Lord, Hear Our Prayers! (The Week of June 22, 2020)

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

 

“Amazing Grace”, HJ Ahn

Hi Family!!! 

 

It is a gorgeous day today and a gorgeous week this week since we have met in person and worshiped together last Sunday! It was a little bit of an emotional day because there is nothing like worshiping God together in one place, singing, praying, reading, listening and visioning through the Words of God.

 

Even though there were some restrictions we had to follow for the safe practice dealing with COVID 19, our hearts were dancing with God and with each other. Our sunshine looks little different and our rain even looks little different because of the day that we celebrated together, the day that God has made! It was all in the presence of God!

 

Even though some of us were not able to make it because of some health concerns or other personal reasons. However, we know wherever we worship in spirit and truth, God is always there in His presence!

 

So now we will continue to journey with Christ Jesus taking steps each day this week. So here they are!

 

1. Take a little moment of meditation on Romans 6:4b, “Newness of life” each day this week.

2. Memorize Matthew 10:37-38 today.

3. Sing with Psalm 86:1-10 each day this week. 

4. Take up the cross and follow Jesus from today.

5. Pray for the salvation of my parents this week.

6. Join Discipleship Essential Class (6/24 @ 7:00 p.m.)

Now we will continually put the recordings of our worship and other events through YouTube, Facebook and Tweeter. Also if you are not comfortable to come for in-person worship, you can join us through ZOOM on Sunday 9:20 a.m. for worship, and on Wednesday 6:00 p.m. for midweek Praise and Prayer, or any other open gatherings. And if you do not have internet access, you can also join us through Zoom in our regular worship and gathering hours to listen.

  

Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we take next steps together as one body!

 

Be clean and keep your safe distance from every unseen enemy around us!!

pk

Lord, Hear Our Prayers! (The Week of June 15, 2020)

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

“Lord, You’ve Been Good to Me”, 5 Blind boys of Mississippi

 

Hi Family!!! 

 

We have only a few days before we get together in person for worship! And we are so excited about our gathering in our sanctuary again this coming Sunday! This morning, interestingly, we lost our telephone connection so we were not able to call or receive phone calls from others. We didn’t have an internet connection because of it. Lots of things were on hold until we got the line back to normal. What an inconvenience in this fast moving technological era!

 

As I have waited for the recovery of our telephone line from the telephone company, I thought about our connection with God and one another for the last three months dealing with COVID 19. Not very easy! Frustration, stress, fear, anxiety, loneliness, sense of loss and more…

 

However, we are slowly getting back to normal following some safe guidelines - wearing masks, keeping social distance and limiting singing hymns and fellowship. Even though our worship gathering at the sanctuary will not be the same as before COVID 19, we are looking forward to that day! And we will continue to worship in spirit and truth.

 

So now we will continue to journey with Christ Jesus taking steps each week. So here they are!

 

1. Take a little moment of meditation on Romans 5:6, “Just the right time” each day this week.

2. Memorize Matthew 10:2-4 today.

3. Sing with Psalm 116 each day this week. 

4. Pray for the missionaries around the world this week.

5. Be a laborer for the harvest (spiritual) from today.

6. Stand up for Jesus from today.

 

Now we will continually put the recordings of our worship and other events through YouTube, Facebook and Tweeter. Also if you are not comfortable to come for in-person worship, you can join us through ZOOM on Sunday 9:20 a.m. for worship, and on Wednesday 6:00 p.m. for midweek Praise and Prayer, or any other open gatherings. And if you do not have internet access, you can also join us through Zoom in our regular worship and gathering hours to listen.

  

Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we take next steps together… as one body!

Looking forward to seeing you all this coming Sunday!

 

Be clean and keep your safe distance from every unseen enemy around us!!

pk

Lord, Hear Our Prayers! (The Week of June 8, 2020)

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

 "Are You Washed in the Blood", Faith for the Family

Hi Family!!! 

 

We have a good news! We are going to reopen our church building for in-person worship in two weeks, from the Sunday, June 21. We are now getting more understanding of COVID 19 - how to live with it and how to protect each other from it. So we will prepare some guidelines for you before you come. It means our in-person service will be little different from the time before COVID 19 with wearing masks, keeping social distance and limited singing hymns and fellowship. Even though our worship gathering at the sanctuary will not be the same as before COVID 19, we are looking forward to that day! And we will continue to worship in spirit and truth.

 

Now we just celebrated full presence of God through Trinity Sunday and we truly want to live in the fullness of God continually whatever happens around us because we are the one who held the hope of eternal Kingdom for the world. So now we will continue to take steps to the higher ground with that hope!

