Matthew, Part 2 - Jesus the Internationalist

“Many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:11)

Jesus’ Earthly mission was geographically limited to a relatively small region - namely Palestine. A Jew himself, his audience was mostly, but not exclusively, Jews. Matthew chapter 8 tells one of those accounts involving a Roman centurion. A Gentile, yet one with complete trust in the healing powers of Jesus, asks for and receives the healing of his servant. In fact, Jesus turns to his Jewish followers and calls this Gentile’s faith greater than any other in Israel. It is in this context Jesus speaks of many gentiles at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

It is a stretch to call someone who at best met all his neighboring tribes and one occupying force an internationalist. But come to think of it, I don’t know what is an internationalist. Has anybody seen an internationalist lately? Sorry. I cannot get my arms around this word “Internationalist.” I am not aware of purported allegations of ethnic pride or prejudice Mr. Stott mentions and therefore his defense entirely unnecessary.

Now if Mr. Stott wants to defend inclusion of Koreans in the periphery of internationalist realm…

Happy New Years~!

As I was driving to work this morning (yes, i work today), i suddenly realized today is the last day of 2007. I mean I knew tomorrow is New Year's day, but it didn't really hit me til this morning that today was THE LAST DAY of 2007. So I had a chance to reflect on year 2007 and realized I had so much to be thankful for. In fact, I should only be thankful... Like what Pastor William said yesterday, the moment things don't go our way, we start to question God, and I am very much guilty of that. Who isn't? I know we're going to be facing lots of hardships and struggles in year 2008. and I just wanted to share this one song with you. I know samonim is not a "fan" of Brian Doerksen, but I just thought the lyrics were great.
Happy New Years~









Your Faithfulness



I don't know what this day will bring
Will it be disappointing, filled with longed for things?
I don't know what tomorrow holds
Still I know I can trust Your faithfulness
I don't know if these clouds mean rain
If they do, will they pour down blessing or pain?
I don't know what the future holds
Still I know I can trust Your faithfulness
Certain as the rivers reach the sea
Certain as the sunrise in the east
I can rest in your faithfulness
Surer than a mother's tender love
Surer than the stars still shine above
I can rest in your faithfulness
I don't know how or when I'll die
Will it be a thief, or will I have a chance to say goodbye?
No, I don't know how much time is left
But in the end, I will know your faithfulness
When darkness overwhelms my soul
When thoughts and storms of doubt
Still I trust You are always faithful, always faithful
Certain as the rivers reach the sea
Certain as the sunrise in the east
I can rest in your faithfulness
Surer than a mother's tender love
Surer than the stars still shine above
I can rest in your faithfulness
I don't know what this day will bring
Will it be disappointing, filled with longed for things?
I don't know what tomorrow holds
Still I know I can trust Your faithfulness

The Challenge of John

"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." (1 John 3:9)

I think this challenge of John found in 1 John 3:9 (and 5:18) should cause every one of us to careful self examination. As Stott pointed out, a Christian is not someone who does not sin but a person who's "whole tenor of life is against sin and toward holiness." Is that the basic orientation of my life? Are there patterns and desires within me that shows that I'm in opposition to sin or that I'm taking my sins seriously? Do I grieve over my sins and repent of it? And does the sacrifice of Christ on my behalf become more precious to me causing me to forsake sin and pursue righteousness? Any answer in the negative here should be a cause for concern or even alarm. Christ died to take away sins, not just the consequences of sin but also its power in our lives. The reason why we cannot "continue in sin" says John is because, "we have been born of God". Or to put it another way, we've been given a new DNA, that desires holiness and purity, and so we cannot go on sinning indefinitely. This should cause all of us to make sure that our salvation experience is rooted in God's supernatural work in our lives and not something we've just inherited by being in the church or through family tradition.

Posted by Pastor James

The Reflection of John

“The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” 1 John 4:14

First, I’m sorry that this is little late.

