grow into better people.

And then, God Himself, much like Jesus, came directly to Job and revealed Himself. Through this experience, Job directly encountered God.

Job was overwhelmed by the fact that the God who is larger than the universe knew him, a speck of dust. He was moved that God would show him the created world and explain it to him, a man less than a worm who had shaken his fist at God. Through this, Job came to know that God is personal... and that He is love.

He was breathtakingly moved by this realization. He saw that all the worship he had offered so mechanically and meticulously was like an employee working flawlessly in advance so that a demanding boss would have no reason to call on him.

But the Lord knew everything. He knew the difference between Job’s inner thoughts and his outward words and actions. He knew all the moments Job pretended to be faithful on the outside while seething with anger on the inside.

Job realized that the Lord knew all of this and had still been patient with him. That is why he could not lift his head before God.

A couple of weeks ago, I showed you a short video clip, didn't I? It was a scene where a man awkwardly enters a church and then breaks down in tears. I mentioned how surprised I was because it was so similar to when I first met the Lord.

The only difference was that I was completely prostrate on the floor, weeping for over an hour. At that time, I was a very proud and edgy person who couldn't stand showing any weakness. But on that day, when I met the Lord, I completely fell apart.

I realized how much humiliation the Lord had endured to save one insignificant creature like me. How patient He had been, how long He had waited, knowing the full reality of this cowardly, cold, and dirty person—a worm, completely unworthy. I completely broke down before that love.

Even after that, I continued to fall, betray Him, and break promises—not just breaking them, but often not even remembering I had made them. Yet, He has continued to hold me up, lift me, and take my hand to bring me this far, a person who is utterly unqualified.

People like me, who have no church background, as well as those who have lived a life of faith like Job, need to encounter God in this way.

Even today, Jews prohibit turning any switches on or off on the Sabbath, for fear of violating the command not to light a fire for cooking. They also forbid even touching a writing instrument to avoid breaking the law against writing.

In apartment buildings near us where many Jewish people live, a Gentile part-timer is often hired on Friday evenings to press the elevator buttons for them. In buildings with a majority of Jewish residents, the elevator automatically stops on every floor on that day.

To some, this might seem absurd. But if you're going to laugh at such behavior, you must be in one of two positions, right? You either don't believe in God at all, which would make such strange actions laughable. If God doesn't exist, aren't all these events happening every Friday evening in Jewish neighborhoods worldwide just a global comedy?

However, for believers in God to laugh at them, they must at least be convinced that such acts are not what God desires. And shouldn't that conviction come directly from God?

Only when we truly live a daily life of acknowledging and respecting God—just as Job no longer offered meaningless, preventative sacrifices to avoid disaster—can we then begin to feel a sense of sorrow for the scenes that unfold on a Sabbath evening in Jewish homes.

As I wrestled with this word this past week, a sad and heavy thought came to my mind. Aren't there people, even those who attend Jesus' church, who worship as correctly as possible or serve excessively, driven by the thought that they must not get on God's bad side?

At the same time, don't they also live in fear that if they receive too much praise from God, they or their children might end up like Job? They believe in God, of course, but their faith life is actually similar to that of the Jews, or to Job's state before he met God face to face.

What is God showing us through the book of Job? Is it that we should practice our faith in moderation to avoid becoming like Job? Is that the lesson?

The things we fear most in life: losing our wealth, losing our children, losing our health, being abandoned by people. God shows us this man who experienced all the things we fear most and tells us, "These are not what make you unhappy in life!"

A truly unhappy life is one lived without knowing God. It is living like the old Job, worshipping mechanically and holding onto a vague, anxious belief that if you live a good life, you might be able to avoid most misfortunes.

But Job himself would never have wanted to go back to his former self. He would never have wanted to return to that time when he had everything but was constantly anxious about losing it all.

He now truly knew—not because someone told him, but because he knew for himself—that God knew him and that the Lord of the universe loved him. In the Bible, the expression "to know" can refer to the most intimate relationship, like that between a husband and wife. Therefore, it is mutual.

You cannot use that expression just because you know about a celebrity who doesn't know you. The Hebrew concept of "knowing" includes a sense of possession. Job became God's Job, and God became the God of Job.

So, could that Job ever want to return to the time when he only knew about God, the distant Creator, and worshipped Him mechanically and diligently just to avoid His displeasure? Absolutely not.

The Prayer at Mark's House

Peter, miraculously freed by an angel, at first thought it was a dream as he followed the angel. It was only when the angel left that he realized what had happened to him was real. He then headed to the house of Mark's mother, where the brothers and sisters often gathered.

If Peter had been praying with faith that he would be released, he would have been overjoyed and welcomed the angel. However, even if he had prayed for his release, his prayer lacked expectation.

This was understandable because, just a few days earlier, James, whom Jesus loved, had been tragically beheaded. At that time, he and the entire church had prayed earnestly, but in the end, the Lord had allowed James to be executed.

However, Peter was not afraid like ordinary people. He had seen and touched Jesus, who had been brutally killed on a cross but was raised to life. And since the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he had felt the Spirit with him.

2 Timothy shows us what that mindset is like.

[2 Timothy 4:6-8 NIV] "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

He was living for the Lord. His life was being guided by the Lord. You have no idea how wonderful that assurance is.

After I had COVID, I lost about 30 pounds in a few weeks and spent most of my days lying in bed. I could barely eat porridge and couldn't digest it, and no matter how many painkillers I took, the headache wouldn't go away.

Due to a backlog of appointments, I couldn't even get a detailed examination. Lying in bed all day, tears would stream down my face when I heard my children's voices from the living room.

Yet, as I reflected, I felt a sense of gratitude. Though I still had many flaws to fix, I was living a more upright life than at any other time. I was loving with all my strength not just my family, but the church and the people the Lord had entrusted to me. When I saw one of them sick, I prayed that their pain would be transferred to me.

I realized that I was more prepared to see the Lord than at any other time in my life. So, I can understand a little of what Peter was feeling. With that same heart, even on the night before his execution, Peter had entrusted his weary body to the Lord and was sleeping soundly.

And when he was freed, rather than getting excited, he remained calm, trying to discern God's will and assess the situation. When he arrived at Mark's house that night, the church was gathered there, grieving over Peter's impending execution and pleading with God to rescue him.

Peter knocked on the door, and they likely asked a young girl named Rhoda, probably the daughter of a church member, to see who it was. Rhoda recognized Peter's voice and, overjoyed, ran back to the adults and exclaimed, "Brother Peter has returned!"

What was the reaction of the believers when they heard Rhoda's excited shout? "This girl is out of her mind." That was their common first reaction. The text says that Rhoda insisted it was true, and the phrase "insisted" means she kept saying it continuously.

Ironically, the church, which had been praying earnestly late into the night for Peter's release, could not believe it even with a witness present. While they were praying, they firmly believed that Peter's release was impossible.

From this, we need to seriously reflect on our own prayers. The people gathered at Mark's house were not people swept up in a wave of revival and emotionalism.

These were people who had seen James' beheading in the public square a few days earlier, an event meant to be an example that believing in Jesus could lead to death. They were people who gathered to pray despite that risk.

Furthermore, at the end of chapter 12, we see that Paul and Barnabas, who had been sent from the church in Antioch with a contribution for famine relief, were also there. These were not Christians in name only; they were disciples who seriously followed the Lord.

Yet, they were praying without any real expectation that God would rescue Peter. Here, we need to clear up some misunderstandings about what it means to walk with God.

The figures who appear here—Peter, Barnabas, and Paul—are among those in history who met and walked most closely with God. However, it's clear from this scene that they did not know God was going to rescue Peter. None of them knew.

When God rescued Peter, He gave very detailed instructions: "Put on your belt," "Put on your sandals," "Wrap your cloak around you," "Follow me here." But after that, He left it to Peter.

God helps us and guides us on the right path, but He does not want to remote-control us. There are times when He intervenes directly and miraculously in urgent situations, but in most cases, He helps us indirectly, allowing us to judge and make the right decisions.

That's why we say God guides us, not that He remote-controls us. This guidance sometimes comes as a small stirring or impression in our hearts, sometimes through the circumstances before our eyes, and on days like today, He reveals His will and guides us through a preacher like me.

And our response to that guidance is also largely up to us. We can listen to that voice and focus on the Lord's will, or we can cry out with our lips for Peter's release while our minds are busy writing various scenarios for the future of the church.

It is truly surprising that all the disciples gathered there were unable to discern the Lord's will and were only pleading with their lips. These were not Pharisees who prayed formally, nor were they figures from the Old Testament.

These were people who had met the resurrected Jesus, received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, preached fluently in foreign languages, and performed miracles. Isn't it amazing that such people were praying without expectation of God's work?

In some ways, this can be comforting, because we are often like that too. After directly experiencing a miracle God has performed, as time passes, we find ourselves praying with little to no real expectation. We offer so many prayers without faith.

Although I am a pastor and a spiritual leader, I do not always know God's will. Some things are very simple and clear, but other times, I pray and still don't know. I have to listen to people's opinions, do research, and knock on various doors.

When moving, there might be times when God says, "This is the house!" but most of the time, in addition to prayer, we need to seek counsel, do research, and visit places in person. When God seems unclear, it can be perplexing, and we often don't know the specific purpose for Him leaving us in such an ambiguous state.

However, one thing is clear. If I am praying and seeking the Lord's will but still don't know, it is a time to continue relying on Him in prayer while diligently making the efforts I can—seeking and knocking. He has left me in that process because that process is necessary for me.

In today's text, the rescue of Peter from Herod's grasp by an angel is undoubtedly an important event in church history. But why does the Bible record in such detail what happened at the church that night—them calling Rhoda crazy, Rhoda insisting she was right, and so on?

It must be that the Lord is trying to teach us something. One of those lessons is that we are often worse than children like Rhoda. The child prayed and believed, so she immediately trusted it was Peter and ran in to share the good news. But the adults were firmly convinced that it couldn't be true.

For 2,000 years, the Lord has shown Rhoda to all Christians. When you pray, first believe. Even if God says "No" later, at least while you are praying, believe that it will be done.

Last Wednesday, we concluded a 23-week study of Richard Foster's book "Prayer," which we started in April. As we wrapped up the book together, we concluded that if we were to define it in one word, prayer is "love."

This isn't talking about a one-sided fan's affection for someone who doesn't know them. It speaks of a mutual love, a belonging to one another. To love God, who is Spirit, we ultimately pray, whether or not there are outward actions. A respected American pastor I know once said that the Sunday worship service is the time for the highest form of prayer.

The book we read together begins with an "Invitation to Prayer." I will quote a part of it.

"Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation. He mourns that we do not draw near to him. He grieves that we have forgotten him. ... For too long we have been in a far country: a country of noise and hurry and crowds, a country of frustration and fear and intimidation. And he welcomes us home: home to serenity and peace, home to friendship and fellowship and honesty, home to intimacy and acceptance. The key that opens the door to this home, this heart of God, is prayer."

"Perhaps you do not believe in prayer. Perhaps you have tried to pray and have been deeply disappointed and disillusioned. You have little or no faith. That is no problem. The heart of God is open; you are welcome."

"Perhaps others have wronged you. Perhaps life has bruised you. Perhaps the bitter memories of the past have left you in a place of perpetual pain. You avoid prayer rather than engage in it because you feel too distant from God, too unworthy, too defiled. Do not despair. The heart of the Father is open to you."

"Perhaps God seems to you to be distant, unapproachable. Listen to me now. The heart of God is an open heart. The key to this home is prayer, and the door is Jesus Christ."

I loved this passage because, like a poem, it continually invites us, saying, "The heart of God is an open heart." It's okay if you feel you've come too far. It's okay even if you have no faith at all.

Sometimes, when the word given on Sunday strikes you so deeply that your heart feels heavy, even then, the Lord's arms are wide open. He has given you that discomfort to call you to Him. He has opened His arms, telling you that you are not okay as you are and inviting you to come.

Just like the song we sang together two weeks ago: "Father's arms are opened wide! Jesus is calling! Come to the Father."

Let me conclude by sharing a wonderful story from the book that illustrates what prayer is like. A two-year-old son was being particularly fussy one day. His father tried everything to soothe him, but nothing worked.

Suddenly, the father swept the boy up into his arms, held him close, and began to sing a spontaneous song of love. "I love you. I'm so glad I have a boy like you. You make me happy. I love the sound of your laughter..." The child quickly grew quiet. As the father was buckling him into his car seat, the boy looked up and said, "Daddy, sing it again."

Prayer is something like this. It is coming with a simple heart into God's embrace and asking Him to sing a song of love to you. Let us pray like that.

Even if we have lived in a far country full of noise and anxiety, the Lord's arms are wide open. No matter how defiled we are, the Lord's heart is wide open.

The day I first met the Lord, the tears began to flow because even though He knew everything about me—things I thought no one knew—He opened His arms and said, "My beloved child, come to me."

9/21/2025 Why is God Unfair?

Why is God Unfair?

In ancient times, both in the East and the West, people executed criminals publicly. This included crucifixions and other forms of capital punishment, which were done openly for everyone to see.

This was a way for the ruler to use fear to control society. At the same time, it was also a great source of entertainment for the crowd.

The intense fear combined with a spectacular show helped the rulers gain public support and calm their people's complaints. The sight of a king deciding a person's fate showed that he was a powerful, almost god-like figure who held the destiny of his people in his hands.

For the crowd, who were not being executed, this experience brought a sense of relief for being on the king's side. This made them more loyal to the ruler.

Even a game played with strict rules and a single ball is exciting in a stadium. Imagine how wild and crazy the crowd would get when they saw real blood and people dying.

Herod’s Goal for Public Executions

The word amusement comes from a root word where 'a-' means 'without' and 'muse' means 'to think deeply.' The original purpose of amusement is to stop people from thinking seriously.

Both in the past and today, evil forces make important things in life seem annoying and worthless. They stop people from thinking and make them follow the crowd without question.

Religion can also do this, which is why so many young people stop thinking for themselves and just follow a cult leader.

True faith helps us to see the difference. People who have eternal truth think more deeply and live a different kind of life. They don't waste their lives chasing after things they can see, touch, or get caught up in the energy of the crowd.

Instead, they live like Jesus and His disciples, loving and caring for people. They think and pray about how to live as God's children every day. In this way, they become people who show Jesus to others in their daily lives, and they become the light and salt of the world.