So here they are!

 

1. Take a little moment of meditation on Genesis 1:28a, “Be Fruitful” each day this week.

2. Memorize Matthew 28:19-20 today.

3. Sing with Psalm 8 taking just 5-10 minutes each day this week.

4. Pray for the community leaders this week.

5. Bring God’s light around me from today.

6. Seek God’s wisdom each day this week.

 

Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we take next steps together… as one body!

 

Be clean and keep your safe distance from every unseen enemy around us!!

pk

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Markesan & Princeton Emmanuel Prayer List

(The Week of June 8, 2020)

 

This Week’s Updates – Laybourn Family for God’s comfort and strength; Dan for back surgery and healing; Jayneanne healing from Lyme disease; Frank, Misty’s Father, in hospice care; Reopening Preparation; Our nation for Christ hearts

I Will Come Out as Pure as Gold!

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.” (Helen Lemmel, 1922) 

“Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus” by Sounds Like Reign

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ,

It has been quite a challenging few months since we have practiced social distancing. Especially, it is quite hard when we are not able to do what we used to do or want to do, like worship, bible study, fellowship, serve and talk freely with our fellow brothers and sisters or sit with each other in the place where we like to gather because all those are very important for our life.

We know it is not all as it continues without promising. Its impact is getting stronger - psychologically, emotionally and even financially on every aspect of our life, not positively but negatively. “How long could we live like this?” “Where is the way out?” “Will that time truly come?” I wondered again and again and again.

However, as I prepared each week’s worship, the story of Israel people also came to my mind again and again. About twenty-five hundred years ago, the people of Israel went through challenges, not just for a few months but around sixty years, exiled far from home in a foreign land named Babylon, and lived as war slaves, 2nd class citizens, and were thrown into the fire or hungry lions’ den, depending on the unpredictable order of Babylonian King, just to keep their faith according to the Old Testament stories.

Then I realized that these were not the only years they experienced challenges. It happened during their time in Egypt under the Pharaoh. Even recently, for the last two thousand years, they had to live far from their homeland, Israel, as foreigners all around the world until 1945. Their stories are the series of pain and suffering dealing with uncertainty.

Interestingly, all of those were the result of human’s sin, by the disobedience against God or running away from God apart from God’s law - a protection from the dangers of human life and a helping hand to grow as a people of God, from the beginning, believe it or not. Amazingly, those stories continue to point to a different direction from our human reality. In other words, those stories are powerful enough to help us to turn our current reality into divine reality. Every challenge is our opportunity to come closer to God and experience His power.

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, NRSV)

As we take the discipline of cleaning and distancing from the unseen enemy, we have accepted this challenge as our opportunity to grow into God’s perfect love so that, through the challenging time, our faith, our purpose and our focus will be renewed, simplified, and sharpened as we worship in spirit and truth. 

So now, brothers and sisters in Christ, for the last 10 weeks, as we have worshiped the Lord in spirit and truth wherever we were, do you feel much stronger than before now? Do you see the purpose of life in God much clearly now? Do you have a clearer vision of your life for the Kingdom of God eternal now?

If not, let us share another story from Job who suffered without reason. This is what he said as he went through the deep and long dark tunnel of his life.

“...But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. (Job 23:10)!”

Do you know what? It actually happened as he went through that challenging time caused by others’ sin. Everything was renewed and restored. Furthermore, his blessings doubled! But most of all, he began to have personal relationship with God through that hardship!

Looking forward to that day in God’s grace,

Pastor Kyochul

Lord, Hear Our Prayers! (The Week of June 1, 2020)

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and 

unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

“The Church’s One Foundation” 

sung by the Plymouth choir and Congregation of First Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska

Hi Family!!! 

We all went through the night well under the severe thunder storms! We always learn that God who made heaven and earth is with us even when we walk through the dark valley! We have much clear sky now but little warmer. Always after the thunderstorm, there is a new beginning! However, we call repentance first as God heals us because, without it, God’s healing won’t come. However, as we pray, we are truly hoping for the new beginnings! Seems like we don’t have many things to do; however, we can endure with God’s love and grace until all those are over and also we can pray continually, the most powerful tool for us to deal with the reality of sin and death. “We shall flow rivers of living water!” So, I would like to invite you to join me this week as a church together to pray. However, before we pray, I also would like to invite you to take some steps with me. So here they are!

