Deeper Roots in Christ

Sorf

2012-01-31T14:32:00.002-06:00

Abe Song, Joe Jung and Mary are meeting to discuss our upcoming Grand Canyon Trip during the Spring break.

They will apply for fund from school.

They are working hard to make this event successful and learning experiences for everyone.

ECU The Evangelical Christian Union events Spring 2012

2012-01-26T17:32:00.002-06:00

Steve sent us this event.

Pray for Jerry and Grace. They are working with the ECU to bring the Veritas Forum to the U of I.

Dear ECU friends

First, due to logistical reasons, All Campus Worship has been canceled for Spring 2012. This had been previously scheduled for Fri, Mar. 9, but miscommunication with/from the University resulted in not having space reserved. After examining several alternatives in-depth, the Exec team concluded that it was in the best interests of ECU, each of our ministries, and the reputation of ACW in general to cancel for this semester and return with a strong showing in Fall 2012.

But second, and connected to this, we’re happy to say that the Spring 2012 Veritas Forum with Dr. Peter Kreeft is still on for Thurs, Mar. 8! Location and time are still TBD, but it will be an evening event somewhere on or close to campus. Please encourage your students to attend, and to bring non-Christian friends with them. Dr. Kreeft will be speaking on “The Beauty of the Gospel,” a theme on which he has written and spoken before. It promises to be an engaging talk! For more information, contact Tim Bossenbroek at tbossenbroek@gmail.com.

Russian lecture Feb 2 at 4 pm 2012

2012-01-26T17:07:00.004-06:00

Abe Song (in Korean) or Abe Hymn (In Old English) or Abe Psalm (in Hebrew) or Abe Song - песня (pesnya) in Russian is visiting us.

For those are interested in Russia, he recommends us to go and listen.
Date: Feb 2, 4 pm
Place: 3rd Floor Levis Faculty Center, 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana (reception to follow on 2nd floor)

More info:
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/698?key=200001012000010113479489

Bible study tools

2012-01-26T16:58:00.003-06:00

Web is like the world. Some are good and some are bad. But there are some good sites to study the Bible.

Here are some free tools.

Try to get a big picture Try the Bible mesh. http://www.biblemesh.com/

Not speaking the native language? No problem. If you want to do a word study, go to blueletterbible.org.

1. In the search field type in the reference you are searching for. Try Isaiah 40:31. Click on the version you want to use.
2. Click on the letter “C” next to the verse.
3. Click on the Strong’s number for the word you want to study. Try the word “new.”
4. The site will take you to a page that will give lots of information about the word. If you scroll down, you will see other passages that have the same word in them.
5. Now go back to the main page and try a New Testament verse. Try Ephesians 2:7. Pick one of the words or phrases as you did above.

If you want to see a Bible map, go to biblemap.org.
1. Choose any Bible reference. Try Acts 16.
2. Click on one of the locations in orange to see where it is and to get more information about it.

For commentaries and other information, go to studylight.org.

1. Type in the verse or chapter you want to see and choose the version. A study resource list will appear next to the verse. Click on any link to try them out.
2. Or, on the left of the page, you can click “commentaries.” Pick a commentary you want to use, such as Barnes. Click on the book and then the chapter to see the commentary.
3. Try the dictionary, encyclopedia, or other resources listed on the left side of the page.

You may also want to look at biblegateway.com. For other site recommendations

All said and done, reading the Bible is the key. Get a good Bible such as NIV or ESV then read it to grasp the chemistry of the Bible.

There are many plans but my favorite plan is:
http://www.esv.org/assets/pdfs/rp.one.year.tract.pdf

Family gathering on Christ mass day

2012-01-04T16:25:00.002-06:00

Christmas 2011

2012-01-04T16:22:00.006-06:00

Here are some pictures my son Andrew took.

Pastor's self-evaluation questionaire

2011-12-09T10:27:00.004-06:00

Tim Keller and David Pawlison gave us a good resource.

The goal of self evaluation is to guide you in the path of growing holiness and growing pastoral skills.

Effective ministers demonstrate holiness by

humility
love
integrity
spirituality

Effective ministry are skilled in

nurture
communication
leadership
mission

The questionaires are here.

At the end of the year as we plan out for the future, it will be very good to think things deeply, pray and seek God's counsel from God and from others.

A good online Bible study tool

2011-09-28T12:29:00.002-05:00

Blue Letter Bible (Blueletterbible.org) is an excellent resource. In particular, the strong concordance functionality is the best.

Here are step,
Search the passage.
Enable the strong concordance feature by checking it on top right.

You can get the word meaning and definition and all the Bible citations so that you can get the word in context and its original intent.

Try this out.

I highly recommend this one since I could not read Greek nor Hebrews.

How to prepare and deliver messages by Jay Adams

2011-09-23T13:51:00.003-05:00

Jay Adams who started the Biblical counseling gave four lectures on preaching inAustralia.
The link is here:

The last lecture is the most relevant for those who want to engage in the conversational style and tell good stories.

Hunger in America

2011-09-22T17:50:00.002-05:00

About 100 million Christians in America but still people are hungry.

The Hidden Life of Prayer

2011-09-22T13:09:00.005-05:00

David MacIntyr wrote a book on prayer. It is very good.

The link is here.

St Augustine Confessions

2011-09-20T15:14:00.003-05:00

If you want to hear the audio version, please click here.

The book is here.

Courtesy of LibriVox.

Responding Wisely to Conflict in Ministry

2011-08-31T13:36:00.003-05:00

Nehemiah was doing God’s work, yet many people still resisted his ministry. Like him, when we seek to build up God’s people, we may expect pockets of envy, dishonesty, apathy, fury, mockery, and hostility.

Prayerfully, you will face few or none of these. Picture the following as the worst case scenario, the perfect storm. Nehemiah models how to weather the worst ministry storm imaginable.

Want to read more? Click here.

American by number

2011-08-25T17:50:00.001-05:00

New Census Bureau report finds divorce higher in South than Northeast

Expert: Youth and lower education can lead to higher divorce rates

Christian author: Churches need more focus on divorce prevention

The good news of Jesus is that we can see the reality of the kingdom culture.

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. Psalm 133:1

See more at CNN link

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start outreaching

2011-08-17T13:09:00.003-05:00

U of I UBF, DrChrist key verse

2011-08-17T13:07:00.003-05:00

Brothers in Unity

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. Psalm 133:1

This is a challenge verse for us to practice. We need God's help here.

Let us start by praying with the LORD's prayer.

The Sunday passages are linked here. Click

What makes us happy

2011-08-05T13:48:00.002-05:00

Happiness 101 by D.T. Max

When we are most happy when we help others, not helping ourselves.

Very close to our core beliefs -Love God and love neighbors.

See the link below for more

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/magazine/07happiness.t.html?pagewanted=print

Outreach at U of I (Team JR)

2011-08-04T14:30:00.004-05:00

Hotspot

2011-07-28T15:37:00.002-05:00

What is DrChrist's hotspots?

Can we identify and proactively work on this?

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Mike Rora's main point

2011-06-22T15:35:00.003-05:00

What is the Bible?

Summer 2011

2011-06-19T17:04:00.007-05:00

I am sitting at the Presidential Lounge.

We can see that the Summer session started.

You can see the serious students

Happy summer.

We are ready to start the Summer disciple making ministry at U of I.

The LORD is my shepherd

2011-06-17T17:18:00.002-05:00

The LORD is my shepherd. (Psalm 23:1)

Dear lovers of God

I do not know how to thank you for your prayers, emails, sending food and visiting us.

As you know my wife Grace and my son Sammy were in a car accident last week. It was pretty bad but by God's grace they came out alive. Now they are resting and recovering.

Grace Sun said, "I am getting better each day."

Sammy, too, is recovering very well. His mind is sound.By God's grace, he is taking two Summer classes at Parkland as of yesterday.

This is the picture we took when Grace's brother visited us last Sunday. They look ok but the effect of the car accident will linger for a while. Do pray for them to recover well. We do pray based on Psalm 23. The LORD restores my soul.

We anticipated a very quiet summer but this summer brought so many excitements and unexpected work. For this we are very grateful.

In terms of ministry, we are doing 3 Rs this Summer.

1. Rest with Psalm meditation

REST stands for
Restored by the word.
Empowered by the Spirit
Serve Christ and his people at U of I
Thank God for his sufficient grace for us.

It is good to know that the LORD is my shepherd and in him we lack nothing.

2.R&D

Grace and several students are doing R&D this summer. This plan has been detoured a little due to the accident but we are staying on course. We want to start Biblical counseling center at U of I starting this Fall by God's grace. They are working on the counseling certification and we are looking for a place.

3. Ready for launching DrC 3.0.

As always we are readying for launching DrC(Deeper Roots in Christ) 3.0 this coming fall. For this we need your prayers and partnership in Jesus. I was surprised to find out that we have about 20 students who are staying with us and studying the Bible this Summer. Continue to pray for us to raise disciples and disciple makers who can share the good news of God.

DrC is a student group. Please do pray for our student leaders. They did a good job while I was away in Korea. Actually, they did a better job when I was with them. This gives me much joy. Perhaps God is readying me to go out and do another church planting nearby towns such as Lafayette, IN or Bloomington, IL.

Again, thank you for your emails and visits and showing love for us.

As David said, "my cup is overflowing."

We are very confident that the LORD has been with us and he will be with us and we will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

p.s. Missionary Mary Cowen's mother needs your prayer. She is in the ICU. Please pray for her recovery as well. Peter, Miriam and Mary are staying with the family in Korea.

The last sunday of Spring 2011

2011-05-09T15:22:00.007-05:00

We are very diverse since we are at U of I is officially stands for University of Illinois but unofficially it is known as University of International students. Our sister school UIC is known as University of Indians and Chinese.

Our demographics is very ddiverse like U of I students.

