December 23, 2018 The Definite Good News We Need

December 23, 2018

On this fourth Advent Sunday, Pastor Donald teaches from Luke 1: 26-38. Mary is visited by Gabriel the angel to tell her that she will bear a son named Jesus. Naturally Mary is troubled by this news and asks the question, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" Not only is Mary asking physically how this will happen but also how is she going to manage in a world that is so unforgiving and biased. The angel appeared to her and not her family, her village, or her spiritual leaders.

Yet Mary is convinced by Gabriel's reply, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you...", the angel goes on further to say, "And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren."

We read in this dialogue between Mary and Gabriel that God will be with us and has others ready to help us. The Lord is fighting for us and we need to know and live a life that understands that His spirit overshadows us whenever he tasks us to do something for His kingdom. We also need to seek out people who are working with God to support us.

For the upcoming year, let us remember and live lives that believe that God is with us.

December 16, 2018, The Servant of the Lord, the Covenant of our Salvation

On the topic of joy during this third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Donald revisits Isaiah 42:1-8 to answer the questions, "Are we assured of our salvation?" and, "What is the source of our confidence?" The scriptures show us in Isiah 42 that there is unilateral covenant initiated and created by God. Unlike bilateral contracts, this covenant cannot be broken and is perfect based on God's ultimate sovereignty. We also learn in Isaiah 42:4 that this same covenant given through His servant, Jesus, is sustainable and reliable and will endure forever. Jesus is faithful and is working until justice is in the earth and His law rules everywhere. We also see this sustainability in the Holy Spirit which continues to work in us transforming our lives. Finally,   God's covenant endures with patience and long suffering. Jesus will not break a bruised reed or snuff out a candle wick. Jesus has come to save the sinners and not destroy us.

During this Advent season and Christmas, let us pause and reflect on whether or not we are living a grateful and obedient life after being offered such a merciful covenant from God through His Servant, Jesus.

Please take the time to watch Pastor Donald's sermon, "The Servant of the Lord, the Covenant of our Salvation".

December 9, The Sevant of the Lord and Our Lord of Peace

The second Sunday of Advent is about Peace. What is this peace, and how do we achieve it in such a troubled world? The peace between God and man could be only be accomplished from "the Servant of the Lord and Our Lord of Peace". In Isaiah 42:1-9, we read about the main roles of the Servant of the Lord which is to be a covenant to the people, to establish justice on the earth and to be the light of God. Later in Isaiah 42, the prophet shows who is not the Servant of the Lord. However, we do read in Luke 4:16-21 that Jesus is ready to be the Servant of the Lord and ready to start reconciliation between man and God.

Our responses to Jesus' declaration, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing," (Luke 4:21b) requires us first to be willing to receive Jesus,  and then, with grateful hearts, to accept his sacrificial justice. Finally, we also need to be part of His justice by reconciling ourselves with God and to reconciling others with God.

Listen to Pastor Donald as he links passages from Isaiah 42 to the Gospels and shows how the promises of God have been kept.

Today, we had to say goodbye to three members from the OEM family since they are to return to their home country in the Philippines next week. Byran and his family have made a lasting impact with our congregation, and they will be missed. Although they had only been with us for about a year, they helped out in so many ways using the talents which God has given them. Some examples of their willingness to serve are when Raven Elijah played the piano at a time we needed a pianist and Bryan preached a moving sermon on "Facing the Storm". More importantly, they were a family with genuine needs, hopes, failures, triumphs, feelings and all the other things that make us so human. We will miss our brothers and sister, but they will always be a part of our family united in Jesus Christ.

If you have not already seen it, we recorded Byran's sermon on August 26, 2018, and you can watch it on our YouTube channel. 

December 2, 2018 Hope in the Lord who Comes

Today is the fist Sunday of Advent and keeping to the theme of hope, pastor Donald preaches about the "Hope in the Lord who Comes". In Isaiah 40:1-31 we read how God is working to bring our struggles to an end. While we labour in a broken world, God draws us to be closer to Him, so that we may be made perfect through God. This is a God who can bring our struggles to an end because he is sovereign. Our everlasting peerless God is all wise, and although His purpose and ways may not make sense to us, they are perfect. We must hold onto God and His promises with confidence and hope. Our God has authority over all rulers, all nations, and all of creation. Our God gives us a double portion. One to remove the guilt of our sins and another portion to remove the root of sin.