Their lives don't swing between the thrill of the stage and a deep emptiness backstage. Instead, their normal, everyday lives become full of meaning. This is how they grow as children of God and become more like Jesus.

The setting for today's Bible passage is a time of severe famine in Judea. The church in Antioch, which had many non-Jewish believers, had to collect money to help the Christians in Judea.

Naturally, the hungry people were angry, and the ruler’s popularity was dropping.

To handle this crisis, King Herod Agrippa began publicly executing Christians. He was providing a spectacular "amusement" for the crowd.

One of the victims was James, the brother of the apostle John and one of the three disciples closest to Jesus, along with Peter and John.

Beheading was a cruel method of execution. After the beheading, the head was often displayed to increase the effect of the punishment.

Herod’s plan worked better than he thought. The Bible says that the Jews were pleased.

Feeling boosted by his newfound popularity, Herod quickly looked for his next victim. He arrested Peter, who had returned to Jerusalem for the Passover festival.

Peter was one of the most well-known of Jesus’s disciples, so Herod planned a large-scale public execution for him right after Passover, when Jerusalem was still crowded with pilgrims.

We can see how careful and excited Herod was about this. A total of 16 soldiers were assigned to guard Peter.

Later, when Peter disappeared, Herod was so angry that he had all the soldiers executed. This shows how important Peter’s public execution was to him.

In the end, Peter was released in a mysterious way with the help of an angel and returned to the church.

When Peter was in prison, the whole church prayed earnestly for him. God heard their prayers, and Peter was set free in a way he never could have imagined.

However, some people in the church could not simply rejoice. James’s brother, the apostle John, and James's mother, who were all praying together, were among them.

When James was arrested, the church must have prayed just as earnestly. How much more did his brother John and his mother pray for him to be released and for an angel to save him?

The entire church prayed just as hard, yet James was publicly beheaded, and his head was displayed in the town square while the Jews celebrated.

How painful and disappointing that must have been for the church! How could they understand why God didn’t protect James, one of the disciples closest to Jesus, especially after Jesus said that if they gathered and prayed in His name, He would listen?

They probably started to think, "God doesn't answer these kinds of prayers. We, too, must be ready to die as martyrs for Jesus."

So when Peter was arrested, the whole church prayed for him, but when he actually returned, they couldn't believe it, as if they had seen a ghost.

They prayed, but they couldn't bring themselves to truly expect a miracle.

When James's family, John and his mother, saw Peter rescued by an angel, they must have felt both joy and pain. "Why didn't you save my brother? Why didn't you save my son? Did we not pray enough? Did we do something wrong? This isn't fair!"

Even if the details of our prayers are different, haven't we all felt this way?

We feel like God is unfair. We feel hurt and upset with God.

The God of Job There is a unique book in the Bible that deals with this exact issue in great detail: the Book of Job in the Old Testament.

This book is strange in several ways. For one, it shows God, angels, and Satan having a conversation. It seems as if God and Satan are making a bet about how Job will react to suffering.

Another strange thing is that, unlike most ancient stories or even other parts of the Bible, it’s not a simple story where good people are rewarded and bad people are punished.

Finally, at the end of this long story, when Job finally meets God, God doesn't answer the questions Job was so curious about. Instead, God talks about other things, which seems like a non-answer, and then the conversation ends.

It's a truly unique book.

However, if you read this book carefully from beginning to end, you will have a wonderful experience. If you put yourself in Job's shoes and face the God of Job, something amazing happens. Even though the problem isn't solved, the bitter questions and feelings of hurt that tormented you completely disappear like snow.

The book begins by introducing a man named Job who is a great and honorable person. It shows how he lived so righteously that it almost seemed too much.

Because of this, God praises Job in a meeting with the angels. Satan, the father of envy and jealousy, then argues that Job is only good because of the many blessings God has given him. He provokes God by saying that if the blessings were taken away, Job would quickly curse Him.

Job 1:11 (NIV) "But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

In this story, God believes that Job's love is sincere and gives Job a chance to prove it. So, God first allows Satan to completely destroy everything Job has, except his life.

Satan ruins all of Job's possessions, and eventually, he even kills all of his children. Still, in his grief, Job says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away..." (Job 1:21) and does not curse God.

Satan then gets permission to strike Job's body, saying that if he does, Job will curse God. So, Job gets terrible sores all over his body, and as he scratches himself with a piece of broken pottery, his wife mocks him and tells him to die.

Job 2:9-10 (NIV)9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Not complaining to God in this situation shows that Job was a truly amazing person.

However, Job breaks down when three of his friends come to visit him. They are so shocked by his appearance that they put ashes on their heads and sit with him, weeping without saying a word.

Job 3:1 (NIV) After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

When Job saw his friends looking at him so miserably, he didn't directly blame God, but he did indirectly by cursing the day he was born.

After this, a long argument starts between Job and his friends. In short, the friends' argument is, "You must have done something wrong to be punished by God."

Job's angry response can be summarized as, "What makes me any worse than you? If this is punishment for my sin, it is absolutely not fair!"

Job didn’t complain to God when he lost all his wealth, his children, and even when he was horribly sick and his wife mocked and left him. He felt he had no right to question God and endured the pain.

But he couldn't stand being pitied by his friends, people he considered beneath him.

That was more painful than losing everything.

"Why me? What did I do wrong? Why are they doing so well?"

How could James’s family not feel this way? They were already accepting that martyrdom was something the disciples would have to endure, but when they heard that Peter was rescued by an angel while James had died… How could they just be happy?

It could have easily turned their anger from Herod to God.

“Why didn’t you send an angel for my son?”

Job 31:33-35 (NIV)33 if I have concealed my sin as people do, by hiding my guilt in my heart,34 because I so feared the crowd and the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside— 35 Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.

Job is saying, "I haven't hidden my sins or been a coward like others. I'm more righteous than you, so if this trouble has come to me, it's not you who should answer, but the Almighty—God!"

At this point, a new person named Elihu shows up. He scolds Job for claiming to be more righteous than God, and he scolds the three friends for judging Job, pretending to know God's reasons when they didn't.

Elihu makes two points. First, it’s impossible for us to fully understand God’s will. Second, God can allow times of suffering to train His children, not just as punishment for sin.

Job doesn’t argue with Elihu, and as soon as Elihu finishes speaking, God Himself appears. Later, when God tells Job's three friends that they need to make a sacrifice for their sins, Elihu is not mentioned.

This shows that God began to reveal His will through Elihu.

Now it's God's turn to answer all the questions.

But God doesn't explain why Job had to suffer so much.

Instead, God asks Job if he understood the mysteries of creation: how He created the world and how the animals received their special abilities.

Could Job answer? Suddenly, he fell to his knees.

Job 42:5-6 (NIV)5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Throughout his long argument with his friends, Job's tone toward God was one of anger and sarcasm, even if he didn't directly blame Him. He felt God was wrong.

But after hearing God speak directly, he was completely humbled and repented.

Job had believed in God's existence and thought that if he lived righteously, God would bless him.

In general, that's true. But Job now understood that God is not a machine that gives a result based on what you put in. God is a living being with feelings, who knows even the thoughts of his heart.

He was so ashamed that he fell to the ground.

Even though God didn't answer any of his questions, Job was moved that the Lord of all creation came to meet him, and that was enough.

God restored all of Job's wealth, giving him twice as much as he had before, and also gave him new children. His later life was even more abundant than his former one.

The Book of Job ends there.

God didn't tell Job why all his suffering began, but we know, right? It was because of the bet with Satan.

Satan wanted to test if Job truly loved God or if he was only loyal because of the blessings. To find out, Job went through every kind of suffering: his business was ruined, his children died, he got sick, and his wife abandoned him.

And we know that Satan didn't do this on his own; he did it with God's permission.

Knowing this can make us feel that God is scary and distant.

But let's go back to James’s family.

When Peter was freed by the angel and stood before them, they couldn't just be happy.

However, they must have quickly found their joy again. When they honestly cried out to God, the Lord would have met them personally.

Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father," and "I and the Father are one" (John 14:9, John 10:30). Jesus was so gentle and loving, even to the disciple who would betray him.

So if God feels distant and scary, then something is wrong with us. We might be going down the wrong path or believing a lie. When we meet God, He doesn't feel that way anymore.

When we meet God, like Job, our problems don't get solved, and we don't understand everything. Instead, we learn about God's heart, which is love.

When we know that God knows us and loves us, our life's questions and pains, and even life and death, all become very small compared to knowing Him.

James's family had surely seen Jesus, who was crucified, rise from the dead. They touched him and ate with him.

They experienced that Jesus is a being who has overcome life and death.

When we don't just watch God from a distance but truly meet the Lord who lives in us, we realize that nothing is too big a problem.

It’s like if a king who owns an entire country is your family. Would you worry about failing in your business in that country? When you know that God, the creator and owner of the whole world, knows and loves you, what can you be afraid of?

When Job said, "Now my eyes have seen you," he saw God’s eternal love. He understood that this life is only a temporary journey. He saw that for the eternal God, there is no boundary between life and death.

After this, the scene of Peter being dramatically rescued the night before his public execution makes sense.

In such a situation, wouldn't you shout for joy and praise God?

And how could Peter sleep so soundly the night before his execution that an angel had to slap him to wake him up? This shows that Peter did not see death in the same way we do.

The only difference between Peter and James was that Peter had a bit more to do on earth and more to learn and change until the day the Lord called him.

Eventually, Peter would see James again. Although there was a time difference of several decades between their deaths, when they arrived in the Lord's kingdom, James would not be ahead of him. They would all enter the Lord's kingdom at the same time.

For Job, it would have been best to be immediately taken to God’s kingdom after meeting Him. However, God wanted Job to stay on earth to continue sharing His love.

Now, Job would live as a more compassionate and loving person. What would he have to fear now?

Instead of being discouraged by Satan’s attacks, Job would be able to see God’s heart beyond them and have an even greater faith. He knew that difficult times could also be a preview of blessings in God. He believed that death was not the end. Through Job, God's kingdom would continue to spread powerfully.

Interestingly, the names of Job's three daughters are recorded at the end of the book. This means that they were not imaginary people but had names known to the people of that time. They were probably well-respected people.

Job lived longer on this earth to bear these kinds of fruits.

So, what did Job really lose?

If you asked Job before his suffering if he would go back to living an easy life, what would he choose?

The Book of Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible. Job lived thousands of years before Jesus. Yet even then, God knew each person and wanted to meet them as a friend. However, few people were able to do that.

But now, Jesus Christ has opened a new way for sinners to be restored to God through Him. Through the Holy Spirit, all Christians can now meet God.

The question is, do you really want to meet God?

I once had a small group discussion with American college students in seminary. A first-year female student said she was afraid to meet God because she thought He might ask her to go to a foreign country as a missionary.

But if God were to ask this student, who doesn't want to be a missionary, to go, wouldn't that be the best thing for her? Wouldn't that be the safest place for her to be, where she would have the most fruit and blessings?

If she continues to avoid meeting the Lord because she is afraid of such a calling, who is losing out? Who is stopping her from meeting the Lord now?

When you read the book of Job, does it make you think, "It's safer to keep God at a distance so I don't get too much praise and become more like Job?"

Who or what is giving you these feelings of hesitation and holding you back?

It's trying to stop you from meeting the Lord!

Who and why is giving you this uncomfortable and fearful feeling about meeting the God of love who loved you so much that He gave His only Son for you?

Through Job, God clearly shows us through one person who experienced all kinds of suffering that if you can meet God, nothing can be a loss.

Knowing God closely is the greatest blessing.

Through Job’s three friends, Satan succeeded in making Job blame God. When we see people less righteous than us living better lives, or people who aren't as good as us being more respected or having things go smoothly, we feel a deep anger.

That anger is what caused Job to fall. It made him curse his life and blame God.

And isn't that same feeling still causing us to curse our lives and blame God?

So, stop just blaming from a distance and cry out to the Lord! Ask the Lord directly! Don't be fooled by the one who is trying to create conflict between you and God. Like Job, demand an answer from the Lord!

When you meet Him, all those overwhelming problems suddenly become so small. You realize they are nothing compared to the God who knows and loves you.

9/7/2025 Remain true to the Lord with all your heart

Acts Sermon 59 Date: 9/7/2025

Title: Remain true to the Lord with all your heart

Scripture: [Acts 11:22-30]

22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. 27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Sermon

In the great city of Antioch, located in modern-day Turkey, Gentiles and Jews formed a community together for the very first time. This was the birth of a church founded not by people of the same culture or national identity, but by those who shared a single, common identity as Christianos—'those who belong to Christ'—regardless of who they were.

When the church in Jerusalem heard this news, they sent Barnabas. He must have been deeply moved when he witnessed this amazing scene. However, after that first impression, the daily reality he had to face was also overwhelming.

Consider the situation of the Antioch church at that time. It would not have been simple for Jews, who believed in the one God Jehovah and lived strictly according to the Law, to form a single community with Gentiles, who worshiped various gods, sought new deities whenever they felt the need, and offered bizarre sacrifices in all sorts of ways. Can you imagine how many awkward situations there must have been, even just sharing a meal together?

So, while seeing this revival brought thankfulness and grace, if I were in Barnabas's position, the responsibility of teaching a church where such different cultures were gathering and building this community into one, a community unlike any seen in the world, would have been an enormous burden.

From the Jews' perspective, they could not get close to the Gentiles who sinned without shame. This was because the books of the Law in the Bible clearly commanded them to live separately from the Gentiles.

Exodus 34:15-16 "Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same."

In the time of Deuteronomy, the command was even more fearsome.

Deuteronomy 7:5 "This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire."

God is unchanging, so why did His will concerning the Gentiles seem to change? One important way to view the Bible is to see humanity as a single person growing from childhood to maturity. God remains the same, but we have continually changed, and God has treated us according to our stage of development. He does this with us individually, and also with humanity as a whole.

And in the process from the Old Testament to the time of Acts, there was a tremendous turning point. That turning point was the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

In the Old Testament, God saw nations so corrupt that there was no other way but to destroy them entirely—wicked people who would even sacrifice their own children to idols! But now, God the Father has opened a way to forgive them through Jesus.

Everyone, that is the magnitude of the grace of the cross. Not only did it save a fallen person like me, who was flailing in sin or even enjoying the mire, but it also washed me clean, gave me new clothes, and called me "my beloved son!" and "my pure daughter!" This great grace is the love of the cross.