As I was reflecting on this chapter, I thought about two things

1. What would have happened if Jesus didn’t come 2000 years ago? I suppose he could have come few years later as well but what if he didn’t come to save the world yet? I would still be a gentile that has no purpose in life. I could be an atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or some other eastern religion that don’t make any sense. I would just follow along with whatever was available out there or I could have searched for reason for our existence. But given that Jews only played by themselves, would I have even come close to knowing the God that we know today, probably not. Without Christ, I would probably end up in hell somewhere with nasty stench hole, where it’s super humid, loud annoying noises and probably super hot too

2. It reminded me once again that God has delivered his one and only son to die on the cross for all sinners. For me, it took little longer to understand what it meant "one and only son to die on the cross" cuz I didn't quite understand the dept of his love until I became a father. Maybe you could relate if you own a dog or something else that you control that you really love. I would be willing to give my life but to sacrifice Nina, Caleb or Jacob for anyone is just unthinkable. Anyway, one of the key messages here is that we could be guilt free of sin easily. I shared few weeks back on one of the comments that when I first accepted Christ, it was the best experience ever. I felt completely clean for the first time in my life. This feeling that I had is something I could have every time, as long as we come to God. He's already done the work. He's delivered his one and only son to die. All we need to do is simple task of asking for His forgiveness. How awesome is that?

I just thank God for his perfect timing, his amazing grace and his great sacrifice.

Thursday's reflection

1 Timothy 1:15, 16
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the worst."

I have to admit that the commotion of the Christmas holiday has got me feeling a bit flustered and distracted from God. I got into a routine of doing so much "stuff" and I easily pushed aside my focus on God. I find myself now at a point where I feel a bit out of sync with God. I not only feel the dark presence of sin crouching at my door, I feel the weight of my failures and guilt before God. Like Paul, I realize I am a sinner as I fail to meet with God daily and become more like Christ by spending time in prayer and meditation. I found myself being distracted and slipping into a sinful, worldly pattern of living. It leaves me feeling guilty and discouraged. However, even more disturbing is my response to Paul’s testimony when I first read it. It is a stark contrast to Bilney’s. Even as I read "Christ came to save sinners", somewhere deep inside me says somehow I want to try to save myself. I feel there is something I can and must do to be right with God. When I reach a point of failure, when I come to acknowledge my sin before God, my first response is: I want to try again. I feel I can become more Christ-like if I just try harder. I feel that I can live in a right relationship with God if I discipline myself more. However, I realize that I am only setting myself up for a vicious cycle that will lead to despair. I do believe in the power of will power but first and foremost I have to remember that God gave us free will to go to Him through Christ. I realize that my will comes into play according to God’s will when I willingly acknowledge my sins and give up on any notion that I can save myself. I realize that I must go to God believing that Christ is the One who saves me not my act of going to God. This is when I can quiet myself and focus on Christ again. It makes me want to know Him more and focus less on what I must and must not do. It makes me want to be more like Him and less like the world.

Reflection

"The Flight into Egypt"

I enjoy this devotional book because John Stott reforms the traditional Sunday School version of the Nativity that exists in my mind into an epic historical account that brings together so many different things and ideas.

I never imagined, for instance, how Jesus and Mary's flight to Exodus was yet another fulfillment of ancient scripture. The comparisons that Stott draws between Israel the nation and Jesus are compelling and powerful.

The last line of the text stuck a chord in me when Stott says that "we can only marvel at the providence of God in this repetition of the pattern of sacred history."

The repetition that God displays is awesome and comforting. And it brought me to think of a powerful passage I read recently in a book called "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton.

The quote is quite long but I hope you will all enjoy it and reflect on it as much as I did when I first came across it.
_________________________________________________

"I speak here only of an emotion, and of an emotion at once stubborn and subtle.

But the repetition in Nature seemed sometimes to be an excited repetition, like that of an angry schoolmaster saying the same thing over and over again.

The grass seemed signalling to me with all its fingers at once; the crowded stars seemed bent upon being understood. The sun would make me see him if he rose a thousand times. The recurrences of the universe rose to the maddening rhythm of an incantation, and I began to see an idea...

The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his leg rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life.

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, 'Do it again;' and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.

For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.
But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.

It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately , but has never got tired of making them.

...The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore...

It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy;
for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

..I had always believed the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician.

And this pointed a profound emotion always present and sub-conscious; that this world of ours has some purpose; and if there is a purpose, there is a person.

I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a story-teller."

-G.K. Chesterton

Merry Christmas!