Mark 1:1-3 makes reference to the hope the the prophet Isaiah speaks of.

A voice of one calling: In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Jesus is that hope which God promised. Please take some time to watch the sermon, "Hope in the Lord who Comes".

November 18, 2018 Listening to His Death

November 18, 2018

Pastor Donald explores why Jesus' disciples could not understand His words as found in Luke 9:43-45. Like Jesus' disciples, we too put our own goals ahead of God's plans and as a result we cannot understand or will not accept Jesus' words. However, by "Listening to His Death" we can answer these three questions.

1. 1. Why did Jesus repeat to His disciples that He would die ? 
2. 2. Why did the disciples fail to grasp this quickly? 
3. 3. Why did Jesus put His disciples into a state confusion? 

There will be times of exaltation as well as times of humiliation, but these moments in time will pass.  Jesus is sovereign and will continue to be sovereign in the good times and the bad times.

November 11, 2018 Just Listen to Him

November 11, 2018

An important message for any follower of Christ is to "Just Listen to Him". Today Pastor Donald shows in Jesus' Transfiguration from Luke 9:28-36 that even the disciples needed to listen to Jesus' words with care and with hope. Before going up the mountain to pray with Peter, James and John, Jesus had told them and many others that he was going to be tried, killed, buried and later resurrected. Hard words to understand and even harder to accept. Like Peter, many of us want to stay in safe and glorious moments; however, God has plans which require us to press forward and sometimes move into uncomfortable situations. Jesus knew He had to suffer and he knew He had to do the will of God. Although our situations may be confusing and dismal, we must listen to Jesus' words. We may not get the immediate answers we seek, but Jesus gives us hope and comfort when we listen to him.

After church today, some of the members of OEM went to visit Brian who is currently recovering from surgery on his leg and knee. We thank God for Brian and his family, and we also thank God for the success of the surgery. Please continue to pray that Brian will have a full recovery as well as he will be able to not only attend his graduation, but stand without the use of crutches this December.

November 4, 2018 The Danger of Living a Godless Life

November 4, 2018

Pastor Donald addresses the question of whether we are living a God centered life or a self-centered life. Using the scriptures found in Romans 1:18-32, Pastor Donald shows how God reveals himself to everyone and that there is "The Danger of Living a Godless life. Those who live a life rejecting God will fail to honour God. They eventually become blind to their own hearts, suppress the truth and develop a futile mind. 

Christians need to be aware of when they start to turn away from righteousness and follow their own plans instead of God's plans. We need to guard our hearts and respond to God's word. For us Christians, God must be the centre of our lives.

2018 Visit Bryan

 

Whom Do You Say that Jesus Is?

October 21, 2018

Jesus always wants to build a perfect relationship with His disciples. It is not enough to know who Jesus is, but we also must live our lives aligned to His life, take up our cross daily, and invest in the Kingdom of God. Pastor Donald shares with us the more profound meaning of the question Jesus asks His disciples in Luke 9:18-26.

October 14, 2018

FALL 2018 PICNIC

On October 28, Daejeon Onnuri English Ministry will go to GongJoo for a picnic after a short Sunday sermon. We will travel to GongJoo in church vans and spend some time walking around the fortress to see the sights. Later we will have dinner at a traditional Korean restaurant and hopefully get back to Daejeon Onnuri Church by 7.30 pm. Please see the rough schedule below.

Picnic Itinerary 

Leave Daejeon Onnuri                            2.30pm

Arrive at 공산성 (GongJoo Fortress)          3.20 pm

Sightseeing, relaxing and fellowshipping  3.30 to 5.30 pm

Dinner                                                  5.30 to 6.30 pm

Return Daejeon Onnuri                           7.30 pm

October 14, 2018 Sermon

Having Sufficiency with and without Nothing

In today's sermon, Pastor Donald talks about how Christians are to have peace with God and also to have a purpose on Earth for God's kingdom. We need to have true faith in order to fulfil the purposes God has given us. Especially when we don't seem to have the resources or the ability to accomplish the tasks given to us. In Luke 9:1-17, we read that Jesus sends out his disciples with just the clothes on their back to preach the good news to potentially hostile audience. God provides all their needs and the 12 disciples accomplish their mission. A little later we read how Jesus instructs the disciples not to send away a  crowd of 5000 people, but to feed them. With five loaves and two fish, the multitudes are feed and Jesus can carry on his mission. Where God has placed you, He will give you enough to do His work thoroughly.