That is why anyone—Korean, Chinese, American—who makes Jesus Christ their Lord and becomes His possession, becomes a Christianos! They receive forgiveness for all their sins and are born again with a new, eternal life from heaven!

A unique event, recorded four times in the Bible, shows this change: the scene where Peter refused the unclean animals in the sheet that came down from heaven and was rebuked by the Lord. This invalidated the food laws, sacrificial laws, and social laws that had kept Jews and Gentiles from mixing.

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a new path to salvation was opened for all humanity. And through that path of salvation, a new kind of people called Christians could emerge.

If that is the case, has the Law now been abolished? Jesus told His disciples that they must obey the Law better than the Pharisees, and He clearly declared that He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.

The "Law" Jesus spoke of here refers to the essence—the spirit—of the Law, represented by the Ten Commandments, which are the foundation of our relationship with God and with one another. It was about absolute loyalty to God and living kindly by caring for and helping one another.

Jesus summarized this into two great commandments: to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. He commanded us to love not just with our actions but with our hearts, because acting with a sincere, loving heart is the fulfillment of the Law. The church in Antioch was proving that this was possible, at least within the church.

The Born-Again Gentile Christians

Now, imagine the transformation the Gentiles in this church must have experienced. Everything, from A to Z, had to change. They had to completely leave behind a life filled with all kinds of idols and build a new foundation from scratch.

When most people come to believe in Jesus, they stop drinking and smoking, which naturally changes the places they go and the friends they meet. Even the times they meet people change. In places like Korea, even their cell phone ringtones change. They experience a change in everything, from the top of their head to the tips of their toes.

Literally, the greatest revolution of their lives takes place. Everyone around them can't help but notice, and most of all, they themselves are acutely aware of the change. They have experienced the world in a completely different way.

Today’s passage especially notes that the church in Antioch, which had a majority of Gentiles, collected an offering to help the church in Jerusalem. This is the first recorded instance in church history of one church helping a sister church.

For those of us familiar with Western civilization, which is based on Christianity, and with church culture, caring for the socially weak and collecting relief offerings might not seem surprising. However, the Gentiles of that time had lived their entire lives in a culture where "might makes right," where forcefully taking another's wife or property was considered justified.

Do you know what entertainment excited the Romans the most? They enjoyed watching the strong kill the weak in the Colosseum, treating it like a game. For these Gentiles who worshiped absolute power, giving away their own property to help the weak was completely unthinkable.

In fact, isn't all idolatry a form of worshiping tangible power, such as money, authority, and popularity? Therefore, unless the Holy Spirit was at work in these people, they would never have been able to voluntarily give an offering to a weaker group of people they didn't even know. It was truly an unimaginable act.

The fact that this happened in the church of Antioch shows that the Gentiles there were not just caught up in the mood. It proves there was a true revival, that they were born again with eternal life from heaven. The evidence of this revival was undeniable, both to outsiders and to themselves.

The Born-Again Jewish Christians

On the other hand, for the diaspora Jews in Antioch, these actions were not much different from what they had always done. In a way, they were similar to the "cradle Christians" in the church today.

They had lived a life of faith their whole lives. Even if they hadn't yet met Jesus personally, been born again through the Holy Spirit, and lived with Jesus as their Lord... they had attended the synagogue since childhood, were familiar with its culture, had memorized scripture, were trained in charity and tithing, knew the songs of praise, and could pray eloquently if asked.

So, even when they did encounter Jesus spiritually and began to feel and experience His living presence within them, what would change dramatically on the outside? They would still go to church, pray, praise, and read the Scriptures. Compared to the Gentiles, their outward changes would be relatively small.

For this very reason, it might not have been as clear to others or even to themselves. They grew up imitating people of faith from a young age, and when they reached the age of 12 or 13, most of their friends in the synagogue were getting baptized or confirmed, so they might have just gone along with the flow. Because the external changes were not significant, it could be less clear, compared to the Gentiles, whether they were truly in spiritual communion with Jesus after meeting Him personally.

One person who well illustrates the state of devout Jews in Jesus' time is Nicodemus. He was a religious leader who prayed daily and studied and taught the Scriptures. He had a firm faith in Jehovah God.

However, he was curious about Jesus, who possessed something he didn't, and came to him at night. When Jesus explained the Holy Spirit to him, this respected Bible scholar could not understand at all.

John 3:10 "Jesus said, 'You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things?'"

When I first came to New York, I attended a language school. In my class, there was a Muslim female student who always wore a hijab, sat in the front, and studied very diligently. She was very bright and a model student whom others often asked for help.

It was my first opportunity to talk with a Muslim, so one day I gathered my courage and asked her, "What kind of conversations do you have with God when you pray?" I can still see the look on her face. She looked at me as if I were pathetic and said, "Prayer is not like that!"

For her, and for Nicodemus, God was an object of worship on a high throne, not a personal being with whom one could meet and converse.

The Bible shows us how the Pharisees prayed through a parable from Jesus.

Luke 18:11-12 "The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’"

In truth, this prayer is quite free-form compared to the fixed, formal prayers that Pharisees of the time typically recited. However, this prayer has a more serious problem than its content. What could it be?

We can understand the problem by looking at the prayer that Jesus praised in contrast.

Luke 18:13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’"

This prayer is still directed toward God in heaven, and with so few words, it barely seems like a prayer at all. This sigh-filled, sorrowful plea is like that of the prodigal son who betrayed his father and then returned. But this prayer has something completely different from the Pharisee's prayer.

The fact that the tax collector cannot lift his head in shame shows that he is meeting God personally, as one would meet a person. The Pharisee's prayer, however, is just a report to a superior, boasting about how well he is following the rules. It is like submitting a one-way report.

Most humans, even atheists, will close their eyes, fold their hands, and pray in a crisis like a disaster. They seek a god. Whether that object is the true God or an idol, to them, their god is a great being outside of themselves.

However, what Christians call being "born again," being born from above, means that God comes to live inside Christians. It means becoming like Jesus, who was the Son of God. Therefore, there must be a huge difference between the prayers of truly born-again Christians and the prayers of people of other religions.

Thinking again about the changes in the Jews at the Antioch church, before and after, the biggest change would have been in their prayer life. They would now pray as if conversing with the Lord living in their hearts, and they would see the world and their own lives together with the Lord inside them.

For the Jewish Christians, though the outward appearance of their faith life didn't change much, the purpose and object of their faith became clear. Their worship was no longer a matter of habit but was filled with a hope and joy that welled up from within as they loved God.

John 4:23 "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."

The Lord’s words were being fulfilled. What does this imply about how they had been worshiping? Weren't they just showing up physically, worshiping only in action—in falsehood and hypocrisy?

When they were steeped in legalism, the more zealous they were, the emptier they became, and that emptiness only bore the fruit of hypocrisy and condemnation. But when they began to worship in Spirit and in truth, true fruit was finally produced, both internally and externally.

During the revival in Antioch, there must have been clear works of the Holy Spirit, such as healings. However, the record in Acts does not mention such spiritual gifts or miraculous events at all. Instead, it only records the fruit of the Spirit—"goodness."

In Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, the hero was a Samaritan, a person the Israelites didn't even consider human. Yet he helped an Israelite, rescued him from the road, took him to an inn, and even paid the innkeeper in advance, saying, "Look after him, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have."

This man is so good, isn't he? Why did Jesus tell this story? It's because the Lord is moved by such things. This is what it means to love your neighbor. Those born of heavenly life should be like this, and the Lord wants to see this.

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul is saying that a person who bears such fruit lives as if there were no law.

Let's look at the verses that immediately follow this famous passage.

Galatians 5:24-26 "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

Paul defines the fruit of the devil and sin as passions and desires, warning that they lead to a life of seeking vain glory, provoking anger, and jealousy. The fact that Paul commands the church so strongly about the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the flesh means that neither happens automatically. In other words, our choices determine the outcome.

We can choose love instead of jealousy, patience instead of anger, and goodness instead of greed! We can do it! He is emphasizing that we should make that choice. The power to overcome sin—that life—is with us! That means we can choose love instead of jealousy!

Barnabas and the Christians in Antioch experienced a true revival because they followed this path of the Spirit. The scripture says that the Lord’s hand, symbolizing blessing and protection, was with them.

The Gentile Christians would have constantly faced the challenge of making choices to completely change their way of life. However, because of that clear transformation, the joy of victory would have been even greater for them.

On the other hand, for the Jewish Christians, besides associating with Gentiles, there wasn't much outward change, was there? The challenge they faced was the temptation to return to their old ways of treating God as an absolute being who is only outside—returning to a formal prayer life that was like submitting a report to a boss about keeping the Law, a prayer life without personal encounter.

That is why their spiritual senior, Barnabas, upon meeting the new Gentile and Jewish disciples in Antioch, gave them an exhortation that was like a command.

23 "When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts."

"Remain true to the Lord with all your heart!" These words from Barnabas are the same as Jesus' words, "Remain in me!" The fact that most of the New Testament consists of commands and exhortations makes it clear that even Christians who are born again by the Spirit do not automatically walk by the Spirit.

However, this is not a process of self-discipline where you fight against yourself with your own strength. That is why Jesus used the image of a branch attached to a vine and said, "Stay attached to me!" Barnabas’s encouragement is also not about "doing" something, but about "remaining" with the Lord.

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Why did they use this expression? Isn't it because our minds are easily tempted and tend to wander off? That's why simply focusing our attention on the Lord and remaining with Him is a great accomplishment. Just by doing that well, we become good people, and the fruits of the Spirit are produced abundantly.

Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, or whether you are quietly waiting for the Lord's timing... if your heart remains with the Lord, you will bear fruit. This is because you are a Christian, newly born with heavenly life.

Today’s passage also briefly records another event that became a major turning point in human history: Barnabas brought Paul back into the ministry. Paul, the author of 13 books of the New Testament and the one who systemized Christian doctrine through the book of Romans—and who is considered by historians to be the founder of Christianity—reappears on the scene.

The reason Barnabas went out of his way to find Saul was likely because Paul was also a Hellenistic Jewish diaspora, fluent in Greek, and a Pharisee well-versed in the Law and Scriptures. But beyond all that, it was clearly a move guided by the Holy Spirit.

Although the Bible doesn't record the entire process, Barnabas, because he remained true to the Lord with a steadfast heart, heard and obeyed the Lord's command to go find the secluded Paul. The two of them immediately began to teach as pastors of this explosively growing first church where Jews and Gentiles worshiped together. That church quickly grew to the point of helping other churches in need and became a model of a mature church, even sending out its lead pastors as missionaries.

Though Paul was practically a fugitive at the time, he also had remained true to the Lord with a steadfast heart, so he could immediately answer the call. He was being prepared as the perfect pastor for the needs of the Antioch church.

Through Barnabas, the Lord is speaking to our church today. Are there any among you who are unfamiliar with church culture and find that accepting Jesus as your Lord means everything has to change? If so, remain true to the Lord with all your heart. Those changes may seem burdensome now, but they will ultimately be a blessing to you and the world around you.

Have you been attending church your whole life? Remain true to the Lord with all your heart. A powerful stream of living water will flow into everything you have been doing religiously, and it will blossom and bear true fruit.

When our gaze is on the Lord and our hearts remain with Him... even if it feels like nothing is happening for years, like with Paul in seclusion, beautiful fruit of the Spirit was being produced, and he was being prepared for the church in Antioch.

At times when you feel overwhelmed by a heavy responsibility that has suddenly come your way, like Barnabas, remain true to the Lord with all your heart! You will find the perfect helper that the Lord has already prepared, just like Paul.

And you will hear the Lord's voice echoing warmly within you.

John 15:9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love."

8/31/25 'As Is’ Is Not Okay

English Translation

Sermon 58 on the Acts of the Apostles
Date: 8/31/2025
Title: 'As Is’ Is Not Okay
Scripture: Acts 11:19-26 (NIV)

19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Christian

The title "Christian" first appeared in history in today's scripture. Do you all remember when we looked into the meaning of this title in detail before?

It comes from adding the suffix -ianos (-ιανός) to the noun Christos (Χριστός). In Greek, it was Christianos (Χριστιανός), and that is what they began to be called.

Although Christos was the Greek translation used in the common language of the time, in the language of the Jews, it originally meant 'Messiah'—the anointed one. The title 'Messiah' sounds grand and mighty to anyone now, but if you translate it literally, its meaning as 'the anointed one' is hard to grasp.

If you asked a Korean person with no interest in religion what 'the anointed one' means, you would likely get many strange answers, but it would be difficult for them to picture the image of a 'Messiah.' In fact, even back then, it held a very important meaning only to the Jewish people.

It was a title the Jews had heard since they were young, until they were sick of it! The one appointed by God through anointing to save Israel! They are still waiting for the Messiah.

Therefore, the Hebrew word 'Messiah,' and its common language equivalent Christos, was a name that evoked a sense of awe, deep emotion, and honor just by hearing it.

That is why when Stephen called Jesus the Christ—the Messiah—he was stoned to death by the Jews. And it was a young man named Saul, who instigated it, that later had a dramatic reversal, met Jesus, and immediately made the bombshell declaration, "Jesus is the Christ!"

Because of that, Paul also became a fugitive and, at the time of today's scripture, was in hiding in his hometown of Tarsus. For the Jews of that time, claiming that Jesus was the Christ was a confession of faith that cost them their lives.

Before they were called Christians, they called each other "disciples" or "brothers." They were called disciples, meaning those who emulate Jesus and follow His path, and brothers, meaning those who became brothers with Jesus by becoming His disciples.

They were considered a dangerous group for following Jesus, whom the Jews had executed for blasphemy, but using the holy title 'Messiah - Christ' for him was an entirely different matter. Even today, for a Jewish person, there is a huge emotional difference between me saying I am a Christian and saying Jesus is the Messiah.

Therefore, the fact that the disciples came to be called Christians means that Christianity was now drawing a clear line between itself and Judaism.

Antioch was one of the three largest cities of the Roman Empire, a place where many Romans, other ethnic groups, and Jewish diaspora coexisted. It was an ancient metropolis where various peoples lived together using Greek as a common language, much like the New York City of its time.

In the eyes of the Romans, they were all just Jews, but now a distinct group emerged that was called something different: Christians. What was even more shocking to everyone was that the Jews, the most unique people who did not mix with other nations due to their distinct religion and traditions, had now formed a new community with Gentiles.