Here's something to ponder about on Christmas day!

“Infinite and yet an infant.

Eternal and yet born of a woman.

Almighty, and yet nursing at a woman’s breast.

Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms.

Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.”

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"That man should be made in God's image is a wonder,

but that God should be made in man's image is a greater wonder.

That the Ancient of Days would be born.

That He who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle?"

-Thomas Watson

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

and we have seen his glory,

glory as of the only Son from the Father,

full of grace and truth.”

(John 1:14)


Posted by Pastor James

Rage of Herod

Its natural to read the account of Herod and recoil at the monstrous acts and extreme paranoia of such a delusional person. So passionate to preserve himself, he himself uncovered truths foretold only in an effort to thwart the inevitable with such extreme measures. My initial reaction is, "whew, i'm not as bad as that guy!"

But as is often the case, we are not all that dissimilar. We've been created with a vacuum that only God can fill. Unfortunately too many times we fill that vacuum with our own pursuits of fulfillment, e.g. wealth, security, our image to others, addictions, etc. While most of us never blatantly seek to rid God from our lives, our efforts to preserve ourselves reveal us to be illegitimate pretenders to the throne. Once we've abandoned God, its not that we will worship nothing, but that we will worship anything.

Worship the King.

The Shepherds

"I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord."

The meditation starts with the general pronouncement that shepherds had a bad reputation in Israel; they were regarded as dishonest and unreliable. Yet God chose to announce to ones “such as these” that the Savior of the world had been born.

What was the response of the shepherds? The Scriptures tell us that they “hurried off” to see the Christ. This is absolutely the right way to respond when God calls us.

What can we learn from the response of the shepherds so many years ago?

1) We have more in common with the shepherds than we might suppose.

We are outwardly fairly respectable people, without the bad reputations that the shepherds had.

But most of us have a good idea what we are inwardly. What if our past histories, all our secret thoughts, intentions, motives and desires on any given day were broadcast for all the world to hear? I wonder how many of us would have such a great reputation then?

2) The shepherds show us the right away to respond.

Just as God revealed His Son to these lowly shepherds, God reveals His Son to sinful ones “such as us” through Bible readings, sermons, prayer etc.

What should be our response when we effectually hear the call to “come and see the Christ” or to “repent” while there is yet time?

Our response should be just like that of the shepherds: to “hurry off” without delay to see the Christ. I’m afraid, though, that we very often “delay”.

The reasons why we delay are as varied as the number of people reading this blog. Laziness. Pride. Idolatry. Unwillingness to repent or to give up a certain pleasure or lifestyle. Some vague feeling that we have to be “absolutely sure”.

All of us have some idea what is holding us back.

I can’t help thinking, though, that we must “hurry off” when God calls us to “come and see”, simply as an act of faith. The shepherds did, and they became changed men. They “spread the word concerning what they had seen and heard”. The shepherds did just what we imagine we would do if we were “better” Christians.

God graciously reveals His Son to us many times. To delay is to potentially miss the time of God's coming. To delay too long is fatal. We must “hurry off” when we hear His voice. As God says, “Today if you hear My voice, do not harden your heart” (Hebrews 3:15).

3) They were new people in the old situation.

The shepherds returned to their lives as “new people in the old situation”. They were never the same after what they had seen and experienced. They were inwardly changed.

Whoever is born of God goes back to their old lives, their jobs, their homes, but as new people.

This Christmas, when Christ is proclaimed as the newborn King, let us all “hurry off” and go to Him without delay, that we might worship Him, as the shepherds did. There we will behold the glory of the Son, as the shepherds did, "full of grace and truth". And may His Holy Spirit “guide us to His perfect and glorious light”.

