Will We See Remarkable Things Today?

Message Text: Luke 5:26, Matthew 14:22-33

--from Nakwon EM February 17th 2007 Sunday Worship Service
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Driver Learns Valuable Lesson About Traffic Signs

Parked on the side of the road, waiting to catch speeding drivers, a state trooper sees a car puttering along at 22 mph. Thinking the driver is as dangerous as a speeder, the state trooper turns on his lights and pulls the car over.

As he approaches the vehicle, the officer notices there are five elderly ladies inside—two in the front seat and three in the back—wide-eyed and white as ghosts.

The driver, obviously confused, says, "Officer, I don't understand. I was going the exact speed limit. What seems to be the problem?"

The trooper, trying to contain a chuckle, explained to her that 22 was the route number—not the speed limit.

A bit embarrassed, the woman grins and thanks the officer for pointing out her error.

"Before you go," the officer says, "I have to ask: Is everyone in this car okay? These women seem awfully shaken."

"Oh," she answered, "they'll be all right, sir. We just got off of Route 127."

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This reminded me of something big Jane would try to pull off. =)

amen to that!

I know I haven't posted in this blog in a while, but I wanted to share this testimony I saw in the web:

I was preaching somewhere in a town of 5,000 people and this guy [who was a street preacher] . . . had earrings and everything and hair all moussed and all this stuff because man, he was working the street. . . . He’s the dude, he’s the man you know, Serpico for Jesus type thing . . . and he’s like you don’t understand, you’re in context, you know, you’re preaching . . . [And I said] look, I worked inner city Dallas, I lived with male prostitutes, alright? And I’ll tell you how I dressed: I wore a pair of blue jeans, tennis shoes, a shirt, and my hair was combed. ‘Cause I want to be honest with you, those guys down there selling their bodies and the other guy’s selling drugs, and the girls dying of AIDS, they could care less whether I looked like them or not. What they wanted was someone who loved them. So that whole idea of you gotta look like them to relevant–no, you gotta love them to be relevant.

- Paul Washer

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I think that in our effort to be "culturally relevant" in reaching the lost, and to be "identified" with the "unchurched," we have somehow degenerated in our own conviction and hid our ugly compromising attitudes behind a facade of evangelistic zeal.

Was that too much of a mouthful?

To put it bluntly:

Quit using excuse of "relevance" to flaunt your unwillingness to live a life consecrated (which consequently means 'set apart') unto God.

Your "likeness" to the lost will not save them: only the pure, unadulterated, uncompromising Word of God will.

Something to think about, no?

Hell, Blood & Heaven

Luke 16:19-31 chronicles a famous parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It tells the story of a rich man who ultimately ends up in hell due to his negligence of his fellow brother, Lazarus. Hell is a topic many are often shy away from. Furthermore, there are those who are reluctant to believe the very notion of Hell, despite believing in Heaven. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus illustrates 3 principles regarding Hell.

1. Principle of Justice -v19-20 shows how during his time on earth, the rich man lived lavishly, while a fellow brother in need spent his respective days suffering at Lazarus' gate. The life you live now will determine how you will live your life thereafter.
2. Principle of Finality - While you live on this earth, God will give you many chances to come to Him, but once you're time is up, there will no more chances to repent. Our life is not a right, it's a privilege. Therefore it can be take away any given moment. We life as if we are guaranteed tomorrow despite everything around us testify our fragile our existence is. Furthermore, the existence of Hell serves as a ultimate proof of God's respect for us. It is the ultimate demonstration of our gift of freedom of choose.
3. Principle of Provisional Grace - In v27-30, Lazarus begs Abraham to sent Lazarus to his brothers to warn them about Hell, however "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' “God has given us everything we need to obtain eternal life.

So then, what does the bible say about Heaven?

1. Newness - Nothing on this earth remains new. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon laments over and over that despite all the riches and pleasures he acquired, nothing remained new. Everything eventually faded away. Yet according the Revelation, John describes heaven as a sense of forever new. Everything will forever surprise you, forever leave you in awe.
2. Beauty - Not just any kind of beauty, but the type of beauty that comes from purity.
3. Light - In Rev 31:23 it talks about how we will forever bask in the glory of the Lords' light.

So what is the difference between Heaven and Hell? Blood. For ultimately it is your sin that drags you into Hell, but it will be His blood that will save you from it.

--from Nakwon EM February 10th 2007 Sunday Worship Service
*To listen to this sermon in its entirety, please contact James Kim

"hey what you know! "newness" is actually a real word?!"

Retreat Pics and Video

Some of the pics are being shown on the right.
If you click on the pics, you should be able to see the originals and here's the link for all of the pics we took at the retreat.

As for the videos, it took me the whole day, but I finally uploaded them.
I just posted two of them below.
If you want to view or download all of them, just let me know.


James



Group BRWY