Although the history of the church began with the descent of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, the church, which was still like a sect of Judaism, saw the birth of a new group called Christianity when the first church founded by both Gentiles and Jews emerged in the Roman city of Antioch.

However, for the majority of Romans in Antioch, 'Christos' was used not as a common noun meaning 'the anointed one,' but as a proper noun referring to Jesus Christ. In other words, a community was formed with Jews at its core, joined by various peoples, and its most important feature was that it had an 'owner' or 'master' named 'Jesus Christ.'

Last week, the funeral of John MacArthur, a major figure in American Christianity, was held. There are truly diverse opinions about him. He was an outstanding theologian and pastor, but he barely acknowledged tongues or the works of the Holy Spirit, so he could be seen as a very rigid biblical literalist. However, everyone respects him for boldly rebuking heretics who clouded the church and prosperity theology, and for unwaveringly preaching the simple gospel his entire life.

At the funeral, his eldest son shared what he became convinced was the one message of his father's 56 years of preaching, through their final conversations. His father was most saddened and frustrated by the fact that while many Americans believe in Jesus as their Savior, they do not truly accept Him as their Lord.

Treating Jesus as Lord was seen as an optional choice for only those who decided to become more dedicated Christians. Therefore, his lifelong message, in one sentence, was: 'If Jesus is not your Lord, He can never be your Savior.'

Who can argue with that? That is the very meaning of the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ!

However, in this day and age, almost no one gets angry or surprised when you say Jesus is the Christ, yet people are largely ignorant of the meaning of that name.

Romans 10:9 (NIV): If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

When preaching the gospel to Gentiles who, like people of this generation, did not know the meaning of the name Jesus Christ, Paul challenged them to confess Jesus as Lord—'Kyrios.' At that time, everyone in the Roman Empire had to confess and pledge allegiance to 'Caesar is Lord (Kyrios).' However, to confess, "Not Caesar, but Jesus is my Kyrios!" was a confession that could get you thrown to the lions in the arena.

For a Jew, the confession "Jesus is the Christ-Messiah!" and for a Roman, the confession "Jesus is Kyrios!" were statements that could only be made at the risk of one's life. It was not a light confession one could make just to get by in the moment without truly believing it.

Is Jesus your Kyrios—your Lord? Is Jesus truly your Christ—your Messiah? If so, can you stake your life on this confession?

Because I came to believe in Jesus as an adult, the church culture was very unfamiliar to me at first. For example, not long after I started attending church, around Christmastime, my small group decided to visit a nursing home. We were writing Christmas cards for the grandmothers.

During a time when our small group leader was looking at the cards we made and praising them, I still remember how he froze and was taken aback when he saw my card. I had written, "Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday to God!"

The leader, flustered, said, "Ah... um... I suppose you could put it that way." That was one such episode. As someone so unfamiliar with church culture, many things felt strange and fascinating to me.

For instance, people would call each other "brother" and "sister" right after meeting for the first time. It's a very friendly expression, and it's good to use it, but the problem was that the title often felt empty and disconnected from its meaning.

Before I attended church, the only people I could call "brother" who weren't my actual siblings were those who were as close as family, people for whom I would make such sacrifices. But in the church, you could call someone "brother" without knowing their name, age, or anything about them.

The title 'deacon' (jipsa) also seemed strange. A deacon, by common sense, is someone who serves in a humble position, clearing tables, sweeping floors—people who always have a cleaning cloth in their hands. However, it was so fascinating that people who did none of that were all made deacons just by getting married, regardless of their level of faith. Even if unmarried, if you were over a certain age, you became a probationary deacon, but were still called 'deacon.'

As time went on, I, too, became more accustomed to church terminology. I realized there are many terms in the church that are used with little connection to their actual meaning.

However, even if we can overlook those things, aren't there some things that should never be spoken of emptily? There are expressions central to our faith that are rarely used in the world, such as the term 'Lord.'

Even after I started attending church, I think it took me quite a long time to truly grasp the meaning of the title 'Lord.' The fact that it took me so long to realize the meaning of the most frequently heard title for Jesus in the church says something, doesn't it?

When I finally understood the meaning of 'Lord'—an expression that can only be used for God, the Owner of everything with complete authority over me and the entire world, the highest form of address for the Master of all—I was taken aback. I saw churchgoers casually say 'Lord, Lord,' but I rarely saw people who truly thought of Jesus as their Master or believed He was the Lord of the entire universe.

So when I truly grasped the meaning of that word, I remember feeling quite bewildered. Calling someone you don't even know brother or sister, calling someone who doesn't serve at all a deacon, and calling Jesus 'Lord' while still making all your own decisions—can such a place truly be a place of worship in spirit and truth? Is it okay to continue like this?

Can the fellowship spoken of in such a place be true fellowship? Moreover, is the love they talk about really love?

As sons and daughters of God, who is love itself and the source of all love, our love cannot be lighter or shallower than the love spoken of by the world, can it? This shouldn't be happening, should it?

What grieves me as a pastor is the painful suspicion that these empty words might have started from the sermons of pastors, from the pulpit itself. I have seen many young American pastors preach this message:

"You know, the only person who can live like Jesus is Jesus himself. Because Jesus lived a righteous life for us, it's okay that we can't! We can't do it! So don't be discouraged! Don't feel guilty! It's okay!" Have you heard similar messages? Is there something wrong with this?

Such a message is not entirely wrong in itself, but its intention is flawed. If we are preaching the gospel to someone who doesn't know Jesus for the first time, we should say, "God loves you. Even if you are still in sin, even if you are ashamed, come to the Lord just as you are!" That is the gospel. But that's not the end of it! There must be repentance. One must confess their sins, reflect on their shame, and mournfully ask the Lord for forgiveness.

It is not okay to stay as you are; you must confess to the Lord, mourn, and ask for forgiveness. Then, the righteous life and death of Jesus Christ pay the price for our sins.

By experiencing dying and rising again with Jesus, we are made new. We become children of God. This is the gospel.

We can fall again and commit the same sin. But what do you think happens then? Do we become more brazen and numb? Absolutely not.

The shame is greater, and we cannot help but go to the Lord with a more mournful heart. It's not okay. When you truly revere and love the Lord, you never become numb to sin.

The Lord is not a vending machine that dispenses forgiveness when you press the 'repent' button; He is a person. If we repeat the same mistake, we can't help but go to our Father with a feeling of embarrassment and greater pain when we ask for forgiveness.

That is why the sins we used to enjoy now become more and more uncomfortable. A good conscience is revived, and we want to live righteously even if it means taking a loss. We want to live without shame before God, even when no one is watching.

That is the path of holiness that 'saints'—which means holy ones—should naturally walk. As we are restored to the image God wants for us, we naturally enjoy a life of greater peace and satisfaction.

That is the most blessed life. It is the blessing of an abundant life that our Master—our Lord—has promised. But Satan twists God's will to make us live as if we are still the master, while deceiving ourselves into thinking we are pretty good Christians.

As of 2023, 67% of Americans said they believe in heaven, but in the same survey, only 59% said they believe in the existence of hell, showing that about 8% of people believe only in heaven and not in hell. And that's not all.

A 2010 study (Probe Ministries/Barna) found that among born-again Christians, 47% held a 'biblical worldview' (which includes the belief that Jesus is the only way to salvation). A 2020 study by the same group showed that 10 years later, the percentage of the same group holding a 'biblical worldview' had plummeted to 25%.

This means that only 25% of people who identify as born-again Christians believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. This is not among all Americans, but among those who identify as born-again Christians. 75% believe there are other ways to salvation.

How can someone who claims to be a born-again Christian disregard the teachings of Christ like this? "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Does this mean that because I am a Christian, everything I do—eating, drinking, whatever—automatically brings glory to the Lord? Or is it a challenging word to do all actions in a manner worthy of a child of God, considering whether it brings glory to the Lord?

Which of these two interpretations is the truth? Depending on how you interpret it, the fruit of your life will be extremely different, won't it?

Living for the Glory of the Lord

What does it look like to live for the glory of the Lord? In today's passage, which records the scene of a great revival where Gentiles were turning to the Lord, Barnabas appears again. A large crowd was added to the Lord through Barnabas. What aspect of Barnabas does the scripture say was the reason for this?

Acts 11:24 (NIV): He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Because Barnabas was such a person, a great multitude came to believe in Jesus Christ as Kyrios and became Christians through him! That is what it says.

Barnabas is now receiving high praise from the scripture in this second scene of revival. But do you remember the first scene of revival where he first appeared?

Acts 4:36-37 (NIV): 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Barnabas was also there during the first revival in Jerusalem, and the Bible specifically records and praises his role in that revival.

Can one be filled with the holy Holy Spirit and not become good? Can a person who lives for the glory of the Lord in all they do, whether eating or drinking, not become good?

If Jesus Christ is the master, can one not be good? As you repeatedly feel the Holy Spirit grieve when you have evil thoughts and go before the Lord in repentance, can you not gradually become a better person?

Can a person who continuously experiences repenting to the Lord, being forgiven, and being restored in love every day not be full of the Holy Spirit and faith?

This word applies to me as well. If we become more and more good like Barnabas, and become full of the Holy Spirit and faith, can a true revival—souls returning to the Lord—not be added to this church? Is the Lord, our Lord Christ, asking too much of us?

The Seed of an Amazing Revival

The Antioch church appearing in the text now is a historically significant church, the first one where Gentiles and Jews were called Christians together, forming one church. It can be called the beginning of Christianity. The Lord's hand was with the saints who lived good lives for His glory, and there was an amazing revival. This church also was the first to officially send out missionaries after hearing the Lord's voice together.

It is truly an enviable and wonderful church. But if you look at the first verse today, you can see that all of this began with the 'martyrdom of Stephen.'

When Stephen was stoned to a miserable death by his Jewish brothers, the Jews who killed him were so emboldened that they thought the followers of Jesus would be too terrified to move. They probably thought that, like other groups before them, they would scatter and disappear without a trace.

But instead, they spread deeper and wider, shining a light to the whole world and establishing churches. Did Stephen's death become the seed of all this revival?

Romans 8:28-39 (NIV): 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

For those who love God like Stephen—those who have been called according to his purpose—in all things God works for their good!

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

We were not saved just to be saved, but we were chosen to be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. In their lives, all things work together for good. This means that even death can become a seed of revival.

And God will conform them to the image of His Son. He will justify them and glorify them. Praises and confessions about becoming like Jesus echo in churches every week, but are we truly walking that path seriously?

What does it mean for us to become like Christ? To become like Christ is to become Christ. And what would you do if you became Christ? It is to become as if Jesus Christ is living through me.

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Who are these "we"? Those who willingly fill up in their own lives what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church and our neighbors. They are the "we" who receive the promise here.

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen. Do you belong to this "we"? Do all those people who identify as born-again Christians belong to this "we"?

Friends, although I have become a pastor, I do not want to be stained by the church culture of this generation. I want to call someone 'brother' whom I truly consider a brother, and I want to treat you all with a heart that can at least be called love, not something empty.

Above all, I will preach a message of truth that is not shameful before my beloved Lord. Even if it offends and makes the people of this generation uncomfortable, so much that no one wants to listen, as long as I stand in this place representing the Lord, I cannot give that up.

If I must be stoned for it, I will declare the uncompromising truth that Jesus is the Christ and that no one who does not make Jesus their Lord can be saved, and I will be stoned.

I will cry out the truth that we must return to the Lord just as we are as sinners, but we must absolutely not remain as we are. I would rather become a Stephen who is stoned for it.

If that death becomes a seed from which life springs up in many places and becomes a prelude to true revival, I will gladly become a Stephen. However, I still have hope.

If we who have gathered here together share the heart of Stephen, all of us, this whole church, can become the 'good man' Barnabas of this generation, full of the Holy Spirit and faith! I believe that this promise from Romans can truly be realized in our lives, in this special church.

Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV): 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

When we become a light through our good deeds, the Lord will lift us up to shine on the whole house! Then, revival will come once more in this generation. Amen! Let us pray together.

8/24 You Do Not Accept Our Testimony

8/24/25: "You Do Not Accept Our Testimony"

Scripture: John 3:14-15

3:14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted.

3:15 That whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

My husband and I went on a mission for about 9 days in a rural town called Izamal on the Yucatan Peninsula, about 4 hours away from Cancun, Mexico. Mission is to lift Jesus up so that people can see, believe, and witness to eternal life. This was our first overseas mission, and before continuing our talk, I’d like to invite Jiang to share his testimony.

Izamal, Mexico, is an important site of the ancient Mayan civilization, known as the "City of Hills," where the Mayan language is as widely spoken as Spanish. After the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the city was built on the ruins of a huge Mayan settlement. The most famous ruin here is the Kinich Kak Mo pyramid, the largest pyramid in the state of Yucatan.

It's also a place where the sad history of Korean immigrants is buried. The Yucatan region once thrived with an agricultural industry based on the henequén plant. 120 years ago, in 1905, 1,033 Korean workers arrived here, having been promised a new life in a paradise land.

They worked alongside local Mayans in conditions comparable to slavery, and many lived on vast henequén farms, learning the Mayan language instead of Spanish. In 1910, when their contract ended, Korea had already been annexed to the Japanese Empire, leaving them no homeland to return to, so they settled there.

Over time, Korean men began to accept the Mayan way of life, with intermarriage becoming commonplace and unique cultural fusions occurring. The descendants of these first Korean immigrants call themselves AENIKKAENG, a word derived from the Korean pronunciation of 'henequén' that contains both the hardships our ancestors endured and the legacy they left behind.

This mission to Mexico was to bring AWANA, a non-profit missions organization, to the Izamal area. Founded in the United States, its mission is to spread the hope of the gospel to children through weekly Bible memorization and games. It’s a very beneficial weekly Bible club that raises children and youth as disciples, but small churches often lack the facilities and manpower to run it.

Fortunately, in Bergen County, NJ, a mission organization called Love NJ supports the Awana Club for children in small immigrant churches. Seven years ago, I met a pastor dedicated to this ministry and joined as a volunteer this spring semester. When he shared his vision of taking youth on an overseas mission, I felt led to go, even though I had doubts.

I told my husband that he had to go there and teach computer classes, and that is how we joined the mission. Through one church, a conversation between Pastor Lee and Missionary Lee, Cheol-nam, began. In 2017, this missionary established a Christian school called Bethel International Christian Academy (BICA).

