Joy to the World the Lord Is Come!

“No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to 

make His blessings flow far as the curse is found” (Isaac Watts, UMH 246).

 

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

 

One day, for a certain reason, a song that I sang last Christmas came to my mind and it made me hum  all day long. “Hm Hm Hum Hum Hum Hum Hum Hum”, I mean, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King…” Believe it or not, outside, there was snow! 

 

I remembered someone told me, “Spring will not come until July in Wisconsin.” However, I could not let it be. So I hummed more. “Hm Hm Hum Hum Hum Hum Hum Hum”, I mean, “and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing…” Then, guess what? All the snow was gone in the afternoon! Can you believe that because I hummed? Actually, no matter what, spring is here even in Wisconsin!

 

So how’s your soul today? It is well with my soul?

 

By the way, some years ago, computer scientists created artwork that changes all the time according to how the viewer feels. Actually, the computer program analyzes the position and shape of the viewer's mouth, the angle of eye brows, and the openness of the eyes, and other several facial features to determine the viewer’s emotional state. Then, based on the viewer’s mood, it alters. It is a kind of emotional mirror. So if joy is seen on the face, the artwork will show up in bright colors but if there’s a scowl, the image will become dark and somber.

 

Just wondering what kind of image it will show if I stand in front of that artwork.

 

However, two thousand years ago, there was a different kind of artwork on the cross, named Jesus Christ. Whatever he saw, he showed only one thing. When people treated him badly, mocked him, spat on him, and gambled on his clothes, he showed only one thing. When people nailed him on the cross, and even when they betrayed him and abandoned him, he showed only one thing.

 

“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34a, NLT).

 

What is it? It is God’s love that broke the chain of our sin and death and moved us into the life of eternal joy! 

 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who 

believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16, NRSV).

 

Because he is full of this kind of love, it overflows from him no matter what! And if we are touched by that love, everything changes! Even our curse becomes a blessing! How can we not sing, “Joy to the World” all day long… I mean, forever?

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have we touched by his love yet? We need it, don’t we? So now, in this month of April, I would like to invite you to join us on this new journey letting this love fully touch us so that we can hum “Joy to the World” all day long without ceasing! Join us!

 

 

Grace and Peace,  

Pastor Kyochul

 

 

Lord! Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace!

“Make Me a Channel of Your Peace, 

Where There is Hatred, Let Me Bring Your Love…” (TFWS 2171).

 

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

 

How’s your soul today? It is well with my soul? 

 

For the last several months, I could not use the left side of my teeth very well because of the pain it brought. And even drinking water was not very easy for me. So one day, I went to see my dentist to repair a decaying and infected tooth. Actually, it ended up with a root canal. It sounded complicated though, the procedure was just to remove the pulp to treat that particular tooth. 

 

So what did they do first? 

 

They put me on a very comfortable chair… which was a good part. But, as soon as I was situated on it comfortably, they covered my eyes with dark colored sunglasses and then fixed my mouth with some unknown plastic blocks, to keep it open and then they placed a sheet of robber around that tooth. 

 

Which means, I could not talk. Actually, I could not do anything when they cleaned it up, filled it up and covered it up! However, now I am able to drink and chew without pain! The beauty of the root canal! So, it is well with my soul now!

 

Anyway, through this month of March, we are entering into the season of Lent, forty days of preparation to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Historically, Lent began as a period of fasting and preparation for baptism by new believers in Christ and then became a time for penance by all believers. 

 

In other words, it is now time for having a root canal done… for our spiritual tooth if there is any infected or decaying one. I'm pretty sure we all do.  However, it doesn’t sound easy, does it? 

 

But why? Because we might have to deal with some areas, hidden, abandoned, ignored and blinded spots, deep inside of our hearts, that caused some pains of our life or made our life stinky. 

 

And it might make us uncomfortable when we deal with that directly. So, not many people want to go there freely and honestly, I mean, our reality of sin and death. However, as we let God work through us in trust during this Lent, we will experience a total freedom from that bondage of pain, I mean, the power of Jesus’ resurrection! It is the beauty of Lent!

 

So now are we ready for this forty days of Lenten Journey together, I mean, for having a spiritual root canal?

 

Actually, for us, it is little more than a spiritual root canal because, during Lent, our living God… not only cleans us and fixes us but also makes us into a certain instrument for His purpose, I mean a totally different one. 

 

Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles 

and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel” (Acts 9:15, NLT).

 

We know Saul, a Pharisee of Pharisees, who persecuted Christians before he met Christ on the way to Damascus. But later on, he became Paul, an apostle. After he had his spiritual root canal done… by the hands of God, he became God's chosen instrument. It is a beauty of God’s hands! 

