Who Is Your King?

Some years ago, YP Lee, one of the best Korean soccer players who had played in the Premier League in England, came back to his home church and shared a story about his mom during the Christian worship Service. 

When he was young, he thought his mother was the kindest angel in the whole world. However, as he has grown, he came to realize that his mother was an angel only for him, her son. In other words, his mother was not very kind person for everyone. Obviously, he was very brave man! 

Every mother can be an angel to her own children or her loved ones. So could be every father or any people for their beloved family members. It is a human nature. 

No wonder why Jesus mention about this human reality - "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him as scorpion? (Luke 11:11-12)" However, Jesus pushes us little further. "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them." (Luke 6:32) 

This biblical reality challenges our human reality. How can we move further? Our Holy Spirit guides us through the words of an apostle Paul. 

What if we all treat each other like Paul did? 

I am just wondering what makes those two singers sang this ancient song in harmony...  and what if we treat each other as through we were treating our God, the King?

By the way, who is your king?

  

“My God, O King" based on Psalm 145 & “His Name” 

Duet by Lim & Yun at London King’s Cross Church 

PSALM 145 
1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

² Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

³ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

⁴ One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

⁵ I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.

⁶ And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.

⁷ They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

⁹ The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

¹⁰ All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee.

¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;

¹² To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

¹³ Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

¹⁴ The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

¹⁵ The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.

¹⁶ Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

¹⁸ The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

¹⁹ He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

²⁰ The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

²¹ My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Three Different Kinds of Trumpets?

Three different trumpets?

Here they are….

Scandalize My Name by Katherine Battle & Jessy Norman

No! No! by People

Scandalize My Name Trumpet & No No Trumpet!


However, here is another kind..

Let the Bright Seraphim by Katherine Battle & Wynton Marsalis

 G. F. Handel's opera Samson

Amazingly we all can be a trumpet like this by the grace of God. 

God is truly willing but are we willing?

Yes! Yes!

Let the bright seraphim
in burning row,
Their loud, uplifted angel trumpets blow.
Let the cherubic host,
in tuneful choirs,
Touch their immortal harps
with golden wires.

inspired by John Milton's Writing

Unless we work on it by the sweat of our face...

“...God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, 

for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, CEB)

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

It has been quite a week last week with our energetic youth at Wildfire Mission in Superior, WI - rising early, worshiping fully, working hard, hydrating often, and playing late. Where does their energy come from? It is a Mystery! So when I got back home, my body was so exhausted. However, for some reason, I was full of energy even though my whole body was aching. Another mystery! But you will understand if you join our next mission trip with youth!

2019 Wildfire, Superior, WI

Anyway, one of the places where we walked at Wildfire was the Harbor House Crisis Shelter. In the morning, after we completed the mission of demolition of the wall to build a new one in the basement, we went out and joined with the other groups to fix the swing set in the playground and pull out weeds. 

Joyously pulling out weeds in the playground, one kid of the Harbor House came to me and asked, “Why do you pull out these little white flowers? I love those.” He was right because those little white flowers were beautiful. So I wondered, “What am I doing here? Why am I trying to get rid of these beautiful flowers?” However, in a moment, it came to my mind, “Yes, Kiddo! Those flowers are beautiful in the open field. However, it is not safe to leave them growing in the playground.” 

Then I found quite a few young maple trees in the middle of the playground. So I pulled them out. But because he saw me pulling them out again, he looked down and asked me again, “I love those plants. Why do you pull them out?” I wondered again, “What am I doing here? Why am I trying to get rid of those beautiful little baby maple trees?” However, again, in a moment, it came to my mind, “You are right Kiddo! It will grow beautifully and will give us good shade and maple syrup someday. However, if it grows in the playground, the slide and swing cannot stay here. Do you want the swings and slide and monkey bars or those trees?” It seemed like he understood me.

Reckless Love by Cory Asbury

Everything has its own place to grow and prosper. Even though dandelions and creeping Charlies are God’s creation, they are not for my flower garden, but for the open field. Thorns and thistles are neither for my lawn nor for my vegetable garden. If they come inside of my garden, I have to pull them out and get rid of them to protect my beautiful and fruitful flowers and vegetables.      

“...Weeds and thistles will grow for you, even as you eat the field’s plants; 

by the sweat of your face you will eat bread.” (Genesis 3:18)

Actually, the creation story, after Adam and Eve’s fall from the Garden of Eden, tells us that we have to work hard to keep our garden fruitful and beautiful. How about our spiritual life? Because of our sinfulness, our bad behaviors can grow, our wrong attitude can be strengthened, our dirty language can be multiplied, our countless worries and fears can choke our lives UNLESS we work on it by the sweat of our face, I mean by the good fight.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now how can we work on it by the sweat of our face? And how can we fight the good fight to make our spiritual garden much beautiful and fruitful?

We will continually take small steps with Christ Jesus who loves, forgives, and serves as we choose to stand between right and left with a well-balanced life even under the hot summer sun! 

Join me…

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kyochul