We have:

Different Americans

several from Chicago as well as from

Boston
Decatur
Campaign

We are composed of

Korean Americans
Whites and blacks
Philippine Americans
Irish American
Several with more than two races

We hold very different political associations

Several are liberal
Several are hard core conservative

We have several international students. We have the cream of the crops from all over the world.

one from Ghana
one from Mongolia
one from Egypt
several from Korea
several from China
One from Taiwan
one from Turkey
One from Russia/Korea

We are all different.
Some believe in Jesus and some do not.

But we did not kill each other this semester by God's grace.

All said and done we can say confidently:

²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Gal 3:26-29

We are sons and daughters of God when we put our faith in Jesus who died for our sins and rose from the dead.

The real peace comes when we want to please God who sent his Son and have hope so that we can be transformed to be like his Son. (2 Cor 5:9, Ro 8:29)

I am making everything new. Rev 21

2011-05-08T15:54:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's day.

Text: Rev 21:1-5
The anchor key verse for the semester. Gen 1:27. We are made in the image of God.

Our key verse is: Rev 21:5

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

The king is speaking to you.
The speaker -the one who seated on the throne The King is speaking to us.

Trustworthy and true
"I am making everything new." Since the king is speaking this is trustworthy and new.

How the world is going to end?
The graduation is not the end. The world will end with a new earth and a heaven coming down from the heaven. There will be no seas. The new Jerusalem is coming down.

The gospel declares that we are beautiful.
We will be a bride dressed beautifully for his bridegroom. From man's perspective this is not an easy verse to accept. But the king is speaking.

I am beautiful to my king Jesus.

Why we are beautiful? When God made the world, everything was beautiful. But we sinned God. As a result, the world became ugly. The decay and death came to us. We challenged God's authority and willfully sinned against God.

It is not easy to see. The entropy rules the world. Everyone grows old and dies. Everyone becomes beautiful. For example, my younger sister was once a beautiful woman like her daughter present here with us. But when I looked at her she is now a middle aged woman. She is breaking.

We have much mourning and death. Our lives are full of buckets of tears. The Bible is realistic. We are living in the world that is decaying.

With our own eyes we see us who are not that beautiful.

What does the gospel declares? To Jesus we are like brides beautifully dressed for her bridegroom. We are beautiful.

I see my wife spending my hours a day making herself beautiful. Even though the Bible says we are beautiful we do not practice this truth. It is not easy. If we practice this truth, the beauty industry will be go out of business tomorrow.

We feel ashamed. We want to make us beautiful. For women, it is beauty treatment. For men, it is to gain power and have beautiful cars. But no matter what we do we cannot get rid of our shame. We feel that we are not beautiful.

In this world, Jesus came. The very Son of God came and died for our sins. Not only he died but God raised him from the dead freeing the agony of death. The Bible tells us that Jesus freed us from the old order of things.

When we accept Jesus, we are beautiful to him. We have Bruno Mars moment each day. I can hear Jesus saying, "Sam you are beautiful."

I look at the mirror and saying, "Jesus you are right. I am beautiful."

This is our confidence in Jesus. This is trustworthy and true. We put our faith in him. "The king is making everything new."

How then shall we live with this good news of God?

The Bible does not say that we will have no more pain or death as soon as we accept Jesus. We will have death and mourning. The buckets of tears will be there. There will be heartbreaks, betrayals and so on.

Give time, you will find out.

What is the purpose of God giving all these trials and temptations? But we have the gospel of Jesus. We are confident that God is making everything new.

Solomon, the wisest guy in the world said,

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. " (Ec 3:5)

He had the glimpse of God who will make everything beautiful because God made us in his image. We have this eternal perspective. But he could not know.

But we who believe in Jesus knows more than Solomon.

We will be beautiful because our goal has been changed when we meet Jesus. We want to please him (2 Cor 5:9) like a bride beautifully dressed. This bride is like Jesus, so beautiful. We want to be like Jesus (Ro 8:29)

In our sufferings and in our sorrows we hear the good news of God. We live to please the King. We pray to be like his beautiful Son.

So we thank God for his grace for saving us so that we can live to please God by becoming like his Son.

We can say at the end of lives,

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. (2 Tim 4:7-8)

I cannot tell that you will be pain free when you meet Jesus. But I can tell you, this Jesus is worth more than any beauty treatments that the world offers.

He is worthy. His word is trustworthy and true.

God made his promise to us to live with us.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

There will be no more shame. No more beauty treatment. No more pretense. We can live under the grace of Jesus.

We will be completely united with our LORD Jesus.

This is God's reward and God's promise for those whose goal is to please God and be like his Son by making the confession of faith and trusting his word:
"I am making everything new."

"I am making everything new." Everything includes me.

Everything includes you.

You searched me and know me

2011-05-01T17:36:00.002-05:00

We will do Psalm 139 today.

There are several things we can learn from this Psalm

1. You know me

2. You are with me

3. You are just and righteous

4. Come and search my heart and lead me into the way of everlasting

Background

This Psalm was written in one of the dark days of David.

Many blood thirty men were out there to kill David. (v. 19). He felt so dark that it would be better if the darkness hide him. (v. 11)

What will you do when the things are so dark and have no hope? Eat more and sleep more?

When you are stressed out you reveal who you are.

e.g. Paul Tripps' coffee example. If you shake the coffee cup that is full of coffee, the coffee spills out.

What did David say and what came out?

1.You know me. He came to God and knew one thing. The Lord knows us. (vv. 1-6) In his dark time, David came to the knowledge of God.

2, You are with me (vv.7-18)

After knowing that God knows him, he felt the presence of God. The Lord is one who is with you.

There is no place that he will not be with you. If you rise on the wings of the dawn or go to the far side of the seas, he is there with you.

See the picture of God who leads you gently like a shepherd leading his flock and a father holding his son's right hand. (v. 10)

Can you see the gentle guidance and firm hold on you?

You might ask, "Why he knows me and why he follows me around?"

Because he made you. You are made by God.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Eph 2:10 says that we are created in Christ Jesus do to good works. Jesus died for you and he created you through his death and resurrection.

Knowing that God knows us and made us gives us confidence and we confess, "We know fully." (v14)

Nothing happens without God's will and his control.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. .

What is our life?

It is known by Jesus and knowing Jesus.

Then we can accept God's sovereign will for outlives.

E.g. I did not choose which parents I should have. Where to go and study. It is purely God's grace. Then why were I not happy when I was a child. I disliked the school and was not happy for being placed in God's family. It was before I met Jesus.

When I saw things through Jesus' death and resurrection, I could thank God.

3. You teach me what to like and what to hate.

God is just and righteous. When the bloody thirst men attached David, he asked God to slay the wicked. His hatred is not his emotion but he asked the LORD give him the same attitude of God.

So we love what God loves and hate what God hates.

4. Jesus leads us the way of everlasting

After coming back to his knowledge of us and his presence, David again invites God to come to his heart.

We cannot trust our hearts. Our self righteousness can do a lot of damages.

²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

We are not just self centered people. We are the people of the cross. We stay close to the cross. When we suffer we do not curse others.

Instead we look at our LORD Jesus who sang Psalm 22 on the cross and hear Jesus' song, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me."

We know how sinful we are before God but how much we are valued by God that the very Son of God died for us.

Daily we ask God to come to us. We open our hearts to him.

"Test me and see my anxious and troubled hearts."

We invite our LORD and his word to search our hearts and see if there are any grievous ways. If there are, then we ask God's forgiveness through his son's death on the cross.

After that we are so confident that Jesus who came to search us will lead us to the way of everlasting.

5. Applications

This is the good time to come to God who knows us and made us and sent his Son for us.

I cannot spare you sufferings and dark times but we are confident of knowing his saving grace through his Son.

The LORD knows you.

He will not forsake you.

He will lead you into the way of everlasting because he came down and found us.

He laid his life for us.

When he was most stressed, he sang the Psalm 22. The word of God came from his mouth so we trust him and trust his word.

We are confident of his way. This is the everlasting way.

From death to Life

2011-04-25T16:37:00.009-05:00

Happy Easter

We celebrate the Easter because this is the day our LORD Jesus has risen from the dead.

Last week we learned the definition of the good news based on 1 Cor 15.

Today we will talk about why we celebrate the Easter.

What is the most important holiday of the Christians?

Christmas or Easter?

My answer: Easter

(Even though I only got 2 cards and one gift vs. million cards and many gifts in Christmas. But let me tell you one gift that surpasses all the gifts that I got in Christmas.)

Today we will look at Lk 15 and see why we need to celebrate.

The anchor verses is 15:32

³² 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.’”

The context of the story

Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. The religious leaders muttered and condemned Jesus who ate with the ‘sinners’.

The triple grace of Jesus

What do you react to those who do not understand your intention of helping the helpless?

We might do:

· Lash back

· Get even

· Make fun of

Was that did Jesus do?

He told the most beautiful stories, not just one but three. Can we see the triple grace of Jesus? On the other hand we are so blind and our hearts are so hard that we need three stories. We need the cocktail drug treatment like AIDS patients.

Plan

We will look at three stories in view of the context of Luke 15. We will see

· Who God is

· Who we are

Stories

	The lost sheep	The lost coin	The lost sons
Who God is	· The shepherd who had 100 sheep and lost one · strong and passionate · Did not do the benefit analysis-think not the business perspective but from the lost perspective · Did not give up until he found the lost sheep · Put a heavy sheep on his shoulders · So joyful and want to share his joy	· The woman who had 10 coins and lost one. · Careful and gentle and systematic · Did not give up until he founds the lost coin · Joyful and want to share her joy	· The father who had two sons · Respect his second son’s reckless wish · Welcomes the second son and restores him as his son · The Father humbles himself and goes out to the older son who had no love for the younger son · He rejoices with the younger son and wants to have this joy with everyone and with his older brother
Who we are	· A dumb, hairy, dirty and impulsive, fat sheep · Loved by his shepherd · Can be lost in our impulse	· A useless coin on the floor · Intrinsically valuable because we are made by God · Useful on the hands of our God · Can be lost even though we are in the house of God but do not want to do anything or used by our LORD -doing motions and coming on Sundays but so dry and bitter inside	· We can be lost in two ways · Like the lost sheep · Like the lost coin Precious sons of God
Lost -dead	The sheep away from the shepherd is a certain death	The coin on the floor is useless. Which one do you prefer –the lost coin or one dollar in your pocket?	We want to move away from the good Father and even if we live with the Father we do not appreciate him
Found –become alive	The sheep founded by the shepherd	The coin founded by the woman	We become alive when we are found by our true brother Jesus who died and rose from the dead. Without knowing him, we do not know our Father. We become alive when our brother tells us the good news of our Father and welcomes us.
Jesus in the story	The shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep	The woman who is so gentle with the lost sinners	The true brother who understands the Father’s heart and went out for the lost brothers. In doing so he was killed by his brothers and God raised him from the dead. By his death and resurrection we becomes sons and daughters of God.