Bethlehem

This past Sundays sermon by P.James summed it up perfectly: The crude and unwelcome poverty of the birth of Jesus Christ shows us the (1) the depravity of our sins, (2) the humanity of Jesus Christ and (3) it shows us his humility. That describes the circumstance of his birth. And it was that the King of kings was to be born this way. This stable was in a city called Bethlehem. Bethlehem is called the city of David. And it was part of the fulfillment of prophecy that Jesus would be born here. The emperor Augustus was an instrument of God's plan to take Joseph and Mary there as part of an edict, to register for the census. Now, I don't know if any of you ever heard your parents talk about going to visit their "go-yang" (birth place/home town). My father always talked about it on Mother's Day, dreaming of the one day when he would be reunited with her and the rest of his family in his go-yang. It's usually a place that tells us about who we are. Kris and I took Jason and Wes and visited Korea about 10 years ago and visited a beautiful countryside that was the Whang family go-yang. There we can find the registry that keeps records of the Whang family back many generations... they have their roots there in that place. Micah 5:2 says: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days." It was known that Jesus would be born here. Jesus, the son of David... how logical! The humanity of Christ has it's roots here back to the first Adam. But Jesus is the only begotten son of the Most High God. He was not a created being but is from of old, from ancient of days! Our identity as Christians is not bound up in a family registry but through our rebirth, we are called sons and daughters of the King and we have an inheritance in heaven, our spiritual go-yang!

Posted by Helen Whang

Mary’s Submission

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”
Luke 1:38

In the last part of today’s reading, it reads,

For us too what matters is that we allow God to be God and to do things his way, even if with Mary we thereby risk losing our good name.

So Mary was submissive to God by risking her reputation.....

First, I started to think about what I would have done in that situation. Hmm. So God the Almighty sends his angel to me to give an order. What would you do in that situation? You may disagree with me on this (and I hope not), but I don’t think many of us would choose to disobey in that situation. Who in the right mind would reject God’s order especially when his angel is floating right in front? Of course, I would be terrified and MAY pass out in fear, but eventually, when I’m conscience again, I would surely obey. Wouldn’t most people say, “Yes Lord! I will do anything for you anytime!!!!” Then, what is the big deal of about Mary’s submission here? Wouldn’t most Christians submit to God’s order even if it means jeopardizing their own reputations? Then, what is the big deal here?

Then, I realized the real question was not just simply “would you submit?” but includes the word “how” in front. How would you submit? Let’s look at how Mary responded. Mary’s response was “I am the Lord’s servant.” I am the Lord’s servant…. I am the Lord’s servant…. I am the Lord’s servant….Here, she is acknowledging that God is her master. And that acknowledgement is followed by “May it be to me as you have said”. So she is basically saying, she is just a servant and has no say in God’s plan. She has no certainty of the future, but she was certain that God’s plan will be carried out. Is there any answer that shows more humility than this? Wow.

Lots of times, I say I am doing ‘this and that’ for God because I’m a Christian. I need to help out others for God, I need to give more offerings to God, I need to work harder for God, I need to do more quiet time for God, I need to stop sinning for God….and so on. Why ‘for God’? What does God possibly need from me? What does God, who is omnipotent, God of Universe, God who owns literally everything including my ability to think, ability to work, ability to make money, and even my faith, possibly need from me? What can I possibly offer to God? He owns EVERYTHING! It’s simple. He just simply wants me to surrender and submit. He just wants me to acknowledge that I am his servant. More often than not, I have an attitude of thinking that I am doing favors for God, and when I do nice things for others, I need to take the credit from God because I, myself who is ‘high’ in value, did something nice for someone. Therefore, I deserve some credit from God. That is certainly not the servant’s attitude. I can’t help but to sit here and ponder on how much things would have been different, if Adam and Eve had those servant’s attitudes and said, “Yes, Lord, you are our master. May it be to us as you have said.” Or even Lucifer before he rebelled against God. To me it seems like, God who owns ALL THINGS, wanted this from us since the beginning. Pure submission. Servant’s attitude. After all, Christ, the King of all Kings, the Son of Most High, was born thru a true servant to do what? Serve us all…

The Virgin Birth

‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’ Luke 1:35

Well, first of all, the title doesn’t make sense to me at all. I don’t know about you, but I can’t figure how a virgin can give birth to a child. If a woman can conceive a child without a guy, there is no use for a man at all. God chose a woman to have The Holy One, because I think that women are smarter, stronger (because they’re smart, they don’t really need to use their physical strength), sensitive, oh! beautiful… on and on, don’t you guys agree with me? (wink). I started to think about what this means--Jesus being the Son of God, both human and divine.
Mary was chosen by God to have a child named Jesus, and she gave birth to a son. And I believe that just like any other mother, Jesus will be in Mary’s heart forever, even after giving the birth. This gave me a clue, that even we can’t bear a holy child like Mary; we can have Jesus in our heart. God chose Mary, so that Jesus would inherit both His humanity and His title to the messianic kingdom. He humbled himself to experience our full humanity, and gave his blood to overshadow us. So we can be called his child, when we have Jesus in our heart, and truly believe in it.