Missionary Cheol-nam Lee, currently 82 years old, has been a missionary in Mexico for 27 years. He is fluent in Korean, English, and Spanish. He was born in Shanghai, China, and met my husband, who is from the same hometown, in Mexico.

Seven years ago, he underwent brain surgery due to a virus from improper dental treatment, which caused him to lose the proper use of one leg and suffer from speech impairment. Now, he is able to walk with a cane and communicate well, though he speaks slowly.

When the missionary was a college student in Korea, he taught at a Sunday school. After moving to the U.S. and then to Mexico as a missionary, his sponsorship was cut off, but he had a vague vision of establishing a school and building up disciples. Then, one day, he received an email from a former Sunday school student from 40 years ago.

The former student heard about the missionary’s vision and sent him a donation of $350,000, which he used to start building the school. When unexpected costs arose, the student sent another $150,000. After so many twists and turns, the BICA School was completed in four years.

This story shows that the small dedication you make now doesn't end as a small one. The school, which was built with the donation from the Sunday School disciple from 40 years ago, currently has 90 local students, and disciples of Jesus are being raised. Our team stayed in the school dormitory, classrooms, and chapel.

A total of 12 people, including 7 teenagers and 5 adults, departed. We were told we could get support from 15-20 bilingual staff, but only about 5 local students helped. Even in the midst of such shortcomings, we were able to serve the children and preach the gospel well with God’s help.

Before going on the mission, our team prepared thoroughly for 12 weeks. The youth spent a lot of time preparing, making games, ordering items, writing letters, and fundraising. They also created and used the curriculum for the afternoon program. We arrived in Izamal on the evening of August 4th, and from August 5th, we went door to door to distribute leaflets.

I remember that the two-hour street evangelism from 9 to 11 o'clock was the most difficult part of the mission trip due to the scorching sun and heat. Even in such adverse conditions, the children were gathered by the street evangelism, and parents on motorcycles brought their children every morning. For 5 days from August 6th to 10th, I served an average of 60 children every day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

I learned that mission work is not about overcoming the heat but about learning to live with it. The routine started with QT at 6:30 every day and didn't finish until after 11 p.m. Every night, I worried if I could wake up the next morning, but I experienced God who gave me the strength to.

On Monday, August 11th, we went to a Mayan village 30 minutes away from Izamal to preach the gospel. The missionary said that more than 100 children would gather, and it truly seemed like everyone in the neighborhood had come. The Mayans caught 200 chickens and served chicken tacos to us.

It was a schedule that was not originally on our plan, but it seems that it was God's plan. Among them were descendants of the Koreans. We have no way of knowing how many Mayans saw Jesus lifted high in that short period of time, believed, and entered the kingdom of God. But God sent us to that place, and the name of Jesus was held high among them.

Jesus was lifted up so high in the mission field. Exalting the name of Jesus is what our team did there. Jesus must be lifted up not only in the Izamal mission field but in all parts of the world.

Today's text begins with a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee. Nicodemus, a spiritual leader, came to Jesus in the middle of the night. His religious superiority must have been a great obstacle to freely coming before Jesus, yet he longed for the truth.

He shows a hesitant attitude in his faith that Jesus is the Savior. Nicodemus’s situation shows how people who live with pride treat the fact that Jesus is the Christ. He asks questions because he does not believe how Jesus can be the Savior.

Jesus tells him he must be born again of the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. Believing and being believed in Jesus happens to those who are born again of the Holy Spirit.

I shared my mission testimony with a few people, and their reactions varied. One acquaintance asked why Koreans are so obsessed with buildings, saying we need to focus on “software” not “hardware.” There is nothing wrong with his response, but it made me wonder why he couldn't believe and praise what God had done. Jesus was lifted up there, and people believed and were saved, but the evidence did not seem to be accepted.

Many people do not accept the gospel, and even if they hear it, they cannot believe it without being born again with water and the Holy Spirit. But we believers must be bold. Just because people don't believe in the gospel doesn't devalue its authority. Jesus said, "You do not receive our testimony."

I found myself wondering why we try to diminish the work of the gospel by viewing it only from our limited perspective. Like how people say we need more 'software' than 'hardware,' Nicodemus too did not believe that faith in Jesus was the way to enter the kingdom of God. The conflict of Nicodemus is the conflict of many people: not believing in Jesus.

In Numbers 21:1-9, there is a story of the bronze serpent. The Israelites complained against God, and He sent venomous snakes that bit and killed many people. When the people repented, God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it high on a pole. Anyone who was bitten could look at it and live.

Those who believed and looked were healed, but those who thought, 'Surely not,' and refused to look, all died. Without believing in the way of salvation God provided, there was no way for them to be saved. In the same way, Jesus refers to the story of the fiery serpents when speaking of those who do not believe, no matter how much evidence they are shown.

Jesus, the Savior sent by God, was clearly shown to everyone. It is absolutely clear. God’s plan was for people to see Jesus, believe in Him, and be saved. The bronze serpent was clearly raised up, yet those who died chose not to look. They hesitated, questioning if looking at a serpent could really save them, and therefore did not believe.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit that makes you believe. But my job is to declare that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior. The reason you believe in Jesus, who is lifted up so high, is because you have been born again by the Holy Spirit.

The proof that the Holy Spirit has worked is that we believe in the work of the kingdom of God. This act of faith reveals what God wants to do in people. Because of Jesus, Nicodemus and we have been put in a crisis. This is because we keep avoiding and hesitating with various questions about believing in the Jesus who has been lifted up by God for you to see and be saved.

The reason you can’t come close to Jesus is that you fear your dark deeds will be exposed if you come into the light. However, those who believe in Jesus are the ones who accept the light, and that very act is an expression of faith. At the mission field, children and volunteers raise their hands and confess that they believe in the Jesus who is lifted high.

They do not hesitate to come into the light. Their belief is the work of the Holy Spirit. God desires that all people hear the gospel, be saved, and enter the kingdom of God. For that to happen, Jesus must be lifted high. Only then can people have true life and live forever with the Lord.

God loves Izamal, Mexico, and its people—a rocky and barren land where the heat makes people and even dogs listless. Into such a land, God sent one person who obeyed the calling and lived with the people. The vision of building a school to raise disciples of Jesus there matched God’s vision of loving that land.

God’s vision for that place is for Jesus to be lifted high so that people will believe and be saved. The missionary, his disciples, and the disciples currently being raised are the ones who will continue to spread God’s vision. No matter where the land is, those who believe in the Jesus who is lifted high will be saved.

Living as disciples who lift Jesus up for others to see is God’s will for you. Are you still not receiving the evidence? Are you hesitating because you don’t believe? I pray that the work of the Holy Spirit—through which all who believe in the lifted-up Jesus are saved—will continue to take place in your own context.

8/10 When Hope Fades Away

When Hope Fades Away

God sent a flood that wiped out everyone on Earth. Only Noah, his family, and the animals were safe inside the ark, floating on the waters. Genesis 7:24 says, "The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days."

The very next verse, Genesis 8:1, says, "But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded." Noah had spent 120 years building the ark and waiting. Now, he had been floating aimlessly for 150 days (about five months) with no end in sight. He must have desperately wanted to get out and wondered if he would ever set foot on dry ground again.

The rain had stopped, but a great expanse of water still covered the earth. It was the perfect situation to lose all hope. These people had followed God's guidance, built the ark, and were saved, but now their hope of salvation was fading. We are all saved by God's grace, but as time passes, we might find ourselves in a similar situation, like Noah's family adrift, asking, "Where am I going? What am I doing? What is my life's purpose?"

So, what should we do when hope starts to fade?

1. Believe that God is making the waters recede, even if you can't see it.

Genesis 8:1 says, "But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded." The Hebrew word for "remembered" means "did not forget." Even when Noah and his family felt like they were drifting aimlessly, God was guiding them to their destination.

Noah and his family had no way of knowing if God was thinking of them or had forgotten them because He hadn't said a word. But God was working on their behalf, making a wind blow across the earth to make the water recede. The wind has the power to evaporate water in a short time. Let's look at verses 3 and 4: "The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat."

The ark came to rest on the 17th day of the seventh month, which was 150 days after Noah entered the ark on the 17th day of the second month (Genesis 7:11-12). Look closely at verse 3 again: "The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down." This shows that the water had been consistently receding even before the 150th day.

While Noah's family wondered if they would ever touch dry land again, God was continuously making the waters recede. He was paving the way for them to exit the ark. What is the equivalent of "will I ever set foot on dry land again?" in your life? Do you believe that God is making the overwhelming waters in your life recede and preparing a way for you to do a good work that you hope for?

How can we believe that God is at work, even in a stifling, seemingly hopeless life?

Psalm 23 is a passage that resonates well with Mongolia. In the vast, barren wilderness, green grass appears in the summer, turning the entire area into a lush pasture. Verse 1 begins, "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters." During the harsh winter, the sheep tried to eat whatever frozen grass they could find, often under life-threatening conditions. But as winter slowly gives way to summer, the wilderness is covered with green pastures. Shepherds lead their flocks to these green pastures when summer approaches.

Similarly, from late June to mid-August, many people in Mongolia take a one to two-month break and go to the countryside, like sheep in green pastures. All government offices and businesses shut down as people return to nature. Recently, a mission team from Nations Mission Church in Korea went to a poor village called Nalaikh, a 30-40 minute drive from Ulaanbaatar. They shared the gospel and love with children and families. The weather was like a scorching furnace because summer had arrived early.

We visited the homes of four elementary school boys who attended our Bible school daily. Their ger (traditional Mongolian tent) was so poor and unclean that it was difficult to sit down. A single father with a drinking problem lived there with eight children. Four of the children were not present, only the four who attended the Bible camp. A son from our team asked with wide eyes, "Pastor, do people really live here?" It seemed uninhabitable.

We sang, preached the gospel, and gave them gifts we had brought. The children living there were all beautiful with clear eyes. Their names were Munkhired (Eternal Future), Uul-ot (Mountain Star), and Ulaan Tsetseg (Red Flower). But their mother had left, and they lived with their alcoholic father. While singing the song "Jesus, Our King, Come to This Place," I had to stop several times because I was choked with emotion.

A Mongolian volunteer at our church cut one of the children's hair, and we were asked for clothes because his were so dirty. He had on the best clothes he had, but they hadn't been washed in a long time. When we dressed him in a new, white shirt given by our church members, he looked so handsome. At that moment, God gave me a thought: "Don't think, 'What does one week of love we give mean to these children?'" This love you give will become like green pastures for these lovely children, for these "Eternal Future" children, who are growing up without a mother in a ger that seems unfit for human life with a helpless, alcoholic father.

Psalm 23:5 says, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." The Hebrew verb for "prepare" is in the imperfect form, indicating an action that is currently happening or will happen in the future, and can also refer to a repeated action or a general statement. When we had our last quiet time together, this one verb struck me deeply. God is the one who gives peace in the midst of danger. God's work often seems precarious, like walking on a glass bridge.

Satan often interferes, and our sinful nature can make situations feel like a glass bridge. But when we are walking on that glass bridge while doing God's will, He works right there on that bridge. He performs amazing miracles. He doesn't provide a sturdy, perfectly prepared bridge; instead, He restores, strengthens, and makes new people and situations that seem fragile and ready to shatter or disappear. He transforms them into strong soldiers.

The Bible says He does all this "in the presence of our enemies." God keeps preparing a table for us even in dangerous situations, with Satan watching. We might feel it would be safer if He chased Satan away first, but He just sets the table. We often focus more on Satan, who is watching and looking for an opportunity, rather than on the Lord, who is preparing a table for us. We get caught up in the thought, "This is an imperfect situation, so this work will ultimately fail." But God wants us to look at His table, the one He is setting, and believe that He will accomplish His work and keep us safe, even in precarious situations. This preparation is not finished; it is ongoing. Meditate and reflect on how He continues to give us another table in our lives.

When you meditate and look at the Lord in this way, you will see the God who is making the water recede, even after 150 days of seeing nothing. You will not see the enemy on the hill but the hand of God who is setting the table and can turn everything into victory in an instant.

What are the characteristics of people who look at God's hand, which is preparing a table for them, instead of the enemy? The passage from Genesis 8 shows us four things.

First, they hold on to God's promises made in the light, even in dark situations. Noah clearly knew the water was receding when the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (v. 4). Living in the ark for about a year and ten days would not have been easy. In such a situation, it can be hard to remember God's promises or to trust Him.

Nevertheless, about 264 days after the flood began, Noah opened a window and sent out a raven to check the water level. The raven kept flying back and forth between the ark and the sky, showing that the water hadn't dried up. He then sent out a dove seven days later, and another seven days after that. The first time, the dove returned with an olive leaf, and Noah knew the water had receded. The second time, the dove did not return, and he knew the ground was dry.

Second, they offer a separated seven-day worship in the darkness, just as they did in the light. Noah sent out the doves at seven-day intervals. This is recorded in verses 10 and 12: "He waited another seven days and again sent out the dove from the ark." (Genesis 8:10) "He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him." (Genesis 8:12) This passage shows us that a week was seven days in Noah's time.

At the beginning of creation, God rested on the seventh day. He didn't just rest; He also blessed and made the seventh day holy. "Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done" (Genesis 2:3). Any relationship, whether with friends or family, deepens and grows in love and joy when we set aside a specific day or time to meet, fellowship, talk, and be together. We love and follow God every moment, but such a relationship must be founded on a special time and day set aside for Him. The fact that God spoke to Noah again seven days before He judged the world with the flood suggests that Noah had a regular, separated time with God.

When we enter the time God has set aside, we are soaked in the dew of God's blessings. Our contaminated thoughts, hearts, and bodies are cleansed and made holy again, and our souls become wise and lovely through the blessings of holiness. A few weeks before our summer mission trip, we were contacted by a sister who used to attend Nations Mission Church in Manhattan, New York. She is a businesswoman who lives in Korea but travels to the U.S. frequently. She had also been on a mission trip with us to South Dakota.

While visiting the U.S., she heard that we were pastoring in Seongsu-dong, so we arranged to meet when she returned to Korea. The next day, she attended our Sunday service. During my sermon, I shared how I first felt a strong desire for money when we were missionaries in Mongolia. I said that with money, we could have built a mission center and done various things for the youth in that land. After the service, the sister said that God had put it on her heart during the sermon to donate money to help build that building. A few weeks later, we were connected to a poor village called Nalaikh, 30-40 minutes from Ulaanbaatar. We already had a mission field we visited regularly twice a year, in the summer and winter, but this time the Lord led us to Nalaikh for the first time. We served there for two weeks.