Why we celebrate the Easter?

Happy Easter.

Are you convinced that the Easter is bigger than Christmas?

We are lost without Jesus. When we look at the stories we can see that our Father is good. He is kind and patient. Humble and gentle and loves his sons.

But why the younger son moved away? Why the older son thought that he was a slave of his father?

Augustine gives us some clues. In Confessions Augustine tells us that when we are sick, we do not want to eat the bread. It does not matter how good the bread is. To the sick and lost people it does not taste good. Likewise the lost sons cannot appreciate the good Father’s love.

What is the solution? Let he younger son suffer more? Let the older son become more righteous? No.

We need the gospel of Jesus. Jesus came and told us the good news of our Father who can heal us and welcome us make his his sons when we come back to him.

So our true brother Jesus came and welcomed us.

We did not appreciate Jesus' coming. We went out for other bread. In his great love for us Jesus came and died for our sins. That’s not all, God the Father raised him from the dead. By doing this he opened our eyes and made us to see the deep love of our Father.

This Easter we celebrate and be glad because what Jesus has done for us. We pray that many brothers of Jesus can be found when we preach the good news of our Father who sent his son for us, not just in words but faith expressed in love.

NT Wright on Ressurection

2011-04-19T17:12:00.003-05:00

Wright basically argues that the resurrection cannot have been a myth invented by the early Christian community, because the idea of the Messiah dying and being bodily resurrected to eternal life was completely unexpected in Jewish theology, and therefore would not have been fabricated.

You can watch NT Wright Video here. (Watch from 16 minutes to 1:07 minutes)

The Gospel 1 Cor 15

2011-04-19T16:32:00.006-05:00

What is the gospel?

It is the good news of God.
There are many ideas about what makes the good news.

Definition:
But we are very clear what is the good news according to the Bible. Christ died for our sins according the Bible, buried and rose from the dead according to the Scriptures. 1 Cor 15.

Is this the first importance for you?

Verification
The resurrection of Jesus is not just one man's subjective feeling. The good news of Jesus was verified by first by Peter, then to the Twelve. More than five hundred brothers verified the resurrection of Jesus.

Even Jesus' half brother James who once thought that his brother Jesus was crazy put his trust in Jesus' resurrection when his brother Jesus appeared to him.

Paul's testimony.
Paul was the most devout Jew of the time. He was so confident of himself. But when the Risen Jesus appeared to him, he began to realized that something was terribly wrong with him. So he recognized that he was 'abnormally born.'.

In his zeal without the knowledge he persecuted the very God he wanted to serve.

But he said by the grace of God he was who he was. Jesus' death and resurrection healed his self righteousness and began to see himself in need of Jesus' grace.

When he received God's grace, God's grace enabled him to work harder than anyone else. It is indeed God's grace for us that we are who we are.

As much as we know Jesus' death and resurrection (i.e. Grace) we can be transformed by his power and be transformed.

We are the people of the good news. We are the people of the gospel.

We thank God for sending his own Son for us that our abnormalities can be transformed by the grace of Jesus. By Jesus death and resurrection his transforming power continues among us.

This is indeed God's grace for us.

Here is the link to the message video.

Part 1.

Park 2.

The essence of Jesus

2011-04-11T14:05:00.008-05:00

Happy Easter.
This is of of our April Madness messages.
W
e did John 17.
The next week, we will do the Gospel based on 1 Cor 15.
Then on the Easter Sunday, we will look at Luke 15 and thank God for bringing us from the dead to life.

Here is the John 17 message:

Part 2, click here.

The essence of our faith John 17

2011-04-09T17:14:00.006-05:00

What will you do when you know that you will die tomorrow?

What will you tell your loved ones?
In John 17 Jesus pays very openly so that we can get to know his essence and his main point of coming to us as a man who will die as a man and who showed his Father through his life.

This prayer is his final farewell speech before he goes to the cross.

What will you tell your loved ones when your time comes?

What can you give?
Jesus gave us eternal life -the knowledge of knowing the truth God and our Father who sent his Son to us.

One dying professor gave his last lecture. See the video link below.

His lecture is moving and many marveled at him.

But what about Jesus' prayer?
Is it moving?

Of course it is.
More than this prof's farewell lecture.

Can this prof give his children eternal life? At best his lecture can give much needed encouragement for his children that they can achieve their childhood dreams.

OK, if you achieved your childhood dreams?
Can your dream achieved give you eternal life?

This is one of the noblest video on the net. We should applaud his speech.

I want you to look at this video and see John 17 and compare and contrast them.

Which one is better? Which one is for you?
Can you see God?
Which one is more clearer in seeing God?

John 3

2011-03-28T15:00:00.002-05:00

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CxNra-E1SM

Singleness, Marriage and the kingdom of God

2011-03-14T15:25:00.006-05:00

This week we are starting the Spring Break.

The Spring has come upon us. Jerry Park, president of the DrChrist (Deeper Roots in Christ) will present a special topical message.

This is based on Tim Keller's article. Here is the link to the article.

Come and hear Jerry's presentation on this very important topic.

This is a topical study.
We will look at Gen 2, 1 Cor 7 and Eph 5.
Texts:
Gen 2;18-25
1 Cor 7:25-31
Eph 5:22-32

Article: Singleness, Marriage and Family by Tim Keller
(It is posted at tinyurl.com/DrChrist)

Things to ponder

1. Who created marriage?
2. Why do we marry?
3. Why not just remain as a single and just work all day?
4. Explain the historical context of 1 Cor 7;25.
5. Why Tim Keller said that this text is weird?
6. How we can read this kind of text in view of the whole Bible?
7. What is the ultimate purpose of marriage?

Young Lee on Issac

2011-03-13T23:24:00.001-05:00

Young Lee came down from Chicago delivered message on Issac

Park 1

Part 2

Brian Sauder's presentation - faithinplace.org 13Mar2011

2011-03-13T23:21:00.001-05:00

Winter Jam

2011-03-11T11:25:00.000-06:00

Mar 26, 2011 (Sat) 6:00 PM

Assembly Hall- Full Hall

Christian music’s largest annual tour, the record-breaking Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, is set to return bigger than ever in 2011, it was announced yesterday.

Produced by Premier Productions and presented by Holt International, the tour will feature the most artists and dates in its 16-year history. Hosted by GRAMMY®-nominated NewSong, the Winter Jam 2011 Tour Spectacular will also feature Newsboys; David Crowder Band; Kutless; Francesca Battistelli; RED; KJ-52, and guest speaker Tony Nolan. In addition, the show includes a Pre- Jam Party presented by the American Bible Society with Sidewalk Prophets, Chris August and Chris Sligh.

Tickets

$10 at the door

Tickets are only available at the door. Doors open for this show at 5PM.

"Prayers for the People: Carl Sandburg's Poetry & Songs" 14 March, 2011, 7:30 p.m. at Smith Music Hall

2011-03-11T10:31:00.002-06:00

"Prayers for the People" is a musical and spoken word performance that celebrates the enormous poetic and musical legacy of Carl Sandburg.

Developed by Kate Benzel, the Martin Distinguished Professor in English at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, "Prayers for the People" has played to numerous enthusiastic audiences. A performance filmed by Nebraska Educational Television won a 2010 Emmy for Entertainment Special Program from the "Heartland" region of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and may be viewed at www.netnebraska.org/extras/sandburg/.

The project brings a version of Sandburg's own style of lecture-recital to Illinois. Musical numbers drawn from Sandburg's pioneering work of ethnomusicology, The American Songbag (1927) alternate with readings of famous poems from his works Chicago (1916), Cornhuskers (1918), and Smoke and Steel (1920).

Songs will be performed by the musical group "The Sandtones," led by Mike Adams, with contributions from local musicians. The show opens with a brief lecture by Benzel and is then emceed by Charles Peek, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Nebraska-Kearney, and punctuated by readings from Kevin Stein, Caterpillar Professor of English at Bradley University, and Janice Harrington, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

App fatigues?

2011-03-08T20:05:00.005-06:00

If you own a smartphone (I own both a smartphone and iPad) , if you are not already suffering from app fatigue chances are you will at some point. App fatigue sets in over time as you collect a seemingly endless stream of apps that do the same thing. You end up spending far too much time scrolling through screens of apps to find the one you want. Eventually you pause and look at all of those app icons on the screen and realize you have a bunch of apps that do the exact same thing.

Read more here.

Modern life is paradoxical. We have so many conveniences but we do not have rest. As Jesus said, we are burdened.

We can have truth rest when we come to him and give our burden to him. Let Jesus carry your burdens.

Indeed he carried them all on the cross.

Not only he carried them all but died for our sins and rose from the dead.

This is good news and when we trust the good news can we rest in him.

Fatigue is fatal but the good news of Jesus saves and renews us.

God becoming a man -God the man -Incarnation (Phil 2:1-11)

2011-03-06T15:12:00.007-06:00

Incarnation means that God becoming a man. This is one of the most profound mystery.

Why did God become a man? It is to united with us. We thank God for his grace and have hope to be like him when we are united with Christ.

Here is the manuscript.

U of I Veritas Forum Video version 2

2011-02-27T15:25:00.001-06:00

Brandon Daley revised the video again.