 

Once He touches, everything becomes new, with a new identity, with a new purpose, and with a new meaning… for a new way of life! 

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we looking for that… through this Lenten season, a new identity, a new purpose, and a new meaning? 

 

In this month of March, we will experience how God makes us as his chosen instrument of His peace. As we let God touch us, cleans us, mold us and fill us, we will take small steps in trust! This will be another exciting and exhilarating month trusting God alone! So, now I would like to invite you to join us on this new journey of spiritual root canal! Join us!

 

Grace and Peace,   

Pastor Kyochul

“Don’t be afraid. I am here!” (John 6:20b, NLT).

 

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

 

Now, we are stepping into our second month of this year already! In January, our first month of this year, we just checked the water temperature and the condition of the water in a shallow water near the land before we move into the deeper water. So, as we move into much deeper water this month, we might be able to enjoy the water more, the beauty of God’s creation in a new way; however, we might experience some strong wind storms too. Are we ready to take all those boldly now, whatever it comes?

 

Some years ago, after Jesus fed thousands of people with five barley loaves and two fish, I mean after he made an incredible miracle in front of people, Jesus’ disciples got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. 

 

Actually, they waited for Jesus to join them; however, until darkness fell, Jesus did not show up. So they decided to cross the water in darkness by themselves. But in the middle of the lake, a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. So they tried very hard to move on in darkness in the middle of the lake. But suddenly, they saw Jesus walking on the water toward that struggling boat. They were terrified because they did not know what it was. We know what happened after that. Jesus said, “Hey! Don’t be afraid! It’s me!” They might say happily, “Oh! Jesus, come in please!” Actually, they did!

 

“Then, they were eager to let him in the boat and immediately 

they arrived at their destination” ( John 6:21, NLT). 

 

It means, they were able to move across the lake safely!

 

When I was driving one day, I saw the snow covered lake, I mean a frozen lake. They are all around us now. Then, something came to my mind, “Wow, everybody can walk across the lake like Jesus in our winter time, even though it is on the ice.” 

 

There might be many ways to move across the water like through swimming, taking a boat, or walking on the frozen water, even driving on it. However, what is the safest way to move across the water? Just think about it! The depth of the water might be a problem, and unpredictable movement of the water below, and the weather like a strong gale, and furthermore, in darkness?

 

However, we witness that the safest way to cross the water is walking with Jesus, no matter what!

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this month of February, as usual, we will talk about how to wade in the water, I mean in the relational water which is sometimes peaceful, sometimes roaring, fluctuating, swirling, shaking, and sometimes frozen, muddy, or clear like the water in the lake. How can we cross the water together safely no matter what? The answer is the same! With Jesus alone!  

 

Another exciting and exhilarating month journeying with Jesus! So, now I would like to invite you to join us this new journey of wading in the water together with Jesus! Join us!

 

Grace and Peace,  

Pastor Kyochul

Arise and Shine!

 

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;

let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing”

(UMH 246, Isaac Watts, 1719).

 

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

 

As I waited for the New Year quietly after Christmas, we had a big snow. What a gift of time for us to stay in a house to clean up our old stuff, even our thoughts and minds, for the New Year 2022!  I mean, for our new beginnings! Actually, after shoveling the snow outside, I took a little time to clean up the old stuff looking around the house. Do you know what I found? It’s a very interesting ceramic Christmas house with a chimney.

 

Actually, it is a wind-up music box.    

 

“Ding-di-ding-ding, ding-di-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding…” 

 

An interesting feature of this ceramic house is the Santa flying around the chimney when the music is on. Some years ago, when my kids were very little, they loved it! “Winding up, waiting, listening and hooraying… winding up again, waiting, listening and hooraying!”

 

How many times did they try? Numerous times! However, unfortunately, it does not work anymore because it has been broken for many years. So it is staying in the corner of the bookshelf silently. Even Santa on the chimney is missing.

 

Anyway, as I held the broken wind-up music box, I thought about those special days between Christmas and New Year’s Day with snow. It was truly winding up time for us before the music is on!

 

We all know that it was a quite challenging year last year as we dealt with pandemic, the direction of our nation, and its division, and the violence, hate crime, sugar coated political correctness, abusive power by the mass media and big tech, and the confusion between right and wrong, truth and lies. And those were not all. How about the wildfires, floods, and wintertime tornados. You name it! Then we sing...

 

“Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, 

I am worn, through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light; 

take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home” (UMH 474, Thomas Dorsey, 1932).