The first week, a team of pastors and elderly members from my in-laws' church in Namyangju came and ministered to the children and visited homes. Although they were old and had physical difficulties, they cooked for the children and did an excellent job. One afternoon, after our children's Sunday school, the elders and a female pastor from that church wanted to sing in Mongolian. They stood in front and started. I was pushed to the front to play the guitar and sing with them in Mongolian, and they kept singing. Missionary Jang Jung-im, in the audience, also kept signaling for us to keep singing. I could feel how thirsty these elders were for worship. As we sang together, the Holy Spirit gave me the feeling that God was making worship happen in this land.

The following week, a team of about 10 people from Nations Mission Church in Korea and about 10 young people from our church plant, Mongolian Mission Church (MMC), came together. We returned to the same place in Nalaikh and ministered to the children and families. We took a short break during the mission to look at buildings for sale in Ulaanbaatar. When we returned to Korea, Missionary Jang Jung-im and I both shared that God had given us the heart to build a mission center not in Ulaanbaatar, but in Nalaikh, where we had just served. The idea was for a mission center where children could come to study, learn languages or musical instruments, and worship on Sundays—a place that would give them hope. Now, Badam, a local Mongolian, is looking for land. Next year, we will hopefully see a building go up and a place of dreams for these children. We don't create our own lives; instead, it is the time we spend in fellowship with God, listening to His voice, during the seventh day—the time God has prepared—that determines the course of our lives.

Third, they continued to listen for God's voice in the dark, just as they had in the light. Noah did not rush out of the ark just because the ground was dry. We can only imagine how excited and eager they must have been. However, they waited for God to speak to them, and only then did they come out.

"Then God said to Noah, 'Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.' So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives." (Genesis 8:15-18) Every Christian wants to hear God's voice. We often find it difficult to hear God's voice when we are in a difficult situation or when we strongly desire something. Noah listened to God's voice and came out of the ark, even in that moment of excitement. There is incredible growth when we try to hear God's voice in any situation.

One day, we visited the home of a single mother in Nalaikh. It wasn't a ger, but the stairs going up to the house were charred black from a fire. A middle-aged woman named Khandar lived there with her daughter and young grandchild. She had liver cancer, so we shared the Word and prayed with her. As we were leaving, her young daughter, who looked like she was in elementary school, stood in the corner holding her baby and watching us. Her eyes were filled with gratitude and kindness, but also with fear and worry. As we prayed, the words "violence," "alcohol," and "fear" came to my mind in connection with the home, and we prayed against them. Even as we left, the child's eyes lingered in my mind. What was God trying to tell me through the look in her eyes?

Another day, the lay leader of that church invited us to his home. He had a house called a "Khasha Beshing" in his yard. It had electricity, but no running water or heating, much like a ger. He showed us a ger tent next to it, which he called the children's reading room. It was a dark, dim ger with unorganized books and various items piled up. Despite this, I could feel his desperate desire to create a space for the children of the village. We couldn't have foreseen that an unnamed church member from a Manhattan mission church would share the blessings God had given her to give hope and dreams to the poor of Mongolia, just as Noah could not see the water receding while floating on the sea.

In all the work we do for the Lord in this world, God's secrets and providence are hidden. We don't know when, how, or where the fruit will grow. Like the people who received the five and two talents, we must live every moment as if we are doing everything for the Lord.

Do you believe that when we listen to God's voice, a soul and body bound by darkness will enter the kingdom of heaven?

Fourth, God continues to love and forgive, even knowing we will sin again. The fourth thing we should pay attention to is what Noah did first when he came out of the ark. "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it." (Genesis 8:20) The land that awaited Noah was not a beautiful, breathtaking landscape. The flood and storms had left the land desolate, barren, and devastated. In this situation, Noah first built an altar and offered a blood sacrifice.

Noah knew about the blood sacrifice passed down from Adam and Abel. The offering Noah made on that devastated land was a burnt offering, sacrificed by fire, from all the clean animals and clean birds. "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it." (Genesis 8:20) The smell of burning animals cannot be pleasant, but the Bible says God "smelled the pleasing aroma." (Genesis 8:21) And we must pay attention to what God said next in verse 21: "The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: 'Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.'"

The word "even though" in the original text is a powerful statement. God knew that people would continue to sin, yet He said He would not curse the earth with a flood again. This shows us God's compassionate heart, love, and forgiveness even in the midst of judgment. "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." (Genesis 8:22) By saying, "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest," God promised to give us the grace to be able to sow and reap. By promising to give us spring, summer, fall, and winter, He promised to give us a suitable and protected natural environment to live in.

When we love and forgive someone, the hardest thought is, "They will just do it again." This thought stops us from loving and forgiving. In these moments, we should meditate on God's heart. He doesn't love us because we are without sin or perfect; He knows that we are sinners and that our hearts and minds are evil, yet He continues to love and forgive. When we choose to do the same, our inner being matures into a firm and broad heart that is not easily shaken. This is the love of Jesus, who shed His blood on the cross—a love that forgave our sins in advance.

Application

Do you believe in a God who does not forget?

Do you believe that the water is receding?

What is the voice God is speaking to you?

8/3 The Joy of Chosen Witnesses

Acts Chapter 56 - Sermon

Title: The Joy of Chosen Witnesses

Text: Acts 10:37-46

37 "You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

39 "We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Overview

The scene in Acts 10 is incredibly significant in Christian history because it marks a pivotal moment: Gentiles, just like Jews, can now receive God's grace, salvation, and be chosen as a people, a royal priesthood. Gentiles and Jews are now united!

The gospel has become a path to salvation, enabling people from all nations to become God's people. At the time, this was a scene that brought immense joy.

However, while the door is open to everyone, not everyone can enter.

Let's look at Acts 10:41-43 again:

41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

While the way is open to all people, specific commands were given to chosen witnesses. These are the ones who shared a meal with the resurrected Jesus, those who were commanded to testify to all the earth that Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead. And through them, there are those who come to believe in Jesus and receive forgiveness of sins through His name.

This implies two distinct groups: "all people" and "chosen witnesses." And the judgment is carried out by Jesus.

[Matthew 25:31-33] 31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left."

Sheep and goats, heaven and hell, those who merely hear the word and those who hear and act on it...

The lazy servant and the faithful servant, those who prepared oil in advance and those who didn't...

The Bible uses a great deal of language to distinguish between these two groups, and most of these distinctions came directly from Jesus Himself.

Yet, a common thread among those on the left in these parables is that they weren't people who had never heard of Jesus. They knew about Jesus, and some even cried out, "Lord, Lord!" with their mouths.

Therefore, Christians must belong to the group of chosen witnesses.

But if Jesus's "chosen witnesses" are the Lord's sheep and faithful servants who ultimately enter the Kingdom of God, aren't those who are not chosen treated unfairly?

Our modern understanding and the limitations of our language often lead us to believe that "being chosen" means someone has specifically pointed some one out.

However, in Jesus's parable of the wedding feast, how did He describe those who were called and those who were chosen?

In that parable, "being called" referred to someone going out and directly handing out invitations. But "being chosen" in that parable was almost the opposite of our common understanding. The specific people who accepted the king's invitation and responded to it were described as chosen.

The conclusion is thus stated:

[Matthew 22:14] “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Heaven is open to everyone, but there are specific people who are chosen.

Ultimately, in this parable, Jesus emphasized that those who responded to the invitation were the "chosen ones."

So, one thing is clear: the meaning of "being chosen" in the Bible is significantly different from our common understanding.

What's even more confusing is that the expression "being chosen" is always in the past tense: "already chosen," "chosen from the beginning of time."

How does that make you feel when you hear these expressions?

It makes us think of fatalism, believing that life is already predetermined.

[Galatians 1:15-16] 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult with any human being.

Paul states that he was chosen from his mother's womb to be an evangelist to preach Jesus among the Gentiles. He's saying that everything was already decided before he was even born.

In fact, there are many such expressions in the Bible that give the impression that everything is already decided.

However, at the same time, the Bible also presents God as angry, disciplining, and warning us about our wrong choices and sins, as if we have free will.

So, isn't it unfair? Doesn't this mean that King Saul, who tried to kill David, or Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, were simply acting out a pre-planned script?

I've seen theology students lose their faith over this issue, and I've met young people who struggle with it.

This confusion arises because the Bible is a book where the infinite God and finite humans appear together, and it speaks simultaneously about the eternal Kingdom of God and the finite earth.

It contains records of two things that are difficult for human reason to grasp simultaneously.

For us, time flows continuously like a line. It never stops; it's flowing even at this moment. But is it the same for God?

Not at all. This is proven by the fact that the resurrected Jesus appeared to multiple people simultaneously. This means God is not bound by time and space.

So, can God do this?

Can God observe an event unfolding in our lives, see how we react to it, and then use that outcome to change our past?

Logically speaking, if God is an omnipotent being who transcends time and space, then, of course, it's possible.

From our perspective, it means God can see our present and change our past. And, of course, that changes our present and future as well.

Therefore, our decision to accept an invitation is an act of our free will, and through that acceptance, we become God's pre-chosen ones. This is the meaning of "being chosen in advance."

Our current decision regarding God's invitation changes our past, creating an eternal difference without anyone even noticing.

This scene of Peter preaching to Cornelius announces that all nations, from Jews to Gentiles, are now invited. An invitation is prepared for everyone.

However, not everyone will ultimately be chosen. The Bible consistently warns and clarifies that the responsibility for this lies with those who took the invitation lightly, procrastinated their response believing they had enough time, or outright refused it.

Thus, we can understand why Peter, while proclaiming that the gospel is open to all, simultaneously emphasizes that he himself is a specially chosen witness.

He is shouting, "You who have now received Jesus's invitation, become chosen ones like me!"

He's not just saying, "Accept Jesus as a new god and worship him from now on!" It means: "Be a witness to His resurrection. Eat and drink with Him! Participate in communion, and live your daily life alongside Him!"

What happened to Cornelius and his household and friends who received the invitation in today's passage?

Let's see what happened to them:

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

This happened while Peter was proclaiming the gospel. These were Gentiles, yet they displayed behaviors typically seen in devout Christians, such as raising their arms towards heaven and worshiping.

It must have been a truly heartwarming sight to see them all praising and singing "Hallelujah" in various languages, with outstretched arms towards heaven, just like the disciples did when they gathered in the Upper Room on Pentecost.

They had only heard fragments of the gospel, hadn't they? They hadn't prayed a prayer of acceptance. They hadn't even been baptized first because they wanted to believe. So how did the Holy Spirit come upon them?

Let's reread verse 44:

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

It says the Holy Spirit came on "all who heard the message."

In verse 44, the word "message" is not the typical Logos but Rhema.

Logos: Refers to the objective, universal, and written Word of God (the Bible). Rhema: Refers to the written Logos that, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, comes alive as a personal and dynamic experience in the believer's life, prompting faith and obedience, like a living voice.

So, it's revealing that the Holy Spirit descended upon those among Cornelius, his household, and his friends who actively received the message conveyed through Peter as something specifically given to them.

They hadn't even prayed in the name of Jesus Christ yet, but because they listened to the message with such an attitude, it was acknowledged as if they had prayed a prayer of acceptance.

That's why a visible descent of the Holy Spirit, similar to what the disciples experienced on Pentecost, occurred for them.

Parable of the Four Soils

Jesus also greatly emphasized how one should listen to the Word.

[Matthew 13:19-23] 19 "When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

The reason why those on the first type of soil don't understand the Word has nothing to do with intellectual capacity. In fact, the disciples themselves didn't understand the parables when they heard them. However, they took them seriously and genuinely wanted to know their meaning.

But those who casually disregarded it as irrelevant to themselves are the ones with a "path-like" heart.

The second type received it with immediate joy. They responded quicker than anyone else. But like rocky ground with only a thin layer of soil, the seed sprouted quickly but withered within a day. This pattern repeats—a momentary experience of grace followed by a quick return to their old ways. So, not only do they bear no fruit, but the time they spend in a healthy state is also very short.

The third type of soil represents people who are too caught up in this present world. They are constantly losing vitality due to worries about the future and the temptation of wanting more. Worldly matters seem so important that they always hesitate to follow God.

The fourth type of soil represents people who, when they hear God's Word, receive it as rhema and put it into practice. They are the ones who accept the opportunities and challenges God gives them. They prioritize God's will above all else and respond earnestly, trusting in God. These individuals live lives that bear fruit far beyond themselves—thirty, sixty, or even a hundredfold.

The Lord told this parable twice in the Gospels, not simply to point out and rebuke. He is inviting us to become good soil and participate in His joy!

It is rare to find someone who always has good soil in every area.

Even those who live as good soil for much of the time still stumble in relationships or stubborn areas. The Lord desires them to reflect on this message so that they may live lives that God abundantly blesses.

We don't have to cultivate that soil ourselves. We just need to listen well to the word—the rhema—that the Lord gives us, with a humble and good heart.

What the Lord Does

[Philippians 2:12-13] 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

If you look closely at this passage, you'll find a logical contradiction.

It emphasizes the salvation and blessing that disciples will receive through their own diligent obedience.

However, the very next verse, verse 13, states that God works in you, putting desires within you and enabling you to act. It's not you, but God who is acting. God pours out the desires, and ultimately, God is the one who fulfills those desires. Isn't this a clear contradiction?

However, this is a very common paradox in the Bible and in the lives of Christians.

Try complimenting a Christian you consider to be truly faithful! How will they respond? They'll respond precisely like this:

"The Lord did it all; I was just there. The Lord did it."

When I expressed gratitude to those who put in great effort in mission fields, they all confessed, "The Lord did it all."

They weren't just saying it. They genuinely felt it and couldn't help but say it.

Paul, who endured the most suffering and carried out the most ministry among the apostles, ultimately confessed that his ministries were nothing.

Paul isn't just pretending humility. He genuinely knew that he was merely the one who witnessed God's work through him most closely.

As we move into the middle of the book of Acts, we'll encounter Paul's journeys again. The shortest period of his missionary journey was a single night spent in Lystra. And even in Philippi, a place we're familiar with, he only spent a few days on a short-term mission.

Yet, the brief record of what happened in that short period has eternally changed countless lives over the past 2,000 years, hasn't it? How many times over has it multiplied its fruit? Paul was good soil, listening well to the Lord's words, and the Lord kept His promise.