We thank for his labor of love. He did so when he was 10 exams to prepare.

The praise of my Father

2011-02-27T15:23:00.001-06:00

What is praise?
To whom do we praise?
Why do we praise?
How can we praise God?

Psalm 103 answers those questions.

Here is the link to the message outline.

Sing Psalms

2011-02-24T09:58:00.003-06:00

Steve Pearson wrote music and lyrics for all Psalms.
His site contains lyrics, sheet music scores, guitar chords, midi and mp3 download files.

Those who are reading Psalms, do check this site and use for worship and personal devotion so that we can learn of our LORD Jesus.

The site is at: Psalministry.com

The Veritas Forum promo video

2011-02-20T16:48:00.002-06:00

Mike Rora and Branden Daley worked on this video.

Please pass on to your friends.

The King 2 Samuel 7

2011-02-20T16:47:00.002-06:00

This week we are learning about the King Jesus.

Here is the msg outline.

Veritas Forum at U of I

2011-02-16T16:59:00.006-06:00

We are supporting this event with other campus gospel organizations. Please pray that many non believing students come and explore the truth of the Christianity.

Easter 2011 Plan and requesting prayers

2011-02-16T16:25:00.003-06:00

Date: Friday April 8 to Sunday April 10
Place : Chicago Center

Theme:
We will do Easter based on Luke 24:44

This is what I told you while I was still with you; Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.
Jesus came to fulfill the Scriptures.

The Law, The Prophets and the Psalms point to Jesus' death and resurrection.
In essence, the Scriptures point to Jesus' death and resurrection.

Why are we having this conference?
We want to celebrate the most important event in the history.
We can also pray for our students meet Jesus personally and recover their image of God.

Tentative schedule.
(Not set on the stone. Feel free to give your feedback to our student leaders)

Friday evening
Drive up to Chicago.
Set up

Opening:

Mike Rora, opening -Luke 24:44
Mike can give an orientation for the Easter conference.

Sat:
Morning:
The Law
Group study on The law - Ex 20
Followed by a message by SAL
Explain the purpose of the law.
The letter kills but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6)

Afternoon: Wedding-Samuel Choi

Evening:
Dinner
Group study on Psalm 22

The Psalm -Psalm 22 -Alex Foster
(This Psalm deals with Jesus death. Matt 27 quotes this Psalm in verses 46, 34, 43, 35 ).

(There is a wedding in Chicago so we might be sensitive to them)

Sunday

The Prophet -Young Lee (Young Lee will let us know what passage he will cover.)
(We do it early so that we can finish before the Chicago Sunday worship service. Those who want to attend the Chicago worship can do so and then they can do Chicago tour).

Overall project manager: Joe Jung
(Joe needs much help. Pray for him to grow as a servant of God's word).

Small group leaders.

Start sharing in your group regarding the Easter conference.
Ask Joe if he needs any help and please donate your time, money and strength, heart to the work of God.

May God open our eyes to see Jesus in the Law, in the Prophets and in the Psalms.

The king

2011-02-15T12:10:00.003-06:00

This week we will explore the king Jesus.

Text: 2 Samuel 7

Things to ponder.

1. What was David’s desire? What was God’s desire? (1-17)

2. Describe David’ prayer (18ff)

3. Why do we need the king? (10ff)

4. How did Jesus become the King ? (Mark 1:15, John 19:19-22, Acts 2:29-36, Luke 11: 2-11)

5. Who is your king?

The Law

2011-02-13T16:12:00.002-06:00

This week we are looking at Ex 20. The law of God.

Here is the outline of the message.

Ji Hwan

2011-02-09T17:06:00.002-06:00

Our friend Ji Hwan is going back to Korea.
He will be finishing up his Ph. D. at Seoul National University.

It was our pleasure to share the good news of God with him.

Please pray for him. This is a picture of our last dinner together organized by John.

Small group discussion questions

2011-02-08T11:55:00.003-06:00

Text: Ex 20

Things to ponder:

What is the Bible?
What are the Bible made of?
When and where did God give the 10 commandments to his people?
Why do we need the law?
How can we live knowing God's law?
What is the ultimate purpose of the law?

Uganda Mission Report by Dr. Joseph and Esther Chung

2011-02-05T17:02:00.002-06:00

DrChrist collected the Christmas offering and sent to the Uganda mission. Dr.Joseph sent us a note to us.

We are visiting Chicago briefly and go to son's house then Ruth's who gave birth to her second child a girl.

Thank you for your offerings for God's mission We gave the fund to three students who were rejected to final exam for unpaid balances--They are faithful Bible students( Chris, Deo, and Fred).

We pray that God may use your house church for campus evangelism fruitfully. In Christ Joseph and Esther.

Song of the Week

2011-01-31T16:39:00.000-06:00

The Call Gen 11:27-12:9

2011-01-31T15:44:00.004-06:00

This week we will look at God's call of Abraham.

The text is:
Gen 11:27 to 12:9

Things to ponder

1. Describe Abe's family in Gen 11, Joshua 24.
2. What was God's call to Abe? Look at the commands and promises. What did Abe do? (ref. Heb 11:8)
3. What does it mean to leave the family and go to the land I show you?
4. What was ultimate purpose of God's call to Abe in Gen 12:1-9?
5. Who showed this radical obedience to the call of God?
6. How then shall we live knowing God's call to Abe, Jesus and to us?

Psalm of the week -103

2011-01-31T11:00:00.000-06:00

The Fall and the Gospel of God

2011-01-30T15:09:00.001-06:00

This week's Sunday passage was Gen 3.

Here is the outline.

Tiger mom

2011-01-27T17:39:00.005-06:00

Did you grow up under Tiger mom or not so Tiger mom?
Is Tiger mom Biblical? Which one you prefer?

Look at this recent Time article and let us know.

It was the "Little White Donkey" incident that pushed many readers over the edge. That's the name of the piano tune that Amy Chua, Yale law professor and self-described "tiger mother," forced her 7-year-old daughter Lulu to practice for hours on end — "right through dinner into the night," with no breaks for water or even the bathroom, until at last Lulu learned to play the piece. Read more:

Alternative Winter Break

2011-01-27T16:53:00.004-06:00

Several U of I students went to DC and became homeless 48 hours.

Here is their recap video.

" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3mSoahomjyg" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen>

Sameul Augustine Lee, Jr wrote his learning here.

Let the word out and help the helpless and the poor as Jesus had done for us.

Bookends of the Biblical theology

2011-01-26T15:59:00.004-06:00

From ESVonline.org
Click the image to enlarge it.
A nice picture depicting Creation, Fall, Redemption and New Creation

Psalm 119

2011-01-26T11:33:00.003-06:00

I have strayed like a lost sheep.
Seek your servant,
for I have not forgotten your commands.
(119:176)

Praise:
God is my shepherd.
He is seeking me.

"Where are you, Sam?"
He is calling me daily.

After learning how good God's law is, the Psalmist concluded the Psalm with asking God's mercy.
Knowing and meditating God's law is good but we need more that instructions. We need God's mercy.

He has promised to seek us when we are lost.
This is God's promise to us and he always fulfills his promise. He is not a man but God. One guy said that he would pay his loan but his word is not trustworthy.

Most of the time he is helpless to do what is required of the law.
What is our solution?

It is knowing our good shepherd Jesus. For this I praise God. Praise God the LORD, all my soul.
I thank God for his promise.

I put my trust in his word.

Confession:
I am your servant.
I have this propensity to wander off because I am not that smart. I am your sheep.
Thank you for reminding me through your word.

I am your precious sheep.
Find me and help me.
Help me not to forget this.

Prayer
Dear Lord,

Thank you for Psalm 119. Your law is perfect. There is nothing wrong with your word. But I am having many issues. But you taught me to come back to you.
I am helpless without you.

Come find me and bring me to your fold. Help me to stretch out my hands to you and pray to you. Experience your saving grace daily through your Son's mercy.

In my prayer help me to praise you based on your word.

Praise the LORD, O my soul,
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits --
who forgives all your sin and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

How can our youth to be renewed? It is humanly impossible. I am getting old and I already see its effects daily. But your word and your mercy restores me daily since you made me in your image which is always young and dynamic.

This is only possible when I admit my helplessness and ask you to help me.

Seek your servant because I trust your word.

Psalm 119

2011-01-25T15:59:00.002-06:00

Text: 119:144

Your statutes are forever right;
Give me understanding that I may live. (119:144)

Even if we know what is right, we cannot obey it.
We need God's understanding.

Living is more than knowing intellectually. It is to understand it and know it from our inmost being. God's word is forever.

We cannot live without it because he breathed into man and he became a living being.
Not only we must know what it says and agree with his validity, we need God's help to 'understand' it.

It has to become our DNA and fabric of life so that his word can take deeeeep roots in us.

Who we are?

We are deeper roots in Christ. We confess that we want to live apart from you all the time. You made heavens and the earth. Apart from you, there is no life. Help me to come to you daily and ask your mercy and give me understanding.

Thank you for giving us life by the law of God. The law kills but your Son came died in place of me. Not only he died but rose from the dead overcoming the power of death. Thus, he revealed God's wisdom, the true understanding of what it mean to live and breathe.

Give me your understanding through your Son's work.
Give me understanding that we are made in the image of God. God is living so we live with him.

U of I Spring 11 Week 2

2011-01-25T14:20:00.002-06:00

This week, we will meditate on Gen 3.
Here are some questions to ponder.

Discussion questions (Genesis 3)

1. Why is it important to notice that the serpent in Genesis 3 is not equivalent to God, s sort of mirror image bad god, but a creature who himself has rebelled against God?

2. In Genesis 3, what makes the initial questions that the serpent asks Eve so disgusting, so essentially evil?

3. What element in Genesis 3 show just how tragic and awful eating the forbidden fruit was?

4. How, in Genesis 3, does human defiance of God end up in broken human relationships?

5. Why is Genesis 3:15 sometimes called the “protevangelium,” the first announcement of the gospel (that is, the “Good News” about Jesus)?