Mary's Song

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to prepare for the lovely Christmas party yesterday and everyone who came out to join in our birthday celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ.

After having said that I would like to share few thoughts from today’s devotional reading. Mary was privileged to be used as God’s instrument to initiate the greatest mission of all, to reconcile His people back to Him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Mary was able to experience this blessing because she was humble and she had the hunger to see God’s kingdom to come which is clearly demonstrated in her song in the book of Luke. Humbleness and hunger… Those are the two things that this great country called America is working so hard to eliminate. The commercial industries make you believe that you are the king of the world and should be treated like one by buying their products. ‘You deserve faster car, clearer TV, bigger house, better wife or husband…’ That is what we hear each and everyday and that is what we can do in America. We can get anything that we want and that makes us less dependent on God. Humbleness is eliminated. Although we always want better things, we are generally comfortable and satisfied with our life here in America. Life is good, and there is no need to anticipate for something greater which is found in relationship with Jesus Christ. Hunger for God’s kingdom to come is eliminated.

We believe that the greatest spiritual battle is going on in the third world countries but I believe that there is also a great battle going on in this country. The devil has been perfecting his mastery in deviating the people from God for many years and I believe that he will not make his scheme so obvious to us. The devil is scheming to make us proud and complacent and I believe that his plan is working out pretty nicely in America. Let’s be mindful of what we hear and see. Let’s keep our focus away from ourselves and redirect it to our God so that we may be humble. Let’s not settle for the rubbish that this world offers us and ask God to open our eyes so that we may see the greater joy and satisfaction that can be found in Jesus Christ. I want to be used as God’s instrument and I hope you do too so let’s ask God to help us to be humble and hungry just like Mary.

Have a great week everyone!

The Servant of the Lord

Isaiah 42:1-4

Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen One in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not be disheartened or crushed, until He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.

Christian service is certainly an important and necessary aspect of living a balanced Christian life. Most growing Christians, however, are unbalanced in their approach to this vital area of Christian living. "Where should I serve?" and "What ministry is best for me?" are the usual questions that we ask about Christian service. Proper balance should also include questions such as: "Do I meet the qualifications of a good servant?" and "How do I become the kind of servant God uses?" In fact, these questions should really be considered before we move on to the where and what of Christian service.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect model Servant....

-David R. Reid

I don’t know if you guys remember my prayer at the Leadership retreat… My prayer was full of guilt and sincere repentance after hearing Kwijung’s testimony. Why? Because the first two questions above was my attitude joining the Leadership Committee. Rather than humbling before God for such privilege, I laid out terms and conditions. I only wanted to serve for perfectly structured committee. I only wanted to team up with talented and tolerable people. I wanted my talent and involvement to be center of attention.

Then, God used Kwijung’s testimony to help me realize that my attitude of servanthood was DANGEROUSLY wrong. Then I questioned “Do I have the right heart to be God’s servant?”

Ouch! Isaiah 42:1-4 is a perfect message for me….

Prist like Melchizedek

I feel very inadequate for so many many reasons posting on this blog. First this is my first blog post ever which seems enough but more importantly I've been asked to blog about the bible readings to a group of people who I feel are much more knowledgeable on the topic then myself.

So I decided to simply share how God has been working in my heart for the past weeks. I think many people know Lynn and I have been taking premarital classes at Moody for the past couple of months. I was approaching the class like a to-do task on a list to check off so we could go ahead and get married. In our last one on one session with the pastor running the class he said something to the effect of "get right with God and the marriage will take care of itself".

That didn't really hit me until the following week when I was listening to the pastor James sermon. I realized that I was approaching the marriage and my relationship with God all wrong.

