For the next two Sundays at 2:00 pm we will have our Sunday English service online through Zoom. A Zoom ink has been posted in our KakaoTalk group chatroom for the Sunday service. There is no password to enter, but we will use a waiting room.
We will also have small groups through Zoom after the service at 3:00 pm. Your small group leaders will share the Zoom link for the small group sessions.
Hopefully the COVID-19 situation in Daejeon will improve and we can meet again face to face in Vision Hall.
We are all called to be
missionaries although this does not mean we have to quit our current jobs and
leave our homes to parts unknown. Having said that, we are still required to be
the salt and the light to the world to show them the message of Christ. It is
in our daily lives now that we are missionaries.
Paul was one missionary from the
Bible that spread the Word of God and is an example for us to study when we
talk about mission work. Paul preached in many places and suffered because of
his preaching. He was put in prison for his preaching of the Gospel. In this
age, most of us will not face the same persecution as Paul, but we will still face
difficulties.
God calls us to mission and the
holy spirit works through us. This means we must follow where the spirit leads
us. Paul and Silas wanted to go to Asia, but Jesus wanted Paul and Silas to go
to Macedonia. Eventually, Paul and Silas ended up in Philippi where they meet
Lydia and are later arrested to healing a demon possessed fortune teller.
In prison, we do not have the
freedom to do what we want. It is not a place you would want to go. While many
people would have lamented their unfortunate circumstances being in prison, Paul
and Silas prayed and praised God. They found joy and purpose despite their hard
circumstances. We do not read that God heard their prayers, but we do read that
the prisoners heard these praises and prayers. God used Paul and Silas mightily
in the most unlikely place.
John Wesley understood that we
must preach the Gospel to everyone in every possible place that God wants us to
preach. At one time the Anglican Church only wanted John Wesley to preach to
the congregation and in church, but Wesley preached everywhere he could. Even
though the Anglican church tried to restrict where he could preach, he continued
to reach out to lost souls at every chance he could.
If God has sent you somewhere, it
is because there is a mission there and this is our mission field. God led Paul
and Silas to prison, and, despite the horrible circumstances, they stay after
the miraculous earthquake which open all the doors and loosed all the chains.
About midnight Paul and Silas
were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to
them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s
bonds were unfastened.
Acts 16:25-26 ESV
Paul did not see this as a sign
to escape from the prison. Paul knew he could escape, yet Paul stayed behind to
do God’s work and save more people. Paul also knew that the guard would be
executed if the prisoners had escaped, so he stayed behind to save the guard’s
life. Paul understood that his mission was at the prison.
And they said, “Believe in the
Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the
word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the
same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he
and all his family.
Acts 16:31-33 ESV
Today, many missions have been closed
because of COVID-19. Our environment is not good to go out and meet new
people.Mission work does not have to
stop. We must follow the way of Jesus and bear our cross. We must have a good
relationship with God, and this is done by praying and praising God. Our
worship will help us to complete our mission which God has given us.
Jesus was on his way to see Jairus' house to heal his twelve-year-old
daughter. A crowd had surrounded Jesus and as people were pressing around him a
sick women touched Jesus' clothes with the intention of being healed. What
happens next is a miracle. The woman is healed, and Jesus knows that His
healing power has left him. The healing is amazing, but more amazing is that
Jesus was able to determine that someone had touched him to be healed. After
the woman confess what had happened, Jesus gives a strong and pertinent message
to all Christians regardless of their status or gender.
And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in
peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Mark 5:34 ESV
The sick women had lost everything and suffered trying to be healed over
many years. No doubt her hope had been dashed many times and may have even been
conned by people offering promises they knew they could not keep or worse,
sincere people trying to heal her but failing in their attempts and further
crushing her spirit.
And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years,
and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she
had, and was no better but rather grew worse.
Mark 5:25-26 ESV
Obviously, the women had heard that Jesus was a healer and wanted to be cured
by him. Jesus was her last hope, but how could a woman, and a sick one at that,
get an audience with Jesus. She believed so much in Jesus that she convinced
herself that just by touching Jesus' clothes she could be healed.
She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the
crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I
will be made well.”
Mark 5:27-28 ESV
Miracles do happen and science cannot explain everything. Often modern
medicine cannot fix all our health problems, and it often cannot heal them
completely at every level. In this case, the woman not only was healed
physically, but she had received salvation from Jesus.