6. Why, in the Bible, is idolatry the supreme evil?

7. In D.A. Carson's book, The God who is there, the curse pronounced on Adam, “The whole created order of which we are a part is not now working properly. It is under a curse, subjected by God himself to death and decay. “ What is the contemporary evidence of this point?

8. According to the Bible, what do we human beings most need? What do you most need?

Eating lunch with U of I community

2011-01-24T12:55:00.004-06:00

Do you want to know more about U of I community? This might be a good way to meet students and staff and community people over lunch.

The Asian American Cultural Center, Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center, La Casa Cultural Latina, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resources Center, Native American House and the Women's Resource Center invite you to join us for free lunch and noontime discussions throughout the academic year. The lunches feature resources at the University of Illinois and provide audience members and participants with introductions to the cultures, histories, and societal issues that the diverse communities of our campus face. We welcome you to our centers and encourage you to connect with us. Please join us for lunch and learn something new.
All events are from 12–1pm

Look at this link for location

Paradox of choices

2011-01-23T19:08:00.002-06:00

Too many choices create unhappiness contrary to the prevailing notion. See this video.

A song of the week

2011-01-23T15:35:00.001-06:00

How great thy art by Elvis.

God created man in his own image.

2011-01-23T15:25:00.002-06:00

The good news of God is proclaimed in Gen 1:27.

It say, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

God is creator.
We are made by God with his image.
We are reflecting the image of God.

This good news can compels us to live as children of God, created by our LORD Jesus.

Here is the Sunday message notes on Gen 1-2.

Sharing the good news at U of I

2011-01-21T15:05:00.003-06:00

Pray that we can share the good news of God with U of I students.

Already one on one Bible students are happening.

This evening several small groups are launching as well.

We have several groups.

John's group is BEST (Bible study, eating, sports and travel).

Isaiah's group is IRIS (International recovery of God's image in the students)

Sam's group is Get J (Grace empowered truth, Jesus)

Jerry's group is Quest (Questions regarding espitemilogy and social justice and various topics)

Mary's group has no name yet but she will give her group's name. In the meantime we call her group, PoP(Petition of Prayer)

Gideon's group has no name yet. Will let you know if he finds one. In the meantime, we call his group, SoC (Society of Christ like Jesuits)

We need God's mercy on what we do. Let us pray that our one on one Bible studies and small groups can be used by Jesus to bring the good news of God to U of I students and to the ends of the earth.

We want to do LESS so that Christ may do more among and thru us.
LESS stands for

Listen to the word of God
Empowered by the Spirit
Serve Christ and his people
Share the good news of God.

Happy Friday.

A poster of the week

2011-01-21T13:56:00.003-06:00

My son gave me this poster and I posted it in the cubical.

Do come and enjoy the poster.

Jesus fought the good fight and won the victory.
Paul also followed Jesus and experienced Jesus' victory.

When I was in Philly, I ran up the stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

It was a good run.

Let's fight the good fight this semester.

This poster gives me the good frame of mind.

Outreach by Joe Jung

2011-01-21T12:40:00.003-06:00

U of I has started.

Joe Jung is starting outreach with Coffee.
Jerry, Abe and Mike dropped by helped them.

Abe looks cool with an Italian hat.

Let us pray that we can reach out U of I students with not only with free coffee but with the good news of God.

Psalm 119 Day 16

2011-01-20T17:00:00.003-06:00

Pe (119:129-136)

Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed.

Why do you cry?

I cry because I lost something valuable. I cry because I do something stupid.
But here David cried because God's law is not obeyed.

I do not remember ever crying for like this.

Why doe she cry?

He knows the implication of not obeying God's law. When we do not follow God's law, we are facing certain God's judgment. When we know this implication we can cry for those whom we love.

We cry out to God and ask God's mercy on them. Have mercy on me and on them so that we can obey you.

This is what Jesus did while he was on the earth (Heb 5). Who is crying out for you?

Dear Lord, I do not hear anyone crying out for me. Open my ears to hear your Son's cry for me. I know that you are crying out for me. I can put my trust in you because this son of your tears hear you and hear your cry out for me.

Thank you for your compassion and mercy for me. Not only you cried out for me and came to me and died on the cross for me.

This is indeed God's grace for me.

Lately my tears have been dried up and when I hear your crying out, my heart is moved to cry with you.

Open my ears to hear you crying daily for me and for your children and those who you want to invite to your kingdom.

Palm 118 Day 15

2011-01-20T16:53:00.003-06:00

Samdkh (119:113-120)

I hate double-minded men, but I love your law.

God is not double minded. His law is for everyone and one law governs everyone.

How can one law governs everyone? This shows God's wisdom. We are limited so there are so many laws. The law expose our double mindedness.

When we look at others we can only being hated or hate but when I look at your perfect law, it gives me much joy.

Help me to confess, "I have put my hope in your word."

All the wicked will be discarded like dross. They might win in a short term but your law will govern their future. They will be blown away life chaff.

U of I UBF and DrC Sunday schedule

2011-01-18T20:08:00.002-06:00

Welcome back.
Here is our Sunday passages and texts:

Gen 1:27 is our anchor verse.

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

We pray that we can recover our image of God through doing LESS.

LESS stands for
Listen to the word of God
Empowered by the Spirit
Serve Christ and his People
Share the good news of God

Psalm 119 Day 14

2011-01-18T19:48:00.003-06:00

Today is the first day of the Spring semester 2011.

Nun (Psalm 119:105-112)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

It is very obvious that I need my head lights when I drive at night. The world is dark without the word of God.

I need a lamp and light to see. Without the word of God I can only grope in the darkness. When I was groping in the darkness and empty, the word of God came to me and made me.

As I pray to grow as a servant of your word, help me to pray to you and ask your mercy daily.

As my brother Luther prayed, help me to pray:

O Father in heaven, dear God, I am poor unworthy sinner. I do not deserve to raise my eyes or hands toward you or to pray.

But because you have commanded us all to pray and have promised to hear us and through your dear Son Jesus Christ has taught us both how to pray and what to pray, I come to you in obedience to your word, trusting in your gracious promise. I pray in the name of my LORD Jesus Christ together with all your saints and Christians on earth as he taught us:

“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”

Without your word, I do not even know how to pray and what to pray. I need your light daily and each moment.

Help me to dwell in your light and reflect your light. Your word is the light of the world.

Egypt mission report

2011-01-18T09:52:00.002-06:00

During last week's CIS Directors' Conference in Egypt, Missionary Oyo. was very busy. He had no car but did his best to take guests back and forth from the airport by taxi. He had a great sense of stewardship as the leader of Egypt UBF. He will soon finish his Ph.D study in 3-5 months. He left Sudan and has been in Egypt for 5 years only because of God's grace and his calling. He and his wife and their six children hold Sunday worship services in their house church with 2-3 growing disciples. M. is supposed to take over the ministry when Oyo. and his family go back to Sudan, according to Oyo's contract with his company. May God sustain Oyo. in faith and his remaining ministry in Egypt. May God bless M. as a remnant of God's ministry there. Read more. (From UBF.org)

Children's Bible memorization Contest

2011-01-18T09:31:00.001-06:00

Theme: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord,and on his law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1: 1, 2)

Place: 1st floor of YMCA 1001 S. Wright St. Champaign

Time: 6:45 P.M. Saturday, Jan 22

Contents and participants:

Psalm 1 - Sammy Lee, Julia Gim, Joshua Kim, Christina Kang, Mary Kim, Peter Lee, Andrew Lee

Psalm 23 - Joshua, Sammy, Peter

Psalm 119:
1-8 - Julia
9-16 Sammy
17-24 Christina
25-32 Joshua
33-40 Mary
41-48 Peter
49-56 Julia
57-64 Sammy
65-72 Christina
73-80 Joshua
81-88 Andrew
89-96 Peter
97-104 Julia
105-112 Sammy
113-120 Christina
121-128 Joshua
129-136 Andrew
137-144 Peter
145-152 Mary
153-160 Christina
161-168 Andrew
169-176 Peter

How to engage boys at school

2011-01-17T20:41:00.003-06:00

Boys are not engaged at school.
There are three main reasons:
-zero tolerance
-fewer males teachers -no man role models
-Compressed curriculum

What is the solution?
Use the incarnational principle -Meet them where they are.

John Jeong is forming a small group targeting boys.
His motto is BEST. We are reapplying John Peace's method in Ukrain.

BEST stands for
-Bible study
-Eating
-Sports
-Travel

Let's pray that we can understand them and develop them into men of God.

"I have a dream" by MLK

2011-01-17T19:13:00.001-06:00

Discussion questions for Small group week of 1-16-11

2011-01-17T18:38:00.003-06:00

This week's text is Gen 1-2

Read Gen 1-2

Things to ponder

1. What is the Bible?
2. What flows from the Bible's emphasis on the fact that God is a talking God?
3. What is the fundamental distinction between Creator and creature -between God as creator and everything else that exists?
4.What significance is there that the Bible insists that human beings, and human beings alone, are made in the image of God?
5. How does the Bible say about creation establishes human responsibility and accountability?

Psalm 119 day 13

2011-01-13T13:45:00.003-06:00

Text Mem
Psalm 119:97-104

Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.

How can I love God's law?

I am a perpetual law breaker. No turn on red is my biggest challenge for me while I am driving. But what is the implication when I do not stop on red?

I could hit someone or someone can hit me.

If that is the case, when I do not obey God's law, I can damage myself and damage others. I can understand how God gave us the law.

How can I love God's law?

Love is more than tolerating. Love requires one's whole being. I love my wife with all my soul.

Why do I love my wife?
I do believe that it is not good for a man to be alone. My wife is God's loving graceful provision for me.

I love God's law because the law condemns me daily and points out that I am so far away from God and his law but through God's law, I can see how much God hates sin and how much he loves us.

God loves me and loves us by giving his law. His intention of giving the law is to make us and recreate us in his image.