1. Take a little moment of meditation on John 7:38, “Flow Rivers of Living Waters” this week.

2. Memorize 1 Corinthians 12:13 today.

3. Sing with Psalm 104 taking just 5-10 minutes each day this week.

4. Pray for the confirmands each day this week as they prepare the Credo statement.

5. Prayer of the Holy Spirit to anoint me each day this week.

6. Prayer for those who graduated this year.

Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we take next steps together… as one body!

Be clean and keep your safe distance from every unseen enemy around us!!

pk

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Markesan & Princeton Emmanuel Prayer List

(The Week of June 1, 2020)

This Week’s Updates – Isabell for her recovery from a surgery and moving to NC; Carrick for healing and recovery from ATV accident; Brent, Open heart Surgery in June; Judy recovery from concussion, For our nation;  

Lord, Hear Our Prayers! (The Week of May 25, 2020)

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and 

unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

“Kyrie Eleison (Lord, Have Mercy)”, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Westminster Choir

Hi Family!!! 

I almost skipped taking the next steps this week… but God reminds me this morning, “Wake up!” Thanks be to God! Even though this week’s step for us might be a little slower than other weeks, definitely, we will never stop our steps to the higher ground. However, we will do it humbly before God. So, I would like to invite you to join me this week as a church together. If you took some steps already, wait for me! So here they are!

-Maditate on a few words, from John 17:3, “Eternal Life” each day this week.
-Memorize 1 Peter 5:8, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring Lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour” today.
-Sing with Psalm 68 taking just 5-10 minutes each day this week.
-Give thanks to God for those who shared the gifts of life for others this week.
-Pray for the pure heart in the leadership of our country this week.
-Plant the seed of faith in my vegetable garden this week.
-Ask God to help me to see my true identity in His Kingdom this week.

For online worship service, there is a little change and addition. We will continually put the recordings of our worship and other events through YouTube, Facebook and Tweeter; however, we will also use Zoom for those who do not have internet access. It means we will not use our current telephone access numbers that we have shared through our newsletter any longer. But we will use the new telephone number and access code through Zoom. If you’d like, you can choose to join us through ZOOM on Sunday 9:20 a.m. for worship.

Also, don’t forget to join our Dive-In Gathering this coming Sunday @ 9:30 a.m. at the Markesan UMC parking lot. The Recorded Service will be online as usual, but during our Drive-In Gathering, we will also celebrate the Holy Communion. Please plan to come a little earlier so that we can start our short program right at 9:30 a.m.  

For this week, lots of things happened around us, shocking us and saddened us. It means we need to pray more for one another to seek God and his presence as we are mad at the human sinfulness. Also we noticed, in our nation, we are divided by the political views on wearing masks in public. Whether we choose to wear it or not, and whether we keep social distance or not in public, and whether we like it or not, we do this because we care for one another.

So before we do choose any, we will remember what Jesus commanded us to do, giving his life for others.

Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we take next steps together… disciplining ourselves, keeping alert!

Be clean and keep your distance from those unseen enemies!!

pk

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Markesan & Princeton Emmanuel Prayer List

(The Week of May 25, 2020)

This week’s Updates – Betty K’s Cataract surgery this week; Isabel B’s moving to NC, her daughter's house in June; Rick and his family for God’s comfort; Ted and Margaret’s moving this week; Terri, recovering from pacemaker putting in.

Lord, Hear Our Prayers! (The Week of May 18, 2020)

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and 
unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

“Be Still My Soul” ,Libera

Hi Family!!! 

Our next steps for this week began with some moisture since we are having a good amount of rain which will bring much green in our season! However, are we having Monday syndrome this morning? I know people call it like that; however, I call it warming up time after some good rest through Sabbath Day since we won’t do warming up all week long. It is quite a normal for most of us and a sign of good rest I presume! So, now, are we ready to shift our gear a little bit? Here they are! I would like to invite you to take those steps with me this week as a church together.

1.       Meditate on John 14:2b, “loved by my Father”, each day this week.

2.       Memorize 1 Peter 3:18 today.

3.      Sing with Psalm 31 each day this week taking just 5:10 minutes.

4.      Pray for the confirmands this week who are preparing their Credo.

5.      Love my God with all my strength from today.

6.      Keep my conscience clear from today.

Now we have our prayer list updated for this week. Let us continue to call upon the name of the Lord as we let our Holy Spirit continue to sanctify us as we taking next steps together! We truly give thanks to God since Christ makes the unrighteous righteous!

Be clean and keep your distance from those unseen enemies!!

pk

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Markesan & Princeton Emmanuel Prayer List

(The Week of May 18, 2020)

This week's New Prayer Request: Evy, recovering from pacemaker putting in last week; Ken Dahlke family for God’s comfort and strength.