But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and
trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.
Mark 5:33 ESV
The woman told Jesus the whole truth. She left nothing out but spoke to
Jesus about what Jesus had done for physically but also spiritually. The woman
confesses that Jesus is the truth and the way to eternal life.
If we do not embrace the truth completely that God gives through His
son, Jesus, our lives will be full of confusion, pain, and doubt. We cannot just
hear the word; we must experience the word. Jesus’ response is simple and for
all sons and daughters of God.
And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in
peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Mark 5:34 ESV
It is our faith that allows the power of God to work in our lives.
For some Christians, they come to church on Sundays to get an eternal
insurance; however, these Christians will not experience the power of God
because they do not put in the effort that is needed to do their job.
Jesus also tells her to go in peace. Before encountering Jesus, she did
not have peace in her life. Her life before was suffering and loss, but now she
has Jesus with her. What more could she want? What more could anyone want. People who have heard about Jesus will not have this
peace. The woman had heard about Jesus, but it was not until she touched Jesus that her life was restored. It is the people who have experienced Jesus who will have peace.
Sons and daughters of God have the privilege to have the peace of God and
not practice sin. Jesus gives us the ability not to live in sin and be free of
its grip. Let us practice that privilege while doing the good works set before us by God.
There are many ways to classify people, and one way to do this is by how
prosperous a person is in the kingdom of God. We can further put them into one
of three types of people of prosperous people.
1.There are people who live
in opposition to God. They cause much harm to others and themselves and
although at times they may prosper, it is for a short time.
2.There are people who live
their lives without meaning. Their lives are self-centered, and their
prosperity is for them onlyand short lived.
3.There are people who live
to please God. They bring blessings to everyone. Whatever they do, they do it
for the glory of God and, consequently, God blesses their work and those around
them also get to enjoy God’s blessings. However, they may go through rough
times when their prosperity is not apparent, but in the end they and others are
blessed richly.
Joseph was like the third kind of prosperous person. Joseph was a person
who brought prosperity to everyone whom he encountered. He provided blessings
to all even to those who had wished him harm and did not deserve to be blessed.
Joseph endured many hardships but remained faithful to God and His commandments.
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in
the house of his Egyptian master.
Genesis 39:2 ESV
From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that
he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing
of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he
had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but
the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
Genesis 39:5-6 ESV
Joseph was a sincere man. He was genuine to God and because of his
sincerity with God, Joseph could accept all the difficulties in his life that
came to him. Now, it was not easy for Joseph, he had to work at his sincerity.
As a slave, he was honest and prospered, yet he was put into prison because of
false accusations.
As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This
is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. And Joseph’s master
took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were
confined, and he was there in prison.
Genesis 39:19-20 ESV
Faith is not a gamble. We know that the outcome will be good when we act faithfully. True faith is doing our work for God. We can be
sure that God will use our good works for His kingdom, and we will be
successful. That success may take time and involve sacrifices, but it is only
when we act faithfully that we are truly successful. Joseph knew that turning
away from God and His rules is a sin and it is better to be faithful to God.
But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my
master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything
that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he
kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I
do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
Genesis 39:8-9 ESV
Joseph feared God more than the pleasure of sin. In fact, he fled the temptation
as if his life depended on it. Joseph did the right thing; however, he still
went to prison even though he was innocent.
Joseph’s story is like Jesus’ story. Jesus was executed for crimes he
did not commit. He was hated by many and punished for doing what is right. Yet,
Jesus always acted faithfully to God and did not compromise. He knew that God
would do good things through His faithfulness and even change the punishment
into some beneficial not just for Him, but for many others.
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for
the gospel of God,
Romans 1:1 ESV
And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold
me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
Genesis 45:5 ESV
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to
bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Genesis 50:20 ESV
Those who believe in God do not complain because they know that God is
in control and God is using the painful circumstances to bring us and others
closer to God. God’s plan is usually not apparent to us, but if we have the
knowledge and accept that God’s plans are for good, we can overcome the
difficulties.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for
good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 ESV
We need to be victorious through the One who died on the cross. We need
to live a purposeful life that renounces sin and strives to do the God's work
if we want to be successful.