Without looking at God's law, we can only be fooled by our emotions. I need something beyond me.

Help me to confess how sweet are your words to my mouth!

When I look at this section, my heart is moved and wish that I could sing like David Crowdter.

Help me to get understanding from your precepts. Help me to hate every wrong path and bring us back to you through your word.

Your law is clearly shown in my savior our LORD Jesus. He obeyed the law. But he died for us and rose from the dead.

In doing so he enabled us to obey you and taste the sweetness of your law. This is indeed God's grace for me.

Psalm 119 Day 12

2011-01-12T16:25:00.003-06:00

Lamedh
119:89-96

Your word, O LORD, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.

What can last?
The Bible says that knowing God through his Son, the very word of God is eternal life. (John 17:3).

Jesus after serving and dying on the cross went up to the heaven. His word stands firm in heaven.

Then why am I always think that this or that will last?

Peter says that we are born with imperishable word of God.

To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.

Grass withers and flowers fall but the word of God stands forever. When I see the beautiful flower, I see perfection but it has limit. I will wither and die.

Without your word, I am nothing. I will become nothing. But you made me with your precious word and promised me that when I put my trust in your word, especially in your Son's word, you promised me to give me eternal life.

I saw my father who was full of energy and full of passion died. I remember the date (Jan 8th). Dr. Henry Park came from Columbus, OH and we spend the night together. He shared his father's story of conversion and putting his trust in Jesus. Already my father put his trust in you. I knew that I would miss him but was encouraged by Dr. Henry's word.

This week Missionary Mary Cowen's father in law died at the age of 88. We do not live forever.

My father in law is not doing so well. He is growing old and he has all sorts of health issues. But I do trust you. He trusts you. He believes that your word is eternal.

Help me not to forget your precepts. Your word saved me.
Where I can put my trust. I put my trust in your word. Your word sustained your people for many years. It will sustain them.

Psalm 119 Day 11

2011-01-11T12:45:00.002-06:00

Kaph (119: 81-88)

My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word.

What do I long for?

When did I faint? I once fainted studying for MBA. It was hard because I did ministry, full time work and then studied full time. My body could not handle anymore.

I fainted on the street and hit my head. My body gave up.

This guy fainted not because of his study but because he longed for God's salvation. He fainted by looking at God's promise.

When he fainted he had the word of God. In his fainting situation, he thought about God's word. When I look at this verse, I have nothing to say but what a wretched person I am. I am the most self centered and stubborn person but God's word is more powerful than that.

What do I long for?

Lately I tasted the sweetness of running. Once I start running, I can taste its sweetness. Likewise, I am also tasting God's word which is so sweet.

Psalm 119 is so sweet. Indeed it is God's grace that I can taste its sweetness. God's word preserves my life according to God's love for me. Where can I put my trust?

Gen 1:27 is my key verse.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

When I look at myself and when others look at me, what do they see?
They must see the image of God in me. But I am so strong and his image is so weak, they see me, not Jesus in me.

But the word of God says that Jesus came to restore us in his image. I can put my hope on this word. May the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, my Rock and salvation.

I thank God for giving me his wisdom that I must do less so that Christ may do more thru me.

LESS stands for

Listen to the word of God
Empowered by the Spirit of God
Serve Christ and his people
Share the good news of God.

I am waiting your salvation with hope and faith. I know you have promised us and made us.

Help me to put my trust in your words and do LESS.

I want to more but help me do LESS and Jesus' image can be shown in myself.

Theophilus 2.1 Rocky Run at Philly

2011-01-07T22:27:00.004-06:00

SAL's daily running paid off.

Meeting up with Dan Han and Deb Lim at NY, NY. As Alicia Keys said, if you can make it NY, you can make it anywhere. But I like to say, if you can make it at U of I, you can make it anywhere. Good to see Dan and Deb.

Psalm 119 Day 10

2011-01-07T21:56:00.002-06:00

Text Yodh
Psalm 119: 73-80

Your hands made me and formed me;
give me understanding to learn your commands.

If I believe that God made me, he gave me owner's manual -the Bible, his word so that we can do maintenance. It seems that I do better care of my car then me. Help me to learn your law that can make me a well oiled machine.

In order to do this, I need God's help. God gives understanding to those who believe that God made us.

May those who fear you rejoice when they see me,
for I have put my hope in your word.

It seems that those who fear God welcome those who fear God.
How to fear God?
It is to put my hope in God's word. Jesus is the very word of God. May God help me to put my trust in Jesus who died for me and rose from the dead.

Where I put my hope?
Is it my ministry?
My children?
My wife?
My career?

I know that in theory that I must put my trust in Jesus' word. He forgave me my sins on the cross and rose from the dead. Why should I put my trust in other things? Why?
Knowing and believing in my heart are not the same thing.

I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous,
and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

How can we process our sufferings?
I met one student who broke a law and as a result, he was thrown in jail. He was afflicted. After getting out of the prison, he confessed that he prayed to God in prison and God heard his prayer. He thanked God for God's righteous law and his affliction on him.

God is faithful. He afflicts us faithfully so that we might come back to him.

May your unfailing love be my comfort,
according to your pr9mise to your servant.

God's love does not change at all. His love for his children do not change depend on what we do or how the weather is. So we can always come to God and receive his comfort.

God promised me that it is finished. I am a finished product, not a person in progress. But I do not see the good news of God. I try my best to improve myself but can I reach perfection by my own effort. I guess not.

Instead I must believe God's finished work. It is too good to believe.

Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.

When I look at God's law they absolutely convict me of my sins.
I am a dead man but how can I have delight in his law.

It is all possible by Jesus' death on the cross.

He bore all my sins. The law kills me but God's son saves me. So when I see God's law, I can see the need of Jesus' death on the cross. The law makes a highway to Jesus' cross.

May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause;
but I will meditate on your precepts.

God's law clearly says that there will be God's judgment. So the arrogant will have something coming.

May those who fear you turn to me,
those who understand your statutes.
May my heart be blameless toward your decrees,
that I may not be put to shame.

How can I be blameless?

I am full of blames. How can a man, full of blames be blameless?
It is all possible by looking at God's law that condemned Jesus in place of me.

God's word removes my shame. Guilty has to do with something I did wrong but shame has to do with how I look at myself.

In Genesis 1, man was naked but felt no shame. There was a perfect relationship between a husband and a wife and between us and God.

But we lost it when he rebelled against God (Gen 3). Jesus took away our shame by dying on the cross.

We can be naked before God and feels so shame.

Salt and Light

2011-01-07T21:55:00.001-06:00

From Ubf.org

2011 Key Verse Message by Sarah Barry from UBF on Vimeo.

Podil, Ukrain News

2011-01-02T14:48:00.001-06:00

Pray for Maria Peace and check out the website designed by Paul Toh.

Maria Peace writes:

We prayed for your Christmas Service. How did it go? I am sorry I didn't reply sooner. I broke my ribs and only recently began feeling normal again. I like your catchy name, DrChrist and Do LESS. Cool!!! May God bless your ministry all the more. God blessed our Christmas service as well on Dec 19th. When I broke my ribs I thought our CWS will not be successful but God did a miracle and all our coworkers in BEST@Podil did their best. Also because I was out of commission, I prayed all the more. God used everything and blessed us, more than I ever expected. Sheep just came out from no where and attended our service. What a miracle. I realize God's work is not dependent on my labor but on my prayers and trusting in him. When I was helpless, God helped me. I also realized it is easy to die. When I fell and couldn't breath I thought it was the end. I entrusted my life to him. Life is short. I want to live by grace to the maximum for God's glory. I am praying about 1Corn 15:10 as my key verse for 2011. I want to live by grace then I can do more for him rather than live by duty which makes me proud and useless. I am full of mistakes and short coming but I thank God that Jesus accepts sinners, murders and terrible people and use them for his glory by grace. You can check out our webpage. Paul Toh helped us create it. bestatpodil.webs.com

God bless

Happy New year from P at T

2011-01-02T14:45:00.001-06:00

Chronological order of the Bible

2010-12-29T16:05:00.002-06:00

Read the Bible chronological this year? Try this way.

Genesis 1 - 22
Job
Genesis 23 - 50
Exodus
Psalm 90
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Psalm 91
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel 1 - 16:13
Psalm 23
I Samuel 16:14 - 19:11
Psalm 59
I Samuel 19:12 - 21:15
Psalms 34, 56
I Samuel 22:1, 2
Psalms 57, 142
I Samuel 22:3-23
Psalm 52
I Samuel 23
Psalms 54, 63
I Samuel 24 - 31
II Samuel 1 - 7
Psalm 30
II Samuel 8:1-14
Psalm 60
II Samuel 8:15 - 12:14
Psalms 51, 32
II Samuel 12:15 - 15:37
Psalms 3, 69
II Samuel 16 - 20
Psalms 64, 70
II Samuel 21, 22
Psalm 18
II Samuel 23, 24
Psalms 4 - 9, 11 - 17, 19 - 22, 24 - 29, 31, 35 - 41, 53, 55, 58, 61, 62,
Psalms 65, 68, 72, 86, 101, 103, 108 - 110, 138 - 141, 143 - 145
I Kings 1 - 4
Song of Solomon
I Kings 5 - 11
Ecclesiastes
I Kings 12 - 22
II Kings 1 - 14:25
Jonah
II Kings 14:26-29
Amos
II Kings 15 - 25
Psalms 1, 2, 10, 33, 43, 66, 67, 71, 89, 92 - 100,
Psalms 102, 104 - 106, 111 - 125, 127 - 136, 146 - 150
I Chronicles 1 - 16
Psalms 42, 44 - 50, 73 - 85, 87, 88
I Chronicles 17 - 29
II Chronicles 1 - 21
Obadiah
II Chronicles 22
Joel
II Chronicles 23 - 26:8
Isaiah 1 - 5
II Chronicles 26:9 - 23
Isaiah 6
II Chronicles 27 - 32
Isaiah 7 - 66
Hosea
Micah
Nahum
II Chronicles 33, 34
Zephaniah
II Chronicles 35
Habakkuk
Jeremiah 1 - 6, 11, 12, 26, 7 - 10, 14 - 20, 35, 36, 45, 25, 46 - 49,
Jeremiah 13, 22 - 24, 27 - 29, 50, 51, 30 - 33, 21, 34, 37 - 39, 52, 40 - 44
Lamentations
II Chronicles 36:1 - 8
Daniel
II Chronicles 36:9 - 21
Psalm 137
Ezekiel
II Chronicles 36:22, 23
Ezra 1 - 5:1
Haggai
Zechariah
Psalms 107, 126
Ezra 5:2 - 6:22
Esther
Ezra 7 - 10
Nehemiah
Malachi

From http://rosemck1.tripod.com/bible.html

Outline of Biblical history

2010-12-29T16:00:00.006-06:00

Grameme Goldworthy gave us a very useful chart to understand the outline of Biblical history in his book entitled "According to plan: The unfolding revelation of God in the Bible"

This is a good resource as we read the Bible.