• Go to church on Sunday
• Bible Study on Wednesday
• Talk about getting closer to God

I had been checking items off the list every week, talking a good game but I wasn't really living the life of a Christian. I needed to stop talking about it and go do it. "Get right with God" and let the rest of my life take care of itself. It's funny how God opens the paths and lead you to him, as that was the week pastor James told me of the daily bible readings and what better way to draw near to God then a daily QT reading the bible. All that to tie it to today's bible verse which says:

Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith

Jesus our ever present comfort

John Stott describes the threefold office of Christ, as prophet, king, and priest. I see these offices as corresponding to the past, future, and present ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the prophet of God, Christ is the final, last, and definitive voice of God (see Hebrews 1:1-2). And although Christ spoke God's final words 2000 years ago, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, he still speaks to us through the holy scriptures.

As for the office of kingship, Jesus is at the present time exalted and seated at the right hand of God the Father, until the Father brings all of his enemies under his feet (see Psalm 2). Then Jesus will return to the earth as King of all kings and Lord of all lords. This is a future reality, although at the present time, he reigns as King and Lord in the hearts of all who believe.

But the office of priesthood, in which Christ intercedes for us, is a present ministry of our Lord. Whatever inadequacies we may feel when we pray, we need to know that Christ intercedes for us before our heavenly Father. It is not the perfection or the legitimacy of our requests that is decisive, but that Jesus Christ knows our weakness and died to save us and therefore his intercessory ministry is an extension of his perfect love for us. This is very, very comforting, knowing that the Savior who died for my sins, is now defending and advocating for my good before the Father in heaven. So let us pray on and let us come boldly before the throne of grace holding true to the words of Jesus in John 16:23, "I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name... Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."

Posted by Pastor James

Reflection

"A King Like David"
No one like Jesus

This reflection made me think of an interesting conversation I had with a close friend who is almost devoutly anti-Christian. I won't say atheist because she hasn't repudiated all faiths, just the one she grew up in and became disillusioned with, which happens to be Christianity.

The talk made me think of how I view Christianity and how I've also come to change and be changed by this view.

I grew up in a Christian family. Like my friend, I quickly became disenchanted with what I perceived to be a false world view used as a crutch by ignorant people to overcome their irrational fears of death and the unknown.

I naturally succumbed to many different modes of thought that I found satisfying as I "matured" from the faith. Darwin gave a new explanation of our origin. Freud explained why we think the way we do. Nietzsche offered a way to think critically of certain truth claims. Marx explained why the world was the way it was and how it could be changed.

All these, and so many others, helped to satisfy a part of a question that ached to be answered when I turned my back on Christianity. I felt smart, enlightened, justified, and rational.

I realize now that I was never really convinced. All the clever ideologies, causes, and movements started by human beings were equivalent to fool's gold and it was bankrupting my soul.

When God brought me back- I was able to witness not only what Jesus offered or promised, but what He already gave on the cross.

My complete surrender has been difficult, I'll admit it now. But I cannot deny the real sense of fulfillment and joy that I've found in what can most truly be described as the "bread of life" and "living water."

There's been a lot of questions these days that pop up as my life is being rocked to its core. I think P. James can definitely attest to this. I bombarded him with these questions when we ate over omelette's at Denny's.

But what I find amazing is that the same God who was faithful to the ancient people of the biblical text is the same God who is faithful to us. The God that delivered the Israelites from captivity and redeemed the whole world is the same God patient enough to love us and answer the deep questions of our hearts.

To be sure, there is still a deep mystery but not the kind where we are uncertain. It is a calm and profound mystery that is also personal and life changing.

This leads me to my final point of reflection related to the Stott devotional and Bible text. Inasmuch as Christianity can be described as vibrant, intellectual, logical, dynamic, fulfilling, personal, and relational, I think it is also important to see the great adventure behind our faith.

It is a thrilling adventure that does not exclude us. We are connected to the ancient past from the formation of the earth and we are involved in this epic until the ends of the world, right into eternity.

We were redeemed in love by the one true Messiah who fulfilled ancient prophesies and struck down an ever present enemy. We were woven into the redemption story that ties in all those who believe throughout the history of the whole world. Even with an outcome that is assured, God invites us to take part in the adventure by affording us real opportunities to make a true and lasting impact on the Kingdom.