So, even though our team only stayed for a week, that was by no means a short time. We were more focused on the Lord and listening to Him than at any other time of the year. When God is present in that time, it becomes sufficient.

One brother from our New Jersey church who went with us experienced great grace and returned home. He wrote 20 pages of testimony until 4 AM that day. He said he wrote it immediately because he didn't want to forget it. When I asked him to send it to me, he sent the 20-page testimony in both English and Korean, saying I could share it with others.

As soon as I received it, my eyes welled up with tears, and I read the entire testimony in one sitting. The brother wrote his inner struggles so purely and without reservation, and even though it seemed haphazardly written, my heart swelled with emotion at his childlike excitement and joy, seeing how God had led him through every step of the process.

Do you remember how Jesus and the disciples in Acts undertook difficult journeys to find just one person?

The same Lord led us in the same way and showed us the same things.

Walking the path of Jesus and experiencing the joy that Jesus felt—that was the joy of chosen witnesses.

Seeing a boy who used to be so disobedient raise his arms high, his face full of emotion, crying out "Holy Forever" dozens of times with glistening eyes, or a brother who used to find it very uncomfortable when his wife was listening at home now listening to that song on repeat all day long...

Doesn't that fill you with emotion? Doesn't it bring overwhelming joy?

No matter what their profession, Christians remain on this earth to witness such overwhelming moments of emotion and joy. The Lord is holding us here to participate in such work.

As we do, we will eventually be assured: "I didn't find the Lord on my own. The Lord loved me and chose me. He chose me from my mother's womb to walk with Jesus, to share Jesus from New York to the nations, to South Dakota. By the grace of God, I am what I am." That's what we'll confess.

Then, the Lord's words and promises will, one by one, become clear and sound like words of love directed at us.

For the people we meet frequently in our daily lives, a slower, more deliberate pace, and many pauses will be necessary.

But seeing the Lord's great dream for them become a desire within us, and seeing those desires continue to be fulfilled...

If you desire such a life, then every day, every moment, listen carefully to the Lord's invitation. Respond humbly and rightly as good soil! In doing so, you will increasingly experience the joy of being chosen.

If you're still struggling to discern the Lord's invitation, follow the principles that run throughout the entire Bible, which God has established.

As your pastor, I will tell you the principle of blessing: Live a life that practices hesed (lovingkindness), which God prefers over sacrifice. Make mishpat (justice) the standard of your life. Think of "us" before "me." When there's an opportunity for an encounter for the Lord, choose to give up your personal comfort. Doing just that is enough. That is the principle of mishpat that causes life and blessing to overflow.

Thinking of the community over yourself means choosing forgiveness instead of revenge, and reconciliation instead of avoidance.

As you mature, you will increasingly discern the Lord's specific and detailed will even in exceptional situations.

As we continue to joyfully respond to the Lord's invitation, our past will continue to be transformed into "chosen," and eventually, our present, future, and eternity will align with the Lord's will. And then, how can we not bear fruit of at least 30, 60, or even 100 times?

Friends, we have been called once again today.

Let us pray.

7/26 Even if it is slow, wait for the time

Even if it is slow, wait for the time

Scripture: Habakkuk 2:1-4

1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.

3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.1

4 “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.2

Th3e book of Habakkuk is a prophetic book written by Habakkuk, one of the minor prophets who dealt with questions of justice, evil, suffering, and faith. The prophecy is set against the backdrop of political turmoil and social upheaval in the late 7th century BC.

During this time, the Assyrian Empire, which had ruled the region, was in decline, and the Babylonian Empire was expanding its power. Along with these shifts in geopolitical dynamics, the domestic situation in southern Judah was increasingly plagued by corruption and injustice.

Habakkuk's prophecy was directed at King Jehoiakim, the 16th king of southern Judah, who led the people to evil in the first five years of Jehoiakim's reign (609-598 B.C.E.). His father, King Josiah, was one of the three good kings who carried out a major religious reform in southern Judah.

However, King Jehoiakim was a king who did not obey God's commands, such as reviving idol worship that his father King Josiah had abolished, burning scrolls with the message of God's judgment, and persecuting the righteous and leading southern Judah to destruction. Habakkuk is deeply concerned about the moral and spiritual state of the nation of Judah in this situation, and he is deeply frustrated by the appearance of evil triumphing over righteousness.

Habakkuk, the prophet, lived through a dark period in Judah's history and had a serious conversation about what it means to live by faith with God. After the fall of northern Israel in 722 B.C.E., southern Judah was invaded by Babylonia.

King Jehoiakim, who had a pro-Egyptian policy, imposed taxes on the people according to their income in order to pay taxes to Egypt, making it difficult for the people to live. They disobeyed God's word and worshipped pagan gods and angered God.

As a result, justice collapsed, the wicked threatened the righteous, and the law was ignored. Faithful people like Habakkuk appealed to God: "God, I cry out for mercy, but how much more will I have to cry out to come to save you?" "Why do you suffer this kind of hardship on me every day?" "Do you not see their wickedness?"

He appealed to the Lord, but the Lord replied to Habakkuk, "Wait for the time, even if it is slow." This is an answer that the prophet Habakkuk, who is struggling to endure and living a life of faith, really does not want to hear.

We would rather give up when He says "no", but waiting is often more hopeless. When the wicked are threatening the righteous, justice is broken, faith is shaken in the midst of suffering, and you doubt God's providence, what should you and I do as we stand in a righteous position before God?

First, we must put aside our reason and come out to God and appeal to God. The prophet Habakkuk, who came to appeal to God by trampling on his reason, appeals: "How long will you do this, Lord?" "Where is this injustice?" "Why leave evil alone?"

"Looting and violence occur before my eyes, and quarrels and quarrels do not stop. Does this make sense when the law is being ignored, justice is broken, and the wicked are threatening the righteous?" At that time, Southern Judah was facing a great crisis both domestically and internationally.

Northern Israel, a brotherly country, has been destroyed by Assyria for more than 100 years due to idolatry. Babylonia had destroyed Assyria and was emerging as a great power in the region, invading Judah.

However, Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and his leaders did not listen to God's word and did not stop worshiping the pagan god who had destroyed northern Israel. King Jehoiakim was an evil king in God's eyes, unlike his father, King Josiah.

In 2 Kings chapters 22-23, the deeds of King Josiah are revealed. King Josiah became king at the age of 8 and ruled Judah for 31 years.

Josiah repaired Solomon's temple, found the book of God's law, gathered the people and leaders together to listen to the word, and vowed to keep all the written commands of God. Not only that, but he removed all the utensils that had made it possible to worship pagan gods in the Lord's temple from the temple, and drove out all the priests who worshipped idols.

He was also a good king who carried out religious reforms, such as removing all the high places that had made Israel sin and he celebrated the Passover. In this way, his father, King Josiah, made a way for himself, his leaders, and all the people to return to God through the Reformation.

However, after Josiah returns to his ancestors, his son Jehoahaz becomes king, but he is deposed by the king of Egypt after three months. Later, the son of Josiah Eliakim becomes king, and King Nego of Egypt changes his name to Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:31-34).

King Jehoiakim, a pro-Egyptian, ruled Judah for 11 years. He taxed the people in order to pay Pharaoh, and the people had to pay taxes to the king according to their assessments.

It was also the time of King Jehoiakim when Babylon invaded Judah, and the Lord also sent the armies of the sons of Syria, Moab, and Ammon to fight against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah (2 Kings 24:2-3). The Bible records that Egypt, on which King Jehoiakim relied, was also occupied by Babylon, so the king of Egypt never went out of his borders again (2 Kings 24:7).

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign, the Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 36.

1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.

3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”

4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.

5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple.

6 So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns.

7 Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.”

8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll.

9 In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah4.

15 They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.

16 When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.”5

17 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”67

18 “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scro8ll.”9

19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”10

20 After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and report11ed everything to him.

21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him.

22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him.

23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.12

24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.13

25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.

King Jehoiakim, who burned the scroll with the word of God's judgment written on it, was a king of disobedience, an idolater, a king who did unrighteousness, and a king who did not live according to the word. The people of faithful faith under the rule of such a king are bound to be victims of God's judgment, injustice, lawlessness, and the victory of the wicked due to the king's disobedience.

If so, we have no choice but to appeal to the Lord. When a believer, a spiritual leader, asks, "Where is God?" it is natural to ask. In this situation, it is rather strange not to ask questions or appeal to God.

When Habakkuk, the prophet of God, had no choice but to doubt his faith—when his distrust of God was growing, he doubted His providence, and when things happened that he could not understand with his understanding, faith, and reason—he did not remain silent or conceal and appealed to God. When we are full of darkness and we cannot see light, our rational judgment is worthless.

It is faster to let go of reason and go to God and appeal to God. Second, we must prepare to hear the worst words and go up to the castle tower to see and hear what the Lord is saying.

In chapter 1, the prophet Habakkuk appeals to the Lord, and the Lord responds to Habakkuk, but the Lord's response further confuses Habakkuk. Why was it confused? The Lord answers Habakkuk's appeal like this (Habakkuk 1:5-13).

Habakkuk 1:5-13

5 “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.14

6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwel15lings not their own.16

7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.17

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen18 come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;19

9 they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.20

10 They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them.21

11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty people, whose own strength is thei22r god.”

12 Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

When the Lord said that He would use the more evil Babylonia to strike the disobedient Judah, Habakkuk could not understand. Habakkuk appeals to the Lord again.

Babylonia is more evil, more vicious, and more ruthless, so how can God raise up that beastly Babylonia to destroy his chosen people? We can't understand it either.

The prophet Habakkuk thinks that the people of Judah are a good people rather than Babylonia, but how can God be silent while the wicked try to devour the good people? Habakkuk was complaining to the Lord.

But God will do that. Our rational judgment is worthless. We can make rational judgments about the idea that we should not do that, but all authority belongs to God.

It is God who uses the wicked. It is entirely up to God to decide how He will use you and them. The only thing to note is that you and I will not be like the disobedient people of Judah, nor will we be like the wicked Babylonians who are used to destroy them.

God is a God who transcends all perception. We should not judge God's choices and judgments again because we cannot understand them.

The prophet Habakkuk, who does not understand what God is doing, stands on the tower where he is watching again to hear the word of the Lord. It is the words in Habakkuk 2:1.

Habakkuk 2:1

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

Climbing the castle tower means a quiet place separate from the world. Therefore, he tried to listen to God's word with all his heart and mind.

The Lord spoke to Habakkuk according to his appeal, but he did not understand everything God was doing. Then Habakkuk went up to the tower and told God to wait when he saw what God was saying.

"I will wait and see what he will say to me, and I will see how he answers my questions." This scene shows how important the prophet Habakkuk valued God's word.

When you try to listen to God's words, are you concentrating all your heart and thoughts? Heading to a quieter place? When we are about to have a very serious conversation with an important person, we will go to a quiet and undisturbed place.

Why can't I miss anything? We must listen to God's word with all our heart.

Third, the Lord answers Habakkuk's question (Habakkuk 2:2-4)

Habakkuk 2:2-4

Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.

God commanded Habakkuk to write down God's words. The written word is eternal. It means unchanging. This is the weight and importance of God's word.

Engraving on a plate is to make it visible to everyone. And the Lord gives commands like promises.

"Even if it is late, wait and I will definitely respond without delay." He continues, "But the righteous live by faith." God's promise will always be fulfilled. Even if it's slow.

What was the most precious thing in Habakkuk's time? Turning to God, establishing justice, a life where the wicked are punished and the righteous triumph, plundering and violence stop, loving brothers, etc.

If injustice, evil, plunder, violence, and idolatry were the problems in that era, Habakkuk and God's people were pursuing the opposite life. Then, how to accomplish it in that era of King Jehoiakim's rule?

It will be a life of faith as a righteous person before God. The phrase "but the righteous live by faith" is written throughout the Bible.

Romans 1:17, "The righteous will live by faith," Galatians 3:11, "The righteous will live by faith," Hebrews 10:38, "My righteous will live by faith." However, these verses have differences a bit in their meanings.

The apostle Paul's meaning of "the righteous will live by faith" in Romans is written to explain the righteous on the way to salvation. The faith of the righteous he speaks of is "faith in God.

It is not the law but the righteous person who trusts in the word of God, which justifies those who believe in Jesus, not the law, and trust is the act of faith. Then you will live.

Trust is salvation. Just like Abraham was saved by trusting in God. The meaning of "the righteous will live by faith" in Galatians is that it is the faith that the righteous show not to do something for God, but to accept what God has done for us.

In Hebrews 10:38, "The righteous will live by faith," is the faith that those who have a right relationship with God live in deep trust and do not turn away and run away. On the other hand, the meaning of "but the righteous live by faith" in Habakkuk's time means that person who stands in the right position before God, that is, a righteous person lives a life of faith that is loyal and unwavering.

Why does the Lord require loyal and consistent faith from the righteous? Because we must survive in this reality where injustice, plunder, violence, ruthlessness, and justice are prevailing.

It is time to live until the God of justice comes to judge all injustice in His time. Our faith is the power to live in the present with God.

Only by living with a steady, steady, and loyal believing in your current life can you truly live. The life that contrasts with the righteous who live by faith is the life of the proud.

The Lord says: "Behold, his heart is proud, and he is not honest in it." Who is a proud person? He is not a person who stands in the position of God and righteousness.

Because they are people who do not have God in their souls, their thoughts and desires are not right in them. The proud people that God speaks to the prophet Habakkuk are the kings and leaders of Habakkuk's time, and the nations such as Babylonia.

Because they are not in the right position before God, they can live in injustice, ruthlessness, plunder, and violence. His soul does not know that what they are doing is not right.

Because God is not in them. Their end is death and destruction. How do I know? The Lord says: Habakkuk 2:12-17.

Habakkuk 2:12-17

12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice!

13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?23

14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.24

15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on t25heir naked bodies!

16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed! The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.26

17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

A proud person cannot stand in the right position before God. However, the righteous are those who stand in the right position before God.

Living as a righteous person in that day must have been suffering itself. However, God promises eternal life. "Wait for the time, even if it is slow," "It will surely come."

Approaching God with personal problems, communal problems, and national problems is not a betrayal of God or a failure to glorify God. When a child comes to his parents with a problem, it is proof that parents are doing a good job as a parent and that they are standing well in their parents' position.