Happy reading.

Psalm 119 meditaion Day 9

2010-12-28T16:01:00.002-06:00

Text Teth
Psalm 119 65-72

Do good to your servant
according to your word, O LORD.

Teach me knowledge and good judgment,
for I believe your commands.

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.

You are good, and what you do is good;
teach me your decrees.

Though the arrogant has smeared me with lies,
I keep your precepts with all my heart.

Their hearts are callous and unfeeling but I delight in your law.

It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.

The law from your mouth is more precious to me
than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

How do we process afflictions that happen to us?
Some might get bitter and turn away from the LORD.

Some think that it was their fault and condemn themselves.

The Psalmist sees that his affliction came from the LORD and thank God so that he can come back to God.

He said, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn of your decrees. Before I was afflicted I went astray."

The affliction he received was that the arrogant smeared him with lies. The arrogant had no feeling for him and was so callous.

He felt that he was unjustly treated. No one wants to be unjustly treated. When he was afflicted, he turned to the law of the LORD and saw God.

He obeyed God's word. He did not retaliate the arrogant but he used this event to learn of God's decrees. He confessed that God's word was more precious than any silver or gold.

Was he crazy and lost all the sense of reality?

No. This does not any sense unless you see Jesus who was pure yet afflicted. When I read the law of the LORD, I see clearly that I am a sinner who deserves to be punished. This is not just my vague feeling but it is very certain and objective.

What did God do? He sent his Son as a man and made him suffer from his birth until he died on the cross.

Why? He wanted to fulfill the Law's requirements. Jesus fulfilled everything yet he had to suffer for me.

So David said else where that your rod and your staff they comfort me. Our Father is the shepherd who uses his rod and staff to guide us and sometimes afflict us so that we might not stray too far from him.

But Jesus did not stray but God did not spare his rod and staff to punish him. God declared that he is just and righteous. Someone has to pay for our going astray. Jesus absorbed our punishment.

By his wounds we are healed.

So we put our confidence on God's word. He has done something good for us.

So we ask God to teach us his laws and decrees.

We are not surprised when we are afflicted. We can look at Jesus on the cross and only thank God.

God's affliction brings us to him, to the heart of God, This only makes sense when we look at him on the cross.

Do good to your servant. This includes your afflictions. Bring me back to you with your love.

Your law preserves my life. Thank you for giving me your law shown in Jesus so that I can know the value of your word.
It was good for me to be afflicted. It was good for Jesus to be afflicted for us. This is our saving grace.

Help me to confess like Augustine, your servant.

My love for you, O LORD, is not some vague felling: it is positive and certain. Your word struck into my heart and from that moment, I loved you...
More than all this, you will show pity on those whom you pity; you will show mercy; if it were not your mercy, heaven and earth would cry your praises to deaf ears.

I need help daily to hear you and praise you.

Have mercy on me and show your pity to me through your Son daily.

Do good to your servant.

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I can come to you and learn of your decrees.

Psalm 119 Day 8

2010-12-27T15:25:00.002-06:00

Text Heth
Psalm 119: 57-64

You are my portion, O LORD;
I have promised to obey your
words.
I have sought your face with all my
heart;
be gracious to me according to your
promise.
I have considered my ways
and have turned my steps to your statutes.
I will hasten and not delay
to obey your commands.
Though the wicked bind me with
ropes,
I will not forget your law.
At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws.
I am a friend to all who fear you,
to all who follow your precepts.
The earth is filled with love, O LORD;
teach me your decrees.

1. You are my portion.
How can I get my portion? From this verse if I obey God's word, I can get his portion.

Many claim that if God shows them and give them understanding then they will follow and obey God. Is this valid? But sometimes it does not work that way, we need to decide to obey God, then he shows his portion.

I need to commit to God's word then I can get his portion. Blessed are those who commit their lives to God. Unless I commit I cannot know. I know this in terms of how to have a good marriage and getting good results in my studies.

Why do I hesitate? Is God my portion or I want something else? When I examine my heart, I am very much embarrassed.

God wants us to consider and think things deeply regarding his statutes. I need to grow deeply and think things deeply. As I meditate your word, help me to encounter you and learn of you and know that your ways are true.

You are my good Father who wants to give good things to me. Help me to put my trust in your word.

2.The earth is filled with your love.

My Father created the heavens and the earth. Out of his love (John 17:24) he created us in his image.

We have God's image in us. That means that we have capacity to love others like the Father who loves his Son and his Son loving his Father.

I must be blind so that I do not see God's love in this world. I do not see well and do not hear well. Help me to know you and see me with your love. The world is broken but in God it is beautiful.

Teach me your decrees so that I can know you and help you follow you.

Psalm 119 Day 7

2010-12-25T12:48:00.002-06:00

Text Zayin
Psalm 119: 49-56

Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.
My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.

The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from your law.
I remember your ancient laws, O LORD, and I find comfort in them.

Indignation grips me because of the wicked who have forsaken your law.
Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge.

You decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge.

In the night I remember your name, O LORD, and I will keep your law.
This has been my practice: I obey your precepts.

This is Dec 25th. Merry Christmas.

I am in one of the gas stations on the way to Cincy. My car broke and waiting for my wife to pick me up. I parked my car and came back from the restroom break, I can not turn the key. The steering wheel locked. Really locked.

Here the Psalmist said that God's word gave him hope and preserved his life.
He then contrasts with the arrogant. The arrogant are proud. They have no constraints. They do not follow the law of the LORD.

What should be my practice when the things do not turn out and something happens on the way? Get mad? No. I learned to sing a song. This has to be my practice. I need more practice.

I am thinking who had the worst Christmas. It was my LORD who came down. When he came down, no one welcomed him. The Bible says that there was no room in the inn. We do not, by nature, value God's word.

But Jesus valued God's word. He had great hope on us. He came to save us and give us new life. Jesus came to fulfill God's promises.

As I look back my life, he has given me hope many times. When I was failing academically, he came to me and encouraged me to study and finish.

When I was overwhelmed by my sins and could not get out and only condemn myself and curse others, he came and gave me 1 Tim 1:15. Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst. This verse has given me hope and preserved my life.

Last night I remembered God's grace on me and my family, I could only say that your law is right and I obey you. I obey your precepts.

What Jesus had done is the theme of my song. As I meditate on Psalm 119 this break, grant me your eyes to see and learn to meditate you in any circumstances. I am a very emotional guy. Indignation and so much emotions gripe me. Help me not to forsake you but learn to practice to come to you.

I need more practice. I know so much but my knowledge does not save me. Help me to hear your word and put them into practice. This incident is a good opportunity to practice what I know. I need to develop good habits. Help me and learn to put my hope in your word and thank God that his word preserves my life, in this life and forever.

Immanuel
St. Paul, In
Dec 25 2010

Songs of the week two LORD's prayers

2010-12-24T15:50:00.005-06:00

One referred by Tifany

One by missonario Jose Ahn

Psalm 119 Day 6 Your unfailing love

2010-12-22T21:07:00.004-06:00

Text Waw
119 41-48

May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promises;
then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust your word.

Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws.

I will always obey your law, for ever and ever.

I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.

I will speak of your statutes before the king and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them.

I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, and I meditate on your decrees.

What is God's unfailing love?

Father loves his Son and Son loves Father (John 17:24). This is God's unfailing love for us. So our God the Father sent his Son for us, we are confident of his love.

God's salvation came according to God's promise. God promised Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah that the virgin would be with child and would give birth to a son.

His name is Immanuel -God with us.

He kept his promise.

Jesus came and became a man. From time to time, I am overwhelmed by God's love for me. Which is easier? For the virgin to be with child or God be with me. I think it will be the pure virgin to be with child.

When I see the odds of God being with me and its impossibility -how costly for him to be with me and to love me, I can only say, "I put my hope in your word."

One of the most traumatic event was for passing the qual for my Ph.D. It was so difficult and I studied so much. By God's grace, I passed. But for a while, I had nightmares. In my dream, I got a letter stating that I could not pass. I had to go to my wife and told her that I failed. Then I got up full of sweats.

It was just dreams but the bad news was so overwhelming. So I wrote down in a piece of paper, "Sam you passed" and put it next to my bed or in my pocket. As soon as I got up from this nightmare, I read it. It was so good to read. I passed.

Likewise, it is so good to read the good news of God. Jesus paid all my sins on his body. I can walk in freedom.

I can speak of your work to anyone.

I delight your commands.

I love your good news. I meditate on your decrees. "It is done. It is finished."

Thank you for your finished work. I put my trust and hope in your unfailing love. Your love never fails. Your words are sweeter than my honey.

Immanuel

2010-12-22T11:09:00.004-06:00

This picture was taken after Sammy's black Gospel Choir concert at U of I. All of our three sons were in musical this semester.

Sammy at the black Gospel Choir
Andrew Lee at Mullan in his HS production.
Peter Lee at the Joseph musical

They are very much musically talented. Their talents are not from me nor from my wife. It is purely God's grace upon us.