October 7, 2018

In Luke 8:40-56, Jesus sets out to heal a synagogue leader's daughter, but He gets delayed by a crowd and a woman desperate for healing. The unclean woman, who had been suffering for 12 years and who had spent all her resources on a cure, risks her life to seek Jesus in an attempt to be cured. Pastor Donald explains how by "Holding on the Hope Beyond Every Hope" allows God to work in His time for His purposes to be fully realized. And when we start to lose hope, we need to focus on Jesus, to press on , and to try to understand God's plan.

A God that Pains at Human Pain

September 30, 2018

A wonderful example of how much Jesus cares for us is demonstrated in Luke 8:26-37. Just before the story of Jesus healing a demon possessed man, Jesus and His disciples cross the sea and face a storm. A demon possessed man who has been rejected by all and lacks the basic necessities to live is healed, restored and loved by Jesus. As Christians we need to pray that Jesus will give us hearts and the strength to love the unlovable, the marginalized, and the least of His kingdom, so that we too would bring about change while living the lives Christ expects us to live.

Please watch the video below on A God that Pains at Human Pain, Luke 6:26-37.

ChuSeok Holiday

September 22, 2018

It's Saturday, but there is no Saturday Bible Study today because of the upcoming ChuSeok Holiday. Too many people are returning to their hometowns, preparing for the feasts, or just using the next five days to explore and travel.

This is a great time for me and my wife to get caught up in my One to One Discipleship studies. We have already completed the sixteen-week one to one with our discipleship trainers and now my wife and I are engaged in the sixteen-week course to become trainers ourselves. It is a lot of study and work, but it is so important for churches to have foundation programs as well as intensive course to make disciples.  This is one of the good things about Onnuri Community Church and its branches: they train and make disciples. And although these courses are only 16 weeks, a true disciple is for life!

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV

For everyone who celebrates ChuSeok, have a great thanksgiving.

September 2, 9 and 16 OEM Sermons

For the past three weeks, Pastor Donald went over some imperatives Jesus gives his followers in Luke 6, and then from Luke 7, an example of a Roman centurion who displays faith and humility. 

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

The first set of commands are for how we are to treat our enemies found in Luke 6:27-36.  As followers of Jesus,  we are told not to forgive only but also to bless and to pray for our enemies. It is important to remember that these are commands and not suggestions. 

Do unto fellow believers as you would want God to do unto you.

In the second sermon, based on Luke 6:37-45, on September 9, Pastor Donald talks about the importance of unity in the church. Jesus reminds us to examine ourselves in humility before we judge since we will be judged by the same measures with which we judge. Much the same we must remember how God has given us so much mercy, grace and blessings unending that to truly show our appreciation we must love forgivingly with help from the Holy Spirit.

An Investment Realized at the Hour of the Storm.

The third sermon revisits Luke 6 briefly to ask the question found in verse 46. Immediately, in verses 47-49, Jesus describes what happens to someone who follows his commands and what happens when one does not follow.  In Luke 7:1-10, the Bible gives us an example of the Roman centurion who invests in the Kingdom of God and collects in his time of need. He becomes a example of what happens when those who obey Jesus and build their house on solid foundation.

Saturday Bible Study Resumes

We had a good turn out for the return of our Saturday Bible Study (SBS) after a break in August. Although we had lost a member, a new member joined the group today.

Starting off with some praise, we sang "Leaning on The Everlasting Arms", followed by a short prayer and then delved back into the Book of Romans. Our group progresses slowly through Romans; however, we get a more profound understanding of God's grace and our place in his kingdom. Too often Christians are content with simple answers to complex questions. It is not enough for a mature Christian to say, "Anyone who calls on the name of Jesus is saved." In the Book of Romans Paul carefully constructs his arguments why we are saved through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and how the holy Law is important and yet all our actions to try to keep the Law cannot save us. Through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, we are no longer condemned by sin but rather justified by his blood and brought back in peace with God.  In the end, it was a good Bible study on Romans chapter eight.