As a wannabe spartan warrior, it doesn't get better than this

Genesis 1:26, 28

As I was meditating on the word today, I was reminded of our responsibility and obligation as a human being to take care of God's creation. We often seclude ourselves from the bigger world and leave the environmental concerns and problems to the activists and politicians. I am very guilty of that..... Perhaps we are overwhelmed and even paralyzed by the fact that the problems are too big for us to solve and, in result we ignore or neglect the problems we see.

However, according to His Word, God created the universe and commended us to rule over it. Ruling God's creation does not mean that we can do whatever we want with it. But we should be responsible to take care of it and maintain it well so that ,from generation to generation, people will enjoy His creation and praise Him for who He is.

When we pick up a empty bottle laying on a street and throw it in a garbage can, we are actually giving God the glory by obeying His Word. " So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the Glory of God." 1Corinthians 10: 31

We are grateful that we serve God who pays attention on little things that we do for him and others and return with abundant blessings. Let's look outside of our houses today. Let's praise Him for this beautiful snow that He created cover up branches of our trees and our yard so beautifully Let's lift a little prayer to ask God to give us a deeper appreciation on the beauty of his work and conviction to take a good care of it.

Light a match

What I love about reading the Bible is the fountain of questions and ideas that scream for attention when you really entrench yourself in a passage. Somewhat like a Fourth of July sparkler, I suffer from a bit of mental A.D.D. where a question, objection, random thought fires off one after the other leaving little time to tackle one at a time.

Unfortunately for you, this blog is a great prescription to help me rein this all in and regurgitate it for all of you 2x a month!

I'll just let it fly:

Gal 3:16 - "It does not say, 'And to offsprings' referring to many, but referring to one.'"
Hmmmm...is Paul stretching it here? Going back to Genesis 15-17, I counted 9 occurrences of the term "offspring" all of which were used in the plural form based on the context of the verse. Luckily, I'm not the only heretic to ask the question as I did find some reasonable explanations for his interpretation. And I'm sure Paul's command of Greek is reason enough to trust he knew what he was saying.

Gal 3:17 - "...the law, which came 430 years afterward..."
Love the "430 years" reference. Paul draws a line in the sand and says, yes these things actually happened.

Gen 12:3b - "...and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Besides the obvious blessing for whom we celebrate most fanatically this month, can't help but ask if there is another "blessing" implied here, especially given God's descriptive promises to Israel about being a "chosen people" inheriting a land "flowing with milk and honey." Why is that narrow strip one of the most volatile regions of the earth today? I found one explanation suggesting that God intended for Israel to be strategically located at the crossroads of civilization, i.e. between Mesopotamia, Egypt, coastal trade routes of the Mediterranean, where they would have the best opportunity to influence the known world. Unfortunately, instead of influencing it, they succumbed to it and missed the opportunity.

Paul describes us as "Abraham's offspring", the new Israel "grafted in", and "heirs to the promise." God's strategically positioned us, at this specific time, at more accessible crossroads, to influence this world through our testimony. We're not immune from Israel's history, but we're free not to repeat it!

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Read Ephesians 5:15-16

"Look carefully then how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."


Am I happy? This was the question I asked myself yesterday as I watched my children playing at the playground at McDonalds. I felt good inside knowing that they were enjoying themselves crawling through the maze of interconnected tunnels that eventually ended down the slide. Most of us live to get the most happiness out of life both for ourselves and our family. In fact, our constitution protects our rights to the pursuit of happiness. But the longer I live in this world, the more I realize just how elusive lasting happiness is... it comes and goes and sometimes it is harder to reproduce it, unless you're a child. I think the pursuit of happiness, like that of pursuing money or fame or success can only lead to disappointment because most of us will never achieve it. And if some of us do make it big, the end result is not necessarily happiness. Most the people we read about, who have "made it", are only happy in front of the camera but not inside when they are alone. One only has to simply read the Bible through once and discover God’s truth that you can’t buy happiness or achieve it through fame. But still, we are so foolish we try anyway, to pursue happiness in things. Foolish heh? The bible's emphasis is not with happiness but holiness. And God is more concerned with the state of people's hearts than with the state of their feelings. The reason why the Bible doesn't begin with happiness is because happiness is a by-product of a right relationship with God and something we cannot ultimately find or experience fully in this world and life. Undoubtedly, the message of the gospel is that only by trusting in Jesus and doing the will of God will it brings final happiness, and so the most important matter is not how happy we feel now but how holy we are becoming now. The Christian life is compared in the New Testament as like that of a soldier in a war zone. The solider does not seek to feel happy in the battlefield; he seeks rather to get the fighting over with, to finish and win the war and to get back home to his loved ones. And we must do likewise. We must fight the fight of faith and finish the race if we're going to make it to heaven and see our beloved Jesus. But we’ll never finish the fight unless we see ourselves in a war zone rather than in a playground thinking mainly about having fun and feeling happy.