In my field—whether at home, at work, at school, or at church—what do I need to appeal to the Lord? When the Lord's answer is not good, appeal again.

Go to a quiet place and concentrate with all your heart so that you can hear the Lord's words. Obey the words, "Wait for the time, even if it is slow," and "the time will surely come."

Remember that the righteous are fully alive through loyal and consistent faith. A proud person is destined to be destroyed because his soul is not right before God.

However, our souls who believe in God have been put in the right position before God through Jesus. Live by faith! The proclaimed word of God does not change forever.

The words will also be inscribed on a tablet and will be a promise for those who has a right standing before God. The promise of God will be with us forever and so that we will live by faith until the time when Jesus returns.

Let me conclude by reading Habakkuk 2:1-4 as The Message Bible:

Habakkuk 2:1-4 (The Message Bible)

1 What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst. I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I’ll wait to see what God says, how he’ll answer my complaint.

2 And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.

3 This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

4 “Look at that man, bloated by self-importance— full of himself but soul-empty. But the person in right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive.

Let us pray. Just as the Lord gave Habakkuk a problem, let us think about the problem that the Lord has given you.

It may be a family problem, a work problem, a relationship problem, a children's problem, or a community problem. God does not suppress our emotions.

Therefore, you and I must come before the Lord and appeal to Him. And be prepared to hear the worst answer and wait for the Lord's answer.

God's word and promise will always be fulfilled. Let us confess and pray, "Even if it seems slow, I will only live through faith that I must wait for that time and be more patient.

7/13 All of Jesus for All the World

Sermon on Acts #55

Date: 7/13/2025

Title: All of Jesus for All the World

Scripture: Acts 10:23-38

We are back in the book of Acts.

Peter, who was staying at the house of Simon the tanner, heard the Lord's voice in a vision. The conclusion of that voice appears in verse 15.

[Acts 10:15] And the voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

Through this command from the Lord—to eat foods that were culturally and legally disgusting for a Jew—the ceremonial laws, food laws, and social laws that separated Jews and Gentiles were now abolished.

It was a declaration that the era of believing one could be saved only by meticulously keeping all the laws and festivals, and by offering flawless Sabbaths and sacrifices, had ended.

Right at the moment Peter was deeply thinking about this meaning, the men sent by Cornelius arrived.

And the voice of God was heard one more time.

[Acts 10:20] "So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."

Aren't there times when we really wish God would give us specific, step-by-step instructions like this?

However, for Peter, this command was actually to do something he dreaded.

For things that we are already trained and prepared to do, a small stirring in our hearts is enough to guide us. But now, at this important moment when a new era was opening, the Lord showed Peter a vision three times and gave him a very specific vocal command to make him obey immediately.

And so, Peter showed his obedience by going to meet not just a Gentile, which was unbearable enough, but a Roman centurion—an enemy soldier who had killed Jesus. This was even harder for him to endure than staying with Simon, the smelly tanner.

Since I became a preacher, the most burdensome act of obedience is to deliver messages that command the congregation to be rebuked and corrected.

Aren't we all beings who want to receive praise and love?

Of course, I want to be loved too. I would like to mostly say things that are pleasant to hear, things that warm the heart, provide comfort, and make people feel loved. If I did that, people would probably like me more.

However, if I do that, it means I am leaving a large covering over the parts of our church, including myself, that are still affected by sin, and I would not be honest before the Lord.

That's why when the Lord gives me such words, I am more careful and proclaim them with even more love.

During our mission trip, my most surprising personal experience happened on Wednesday's Revival Night…

I didn't have a sermon manuscript.

I am not trying to say that impromptu sermons are always better. The process of preparing a sermon every week, though difficult, is a very important time when I grow to love the church more and learn holiness before the Lord.

That time when the Lord and I complete the message that will be delivered to this church is a privilege for a pastor.

Of course, due to my own limits and shortcomings, my expression and delivery can be rough or dull, but I preach here on Sundays because I am confident that the message belongs to the Lord.

But on that Wednesday night in South Dakota, I just cried out the words the Lord was pouring into me.

Thinking about it later, there was a reason the Lord did it that way.

It was because, until then, I had wanted to be as polite as possible to the church members there. No matter how well I knew them for 18 years or how many times I had visited (16 times), I was always extremely cautious when speaking about their pain, like a temporary visitor passing through.

But the Lord, who loved those people so much, had a message He desperately wanted to shout to them, along with an affirmation of His love.

[2 Timothy 4:2] Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

So I shouted.

"If you want the lives of these children to be different, if you want them to dream with limitless potential, to love, and to live happily... then the adults here must change first. Our mission team cannot do that for you. The adults here must make the right choices every day. Especially the Christians worshiping here right now! If you are Jesus' followers, don't just believe in Him, follow Jesus' life! Follow Jesus now!"

I, too, was in shock, watching and hearing the Lord shout through me.

And, for the first time, they raised their hands, asking to receive a prayer of blessing from a younger Korean pastor.

That was the gospel they desperately needed, and I was standing in that place for that reason.

What is the gospel?

In today's passage, verse 34 says that God does not show favoritism based on outward appearance. This is not talking about what we commonly call a handsome or pretty face.

What Peter said was an expression to distinguish between Jews and Gentiles.

Paul also said something very important using the same standard.

[Romans 2:11-15]

11 For God does not show favoritism.

12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.

15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

This passage in Romans is a verse that troubles theologians who try to simplify and organize God's providence.

As we saw earlier, the law Paul is talking about here is not the ceremonial, food, or social laws, but the basic spirit of the law: to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself.

However, if you look at verse 14, it says that a different standard applies to Gentiles who have not learned the law.

It says their conscience will be the standard!

This is in line with Jesus' warning about judgment in Luke, where He said that not everyone is judged by the same standard, but that God will demand much from the one who has been given much.

[Luke 12:47-48]

47 "The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.

48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

If we take these words seriously, a question might arise.

Then wouldn't it be better for us not to know much?

Wouldn't it be better to be able to make the excuse on Judgment Day that we didn't know?

If so, then why must we preach the gospel? Why must we diligently read the Word?

Instead of giving a greater burden by showing the perfect standard, Jesus Christ, wouldn't it be a less burdensome life to let people live according to their own conscience?

That is why the scene of Cornelius's salvation today is so important.

Everyone, do you see how many times Acts records how the meeting between Cornelius and Peter came about? It repeats it four times.

First, the scene where an angel actually visits Cornelius and Peter. Then, the scene where the men sent by Cornelius report that event to Peter. And today, when Peter meets Cornelius, Cornelius repeats it again. And in chapter 11, when Peter goes up to Jerusalem, he explains the event again to the brothers there.

The fact that the same event is continuously recorded, taking up so much space, means that this event has a very great significance, and that we must remember it.

The first reason is,

at the time of Acts, there were many people who could not accept that a Gentile could not only believe in Jehovah God as one of many gods, but could also receive the Holy Spirit, be baptized, and formally become part of the church.

But what does it mean for us today, for whom it is no longer surprising that Gentiles are saved through the gospel?

It is shouting that everyone needs Jesus.

Not only our weak, poor, and needy neighbors, but also the rich who live in bigger houses than us.

Not only people living in miserable darkness, but also sincere and good people whose lives are full of bright but temporary, non-eternal lights...

They need Jesus.

Today's passage is shouting that we must preach the gospel even to people who are seemingly righteous and good.

It is shouting the fact that even characters more excellent than believers, like Cornelius, need Jesus.

His righteousness and goodness impressed God,

but that didn't mean he was fine as he was. Because of it, the Lord sent Peter to him.

God, who was moved by his righteousness, gave him the opportunity to hear the gospel.

It means that even such a righteous man of the world can never pay off all his sins with his own righteousness alone.

In the era when Romans was written, most of humanity did not have the opportunity to hear the gospel.

Paul is representing the fairness of God's judgment by saying that God judges those who did not have the opportunity to hear the gospel by a different standard.

However, for us,

it is to make us realize how precious the gospel is, which completely changes the meaning of that judgment,

and how blessed we are to have the opportunity to hear this gospel.

You give the same help, but some people act like it's no big deal,

while others talk about it and express their gratitude every time they see you...

But what we have received is something that is endlessly moving even if we reflect on it forever.

If we don't feel that way, our eyes are growing blind, and our senses are becoming numb.

[Luke 17:17-18] 17 Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?

18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?"

That's why we Christians must not only express thanks for small things but must actually be able to feel gratitude. The sense of grace must be alive. If not, we must cry out.

We must reduce the proportion of stimulating fakes so that we can fully feel what we ought to feel.

But if someone... looking at these Bible verses, thinks, "Wouldn't it be more advantageous not to hear the gospel? Because on Judgment Day, I can tell the Lord, 'I didn't know.'"

If they think that...

It's just proof that although they may know the concept of God,

they have not yet met God personally.

When you meet God, when you get to know Him, you find you have less and less to lose.

Like the farmer who discovered a treasure, like the merchant who found a pearl...

Nothing can compare to Him.

That is why Cornelius gathered all the people he loved and waited all day to hear this gospel.

In terms of social status, there were very few people he had to kneel before,

but he waited all day for the person God said He would send—Peter, not knowing if he would arrive at lunchtime or in the evening. As soon as he saw him, he knelt before him in overwhelming emotion.

There was no way Peter, who came from staying at a tanner's house, would have a pleasant scent.

And the appearance of Peter, living as a sojourner, would have looked like nothing more than a shabby Jewish wanderer in the eyes of a Roman centurion. Yet, Cornelius knelt and prostrated himself before him.

The warning, "The servant who knew his master's will and did not follow it will be beaten with many blows!" The real meaning of this is

the same as Jesus asking, "Do you truly love me?"

Is it to fulfill religious duties? To look devout in people's eyes?

No, it's asking, "Do you truly love me? Are you doing this out of love for me?"

What is the reason we must preach the gospel?

There is also a missional dimension, that the wholesome culture of Christianity can change families and society.

However, for the so-called righteous who live their whole lives in anxiety and fear, weighing their righteousness against the weight of their sins, the gospel changes the very purpose of living righteously.

After meeting Jesus,

you no longer bestow kindness out of a longing for salvation or a guilty conscience.

You want to live the life the Lord desires out of a heart that wants to repay, even just a little, the love of the One who knew all your sins and flaws, yet loved you first, paid the price for those sins, and waited for you for so long.

And as you live such a life, you realize.

Ah... I thought following the Lord was ministry and devotion...

but it becomes the deepest rest and the greatest joy for me as well.

The Lord said that doing the Father's will was His food.

The new life within us, is it truly of Jesus?

Because we are sons and daughters of God?

It is because the life of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who lived on earth, is within us, and that is why we are now sons and daughters of God.

If so, what does God want to do with these sons?

What does God want to do with these daughters in this world?

So now, our reason for joy,

our purpose in life, must all be the same as Jesus' and must come from Jesus.

Do you rejoice in what Jesus rejoices in?

Do you grieve over the things that break Jesus' heart?

Do you love the things the Lord loves?

Do you hate the things the Lord hates?

What the Holy Spirit cried out through me on that Wednesday night in South Dakota…

He desires to cry that out to us now as well.

We are not just people who believe that there was a great person named Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who saved us by giving His life!

Aren't we the people who love Him the most... people who follow the Lord without holding back?

If so, the Lord will also send such sons and daughters.

[John 20:21] …As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

We have now become people sent into this world for a short time by Jesus.

For what purpose were we sent? We were sent to become little Jesuses and to walk the path of Jesus.

While on the mission field in South Dakota, we hardly forgot for a moment that we were sent by God. We understood the purpose for which we were sent, and we did not hesitate to make many sacrifices to love the children there.

Those sacrifices were, instead, a joy. The small discomforts were like a humble offering I gave to the Lord.

In the worship service we held on Wednesday evening after three days of VBS, we experienced repentance, forgiveness, salvation, and hope.

Today's text says this in verse 38.

[Acts 10:38] how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

When Peter preached this gospel, he wasn't just recounting memories of Jesus' past deeds. Peter, who was actually sent by Jesus, was there, and through him, the Holy Spirit and power were being poured out like oil.

Despite my truly weak faith and my slow, frustrating obedience...

I experienced the anointing of the Holy Spirit and power more clearly than ever before in my entire life.

While talking with the pastors who went with me, we all agreed that even once in a lifetime, such an experience is enough to be thankful for. It was beautiful and glorious, we shared. We witnessed lost souls being saved, and we saw the captive being set free.

Shouldn't that week-long journey be a condensed version of our lives?

All of us living as people sent by Jesus.

Sometimes together as a community, and other times in our individual daily lives, we live according to the purpose for which we were sent with the Lord... and when Sunday comes, we experience repentance, forgiveness, salvation, and hope in this worship service.

Where have you been sent? Live there as a missionary.

Many missionaries are doing mission work by showing Jesus through their lives to their colleagues and neighbors in areas where they cannot preach directly. Even though they have a job and receive a salary, they do not forget that they are missionaries.

They do not lose the purpose for which they were sent there.

If you have met Jesus, it is the same for you.

Now, not when your salary increases or when you look good to your boss...

but when you live there as a missionary for Jesus! When you become a small lamp that brightens the darkness there!

You will confirm that you have been sent by the One who will lift you up to shine so that everyone, even at work, can see.

If the only purpose was to take us to heaven, why are we still here?

It is absolutely not for myself. If that's the case,

it must be because there is a place where the Lord wants to send me, and there are people who need me.

There is a praise song from our denomination that I really love.

‘All of Jesus for All the world’

How should this be translated? What does this mean?

Watch the short video sent from the denomination last week and try to find the meaning.

To fully manifest the gospel of Jesus to all the world,

All of Jesus!

It means that all people who belong to Jesus are needed.

Not a few special people, but the ones who belong to Jesus! It means everyone is needed!

To show Jesus Christ more completely to the world, all of us are needed.

Why did this mission trip feel more complete?

The team members all used the same expression. That "Better Together" is really true.

From young children to all generations were together,

and the mission team and the churches there were all together.

We needed each other.

When we, who are different, were together, a more complete image of Christ appeared.

The more that happened, the more the Holy Spirit was poured out there like oil.

A church doesn't just need people who give love.

It also needs people who must receive a lot of love.

To become a church that shows a more complete Jesus, we need each other,

all of us.

All of Jesus for all the world! Let's shout it together.

Every person in the world needs Jesus.

And to show them a more complete Jesus,

all of us are needed!

Let's pray.