Facing the Storms

Welcome back Pastor Donald! It was good to see our pastor up at a pulpit again leading prayers after the worship. Many of our congregation are also returning from trips and vacations, and it does our hearts good to see them back safe and sound. Thank you Jesus for more answered prayers.

Absence does make us realize how much we miss people. Glory to God that we will once again see all our brothers and sisters in Christ again someday.

Last week, two typhoons pass through Korea. Fortunately for those living in Daejeon, there  was not too much rain or wind as Daejeon in the middle of Korea surrounded by mountains. Today, Brother Brian talked about how Christians face difficulties in their lives by "Facing the Storm". In the Bible there are many accounts of prophets and disciples facing storms in boats. Although there are no promises that our lives will be storm free, Jesus is there to storm proof our lives so that we can learn, grow and become closer to God. Please see the sermon "Facing the Storm" (2 Corinthians 4:14-18) in the video below.

Vacations are in Full Swing

Many of members are on vacation and travelling. There is a time for everything and time off from work and school is much needed. This also means while members of the congregation are traveling, there are more empty pews which make the church look rather empty. Please remember to pray for those travelling that they will be safe and will be useful in doing the Lord's work. Also remember to pray for those who are able to attend for other reasons. We should always encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to attend church.

Of course, for some of our volunteers the work never ends. There are so many people doing good work in so many ways. Someone sets up chairs, someone else prepares the food, others set up tables and put out the food and finally they get together to clean up.

Thank God for people who are willing to work behind the scenes and expect no reward to make the church a better place. Every little bit of service is remembered by God.

Please watch today's sermon. Pastor Donald talks about how we, as Christians, misunderstand Jesus' love for us when we have to wait. This sermons shows three lessons to learn about "The Love Delayed" from Mark 6:45-52.

Last Weekend of July 2018

Last Weekend of July 2018

This last weekend was very eventful. On Saturday, the Saturday Bible Study (SBS) had its last study on July 28 for the summer of 2018. SBS will meet again in September after a break in August.

After studying Romans 6 and 7, we went out for lunch at very posh restaurant and had too much pizza, spaghetti, salad and iced coffee. In fact, we enjoyed ourselves and the food so much that no one remembered to take any pictures. This is sometimes the problem with people of my generation who prefer to preserve memories in their minds and not through digital cameras. Anyway, a good time was had by all.

On Sunday we had a great sermon from Pastor Donald. Analyzing the story of David and Bathsheba (II Samuel 11:1-21), Pastor Donald talks about the importance of having "good brakes for our hearts".

Also we had to say goodbye to one of our faithful members. David attended his last OEM service on July 29. He had been going to OEM for almost three years, and during that time he has really grown as a Christian allowing the Holy Spirit to work in him.

As Pastor Donald pointed out before the congregation prayed for David, he is a very faithful and humble man. David had operated the video camera for most of his time at OEM, and he also was a small group leader. Both of these position require diligence, and both of these positions require someone who is trustworthy and faithful.

(Here is David's last small group fellowship at OEM).

One of the realities of OEM is that many of our members will attend for a few years, or less, and move back to their home countries or onto another job assignment elsewhere.  Although it is painful to see a brother or sister leave us, it is joyful to remember how much they have changed in the Lord and how much they have blessed us with their striving to know Jesus more.  Just like a family they never stop being a brother or sister. Wherever they are and no matter the circumstances, they continue to be in our thoughts and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

David is off to the United Arab Emirates to teach, and he will continue to be in our prayers. Our brother will be missed, but we know he will always be a part of our family in Christ.

God bless you David!

Welcome to English Worship in Daejeon!

Welcome to Daejeon Onnuri English Ministry

If you are in Daejeon and you are looking for a believing community to belong to, we welcome you to visit us. Although our congregation comes from diverse backgrounds, we are united in Jesus Christ.

Every Sunday starting at 2:00 pm, we have our English worship service followed by small group fellowship. There is also a Sunday school  for children to attend while the sermon is being preached. In addition, we conduct a Saturday Bible Study held from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. You can find where we are located on the directions tab. You can also email us to get more information at daejeonoem2017@gmail.com. 

Here is our latest sermon which has been upload on YouTube  from July 15, 2018 titled  "The Heavenly Hope" (Heb. 11:13-16). 

We hope to see you.

God bless you!

2018 Spring Daecheong Park

 

Wedding