Now I am sitting at the cubical at the student Union. So quiet and so peaceful that it is unreal. But there is one reality that cannot be shaken. Immanuel -God with us.

I thank God for his grace upon my life. The question is which one is easier for God to do?
To be with me or the virgin giving birth to a son. But both are equally impossible. God's love for me is impossible love. My science education fails me. My logical sense fails me. My notion of justice fails me when I look at Immanuel.

I thank God for our students who know Immanuel. It is not my Sunday messages that they are coming to listen but they are coming to be with Immanuel.

Thank God for his people and his students. I thank God that my family can articulate the deep meaning of Immanuel when we serve the U of I students by God's grace only.

Indeed this is work of God. This is mystery of Christmas that God became a man for us.

Immanuel -God with us.

Palm 119 Day 5 -Teach me

2010-12-21T12:49:00.005-06:00

Text Psalm 119 33-40
He

Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.
Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.
Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared.
Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good.
How I long for your precepts!
Preserve my life in your righteousness.

What is Christian meditation?
Basically it is asking God to help us.

Teach me
Give me
Direct me
Help me to turn my heart
Help me to turn my eyes from the worthless things
Fulfill your promise
Take away the disgrace

It is humbly asking God to mold into the image of his Son.
We are asking God to preserve us in his righteousness.

So our life depends on God's righteousness. What Jesus had done for us, not what we can do for God.

As I grow older, I feel that I must do LESS so that Christ may do more through me.

Less stands for
Listen to the word of God
Empowered by the Spirit of God
Serve Christ and his people
Share the good news of God.

I think this sounds really cute. I am very proud of this acronym. As soon as I know that this is cute, I am becoming proud. Dear LORD, I need your help. Less is not just a theory but this is my life. My mind is always working. I am a micromanaging guy who loves to work on details. I am a workaholic. Love to work non stop.

I am sitting in the cubical. There is no one. All went home. So quiet. So peaceful. So unreal. I think I am able and can do many things but basic things such as learning and how to doing things, I must learn from the Bible. Even that I need God's help. Someone told me that Christian life consists of open arms toward God and asking God's help daily and moment by moment. Dear LORD, I think I know many things but that's not true. Help me to ask your help humbly so that I can do study (Savior teaching uniquely determines you).

It is always good to hear from you. Teach me always so that I may not forget.
Preserve me in your righteousness, not my righteousness

Psalm 119 Day 4

2010-12-20T10:38:00.003-06:00

Text
Daleth

119:25-32 (NIV version 1985)

I am laid low e set my in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.
I recount my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees.

Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.

My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious t me through your law.

I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame.

I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.

(Messenge version)
^25-32 I'm feeling terrible—I couldn't feel worse!
Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember?
When I told my story, you responded;
train me well in your deep wisdom.
Help me understand these things inside and out
so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
My sad life's dilapidated, a falling-down barn;
build me up again by your Word.
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;
grace me with your clear revelation.
I choose the true road to Somewhere,
I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me;
God, don't let me down!
I'll run the course you lay out for me
if you'll just show me how.

We are living in the broken world. Sometimes I feel terrible. I just want to crawl into a hole and sleep all day.I know that I must be passionate for you but sometimes I feel so empty and weary.

But I thank God who is Immanuel. He came to me and felt the exact same thing I felt. Last semester, one of my friends told me, "You are not my pastor." I asked him, "Who is your pastor?" He could not answer. I felt so bad for me and for him. I felt that I was so inadequate and could not help him.

What shall I do? Quit and give up? I began to recount your ways. How faithfully you have been with me and provided my everything I needed.

The Bible is very clear. We were dead in transgressions. But grace of God came and helped us. I could understand Jesus saying, "My soul is weary with sorrow." Jesus turned to the word of God and got his strength. (28)

Jesus chose God's way of truth and went to the cross. God raised him up when he obeyed God's commands. By this Jesus set my heart free.(32) It is not easy to understand God's ways. Without cross and resurrection we can only give up. God's good news gave much hope.

I do like my ways. Dear Lord, teach me your ways. Help me to humble myself and acknowledge that your ways are better than mine. I am humbly proud. Help me to be proudly humble. (Proud of you and humbly acknowledge your mercy).

You rescued me from my pit.

Help me to share your grace and love your people from my heart. Keep me from my deceitful way; be merciful to me when I meditate on your word.

Your word gives me strength each morning.

4 parental Taboos

2010-12-18T17:16:00.001-06:00

Psalm 119 -Day 3

2010-12-18T07:01:00.003-06:00

Text Psalm 119 17-24

Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word.
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.
My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.

You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands.
Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep your statues.
Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees.
Your statues are my delight; they are my counselors.

Where do we live? We are strangers on earth. Since we are strangers we do not follow the rules of this world nor conform to the pattern of this world.

The arrogant think that this world is the only place but not true. We have home not of this world.

My soul is not consumed at looking at your law all the time. I am very much distracted today. I know what I ought to be but not there yet. But I put my trust in his word. The word of God promised that God will do good things to me since he gave us his Son.

I trust your transforming power of your word. How can we be transformed? My mind has to be changed and you have to see the goodness of God's commands. (Rom 12)

I know this in principle that in order to grow, PPP is needed (Plow my heart with God's word, plant the word and pray). Knowing something and doing it is a different story. I need God's grace daily.

In order to see this we need God's help. Do good to your servant so that I can be transformed and see you. Here the Psalmist said that God's statues are his counselor, his helper. It guides him to know God and his law.

One person I cannot love. I tried and tried but could not for a while. I do not know why. Can I know the gospel? Can I know that Jesus died for me? Of course I do. Then why I could not follow my LORD's example.

If Jesus loves only ones he liked, then I am in a deep trouble. I have strayed away from God's statues.

You clearly told me to love you and your people. So I have to obey your statues. My love has to be directed to you and to your people, not to me. Help me to obey you. I know this but I am helpless to do so many times. I do not want to talk to him. I do not want to write a card for him but help me to reach out to him today by your grace.

As I meditate on your law, help me to have delight in you and in your statues. In order to do so I need your counseling today.

Coffee and Christ

2010-12-17T22:12:00.004-06:00

Coffee & Christ 16Dec2010, at the back side of Union near to the Quad

We thank our students - Mike Rora, Samaha and Rui and Christian, Jerry and Joe for volunteering.

Psalm 119 Day 2

2010-12-17T09:28:00.006-06:00

Text Psalm 119 9-16

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.

I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees.
With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your ways.

Verse 1-8 says that the nature of God's Word consists of:

the Law
Statutes
ways
precepts
decrees
Commands

What does the word of God do for a young man?
It keeps his ways pure.

Jesus the Word of God said,
"Blessed are the pure, they will see God." (Matt 5:8)

We have to see God so that we can be pure. Seeing God who is pure we can be pure. How can we see God?

By living according to God's word
Seek him with all my heart
Not stray from the word of God
Hide the word of God
Praise God and ask God to teach us
Recount the laws
Following God's statues with joy
Meditate on God's precepts
Consider your ways
Delight in God's decrees
Not neglect God's word

When we hear and practice God's law, it gives joy and delight. God's word demands our obedience. God is not asking us to do something but God's word is our life.

We are living in a not so pure world. How can we live as children of God? Is living pure life possible?

Yes. When we see Jesus who lived the pure life and could see God we can have hope to live and follow our LORD Jesus' way.

I remember one occasion when Jesus was 12 or so, he went up to Jerusalem with his parents. There many Bible scholars were amazed by his wisdom. (Luke 2)

Jesus came from God. God sent his Son to us. He longed for his real Father God and his word. He longed to be his Father's temple. But when his earthly parents found him at the temple after separating for a few days, he went down to Joseph and Mary's house and became obedient to them.

We always says that if this person is worthy then I would obey. In this case, Jesus was far wiser than his parents. But he went down and honored his parents that God placed him under. He heard God's command and obeyed the Law. In this way, he could be pure.

His death on the cross is for us who could not be pure and could not see God. In order for us to know God and see God, our LORD Jesus had to die on the cross in obedience to God the Father's word.

God's law points out our impurity. So we do not like it but without knowing how impure we are and what it takes to make us pure, we can not have delight in God's word.

We see many times when Jesus spoke the word of God came out. He hid God's word in his heart. Not only hid the word of God, he obeyed them. In this way, young man Jesus could be pure.

As we reflect Jesus' life and his devotion for the word of God, we could have confidence on the word of God. Only word of God, Jesus makes us pure.

I praise you because you gave us the best. Your very word of God Jesus to us. He is our delight and he is our joy. I live among people with unclean lips. I am a man of unclean lips. I ask God to purify me with his word.

I have studied chemistry and used to work as an analytical chemist. There is nothing pure in this world. No pure water, no pure compounds. But you say that your word makes us pure.

Are you so boastful or you are the one who can do impossible? Help us to put my trust in your word. My confidence comes from your word. Make me pure so that I can see you and praise you.

Psalm 119 meditation -Day 1

2010-12-16T16:31:00.007-06:00

We are meditating Psalm 119 during the break as a community. This is one of the longest Psalm.
This is day 1. 21 more to go.

Text:
Aleph

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who keep his statues and seek him with all their heart.

They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways.

You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.

Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!

Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.

I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.

I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.

Who are they? Can any men do such things? Perfectly obey God's law, precepts, and decrees and love God with all their heart? Is this Psalm about us or about Jesus the Son, God the Father and God the Spirit? We are always shameful but what can heal us? It is the law of God and his decrees. Our God has high hopes for us.

This Psalm starts with God and then we can have hope in us. I thank God who sent his Son to us so that we can have hope to love God and obey him only and from our whole heart.

In this way, we can be blessed. Doubled blessed. We see God's grace here for us.

We have hope because God's love is unfailing and he is with us. He did not utterly forsaken us. So we praise God.

Globalization

2010-12-16T16:23:00.001-06:00

(Full session video, or watch a specific section by clicking a link below)