Posted by Pastor James

Hunger for God

“We have spiritual faculty that makes us hunger after God. Thus we are uniquely able to think and to choose, to create, to love, and to worship”

As I was reading these words, I paused moment to reflect on the word, HUNGER. What it means to be hunger after God. All of us have experienced hunger and what it felt like whether it was due to some financial issues, personal issues, or some circumstances prevented you from eating and being filled.
What is most simple word to describe feeling of hunger? I think it is the word, EMPTY.
When we are hungry, it cause us desperately search for a food which is the very object that fills our need and bring satisfaction. Just because we are so hungry we cannot consume anything other than food items. We can’t swallow a piece of mental. It might literally fill your empty stomach. But there is no nutrient in it and even it could cause serious problems in our body.
God makes us hunger after God. We search for and seek after God to fill us. It is only God and His Word that fill up His people who come to Him with empty and hungry for Him alone. It is only God that gives us true nutrients in our spirit and make us grow in our faith. However we also have choice to fill up our heart with God alone or other things to be full. The other things may sound good and look tasty but have absolutely no nutritional value may even very harmful to us.
What are we hunger for Him toady?
Are we hunger for His presence and His love in our lives?
Or are we already filled by other things that we have no room for God?
Let’s exam our hearts and see where we are with God.
God made us hunger for Him. If we are true to be who we are and obedient to do what we are made, there will be overflowing joy and gratitude coming out from our hearts.

Read Genesis 17:3-4

"Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, ‘behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.”

Abraham is said to have “fell on his face” as the Lord talked with him. I think this is a perfect picture of the kind of posture we should always assume in our relationship to God. God was on his throne speaking and Abraham was on his face listening! God must be the communicator and we must have a listening, obeying attitude. If we are not willing to assume this listening attitude, there can be no living, personal experience with God. For Abraham, an encounter with God was overwhelming and yet inviting--calling him, pleading with him, and promising him a great future as a friend of God! This week is the first week of Advent, a great time to spend facedown before God in prayer and in meditation on the God and Savior who not only created us but who also loves us and came into this world to redeem us from our sins.



Posted by Pastor James

Read Luke 19:11-27

I've been thinking about the meditation we did on Friday at the leadership meeting.

In this parable, the 3rd servant saw his master as a hard man, and ended up burying his mina, but the master’s response to the servant is especially interesting: I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! If you knew me to be a hard man, why didn’t you at least put my money on deposit so I could collect the interest?

In other words, there was a right and obvious action (putting the money on deposit to earn interest) that the servant should have taken considering his view of the master (as a hard man), but he did not do it. Even if the servant had wrongly seen the Master as a hard man, there was still a faithful way to serve Him, but the servant refused to do it.

Our attitude in serving our Master will be determined by our view of Him. But the parable also shows that we will also be judged by our view of Him. If on that terrible day we are given the chance to make our excuses before God as to why we were or weren’t faithful to Him, we will most certainly be judged by the very excuses we offer.

posted by darlayoo

Read Matthew 9:27-31

I want to praise and thank our Heavenly Father for our leadership meeting this past weekend. I was so encouraged by the people who came out, the sharing we did, the attitude of the people present, the heartfelt prayers of all of you, the wonderful testimony of Kwijung, and the exceptional hospitality of Il and Ji. Please remember these words of Jesus as we pray for our ministry: ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.” (Matt 9:29) This means that God will bless our ministry to the extent that we believe He will. And please pray for me. Please feel free to add your comments. Pastor James