 

However, we were not the only ones who sang this song as we prepared our new year during those days. About three thousand years ago, there was a man named Isaiah who brought the message of God when the people of Israel were exactly like that. The nation was divided into two, the Northern kingdom, Israel, and the southern kingdom, Judah. It was the dark days of the civil war between those two kingdoms. And Israel was destroyed by Assyria. In other words, they were all exhausted, tired, and weak and worn. They lost their hope; they lost their direction; and they lost their God.  However, this man of God, Isaiah, brought the message for them and for their nation.

 

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory 

of the Lord rises upon you” (Isaiah 60:1, NIV).

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we know all those things happening around us now are inevitable because it is the human reality, sin and death. However, there is also the divine reality that helps us to break through the human reality brought by Isaiah this month as we take a first step for this new beginning! God says our light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon us!

 

So, arise and shine!

 

How exciting and how exhilarating it sounds! So, now I would like to invite you to join us on this new journey of breakthrough to arise and shine as a church together! Join us!

 

Grace and Peace,  

Pastor Kyochul

Prepare the Way for the Lord's Coming!

“Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty

and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Matthew 13:8, NLT).

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

 

As we enter into the new season of Advent to prepare to celebrate the birth of a baby Jesus in Bethlehem, a voice from the wilderness is echoing around our ears,

 

“Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!” (Luke 3:4b, NLT).

 

So how’s your first step to this new beginning looks like, I mean through your preparation? And what do you see at the end of your journey? In other words, what is your wishes and hopes and dreams for this new journey?

 

One day, Jesus sat beside the lake and talked about our preparation for the final day, I mean, for the end of our journey. According to that story, it might be devastating, disappointing, or full of joy and thanksgiving. It was a parable of the farmer scattering seed.

 

The story goes like this…

 

A farmer went out to scatter seeds on the ground all across the field. Then, some seeds fell along the path; some fell on rocky ground; some fell among thorns; and some fell on good soil. I wonder what the farmer had in his mind scattering seeds, I mean his hopes and wishes and dreams. By the way, it could be her too.

 

I believe no farmers want them to die when they scatter the seeds but to produce many fruits out of it in the harvesting season! However, those seeds on the path were taken by the birds. They ate them all. Those seeds on the rocky ground wilted under the hot sun and died because they did not have a deep roots. Those seeds among thorns were chocked out by them as it grew. Only those on good soil produced a crop, thirty, sixty and even a hundred times much.

 

We might wonder “what made it difference?” Of course, we know it was soil, GOOD soil!

 

How about our spiritual life, I mean our spiritual soil, to end our journey with joy and thanksgiving in thirty, sixty or hundred folds someday?

 

Here is a story of good soil. Two thousand years ago, when people lost their hopes and dreams, an angel came and told a young virgin named Mary that she would conceived a child by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then the angel also told her fiancée named Joseph to marry her and name the baby Jesus even though Mary was pregnant before they got married. Shepherds saw angels in the sky and were told of a savior’s birth in Bethlehem. Wise men from the East traveled hundreds of miles to worship the new born King just following the star.

 

They were all from different places, i.e., classes, nationalities, ages, and genders; however, there was one thing in common. They followed what God said to them even taking the risk of losing their life. What a good soil they were! It made a Christmas story, I mean the miracle of God’s love on Christmas Day. 

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Christmas miracle can happen to all of us when we prepare our life like Mary and Joseph, shepherds and the wise men. Then we will celebrate with full of joy and thanksgiving at the end of our journey! How exciting!

 

So now I would like to invite you to join us in this Christmas miracle story this month imagining bountiful harvest, thirty, sixty or even a hundred times than what we sow this month together! Join us!

Grace and Peace,  

Pastor Kyochul

Enter into the Joy of Your Master!

 

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he 

created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, ESV).

 

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

 

As I look around the fields where those corn and beans are getting harvested, I feel so thankful! The empty field! The emptier the field becomes, the fuller I feel! I don’t know why. Then, I have more room in my heart to look around us in this season searching for more thanksgiving.

 

One day, as usual, I drove to the hill, I mean, to the church at Markesan, and a sign came to my eyes from our neighboring church. “WE DONT CHANGE GODS MESSAGE IT CHANGES US.” I do not know how long that sign was there though… It looked like all the punctuations were missing on that sign for certain reasons. However, I understood it right away and said “Amen!” to that because it was so true! 

 

Then, every time, when I passed that sign, an assuring word “Amen” just came out of my mouth automatically. “God’s message changes us! Amen!” “God’s message changes us! Amen!” How many times have I done that? Countless times already in October! 

 

Now through the month of November, we are closing this Christian calendar year by celebrating “Christ the King” and preparing the new through Advent. Our season of hard work is almost done and the season of break is coming for the new beginning. So how’s the message of God has changed us so far this year as we have waited for Christ’s coming back to us as our King through forgiving, loving, and serving? How do you look different or feel different now from last year, I mean spiritually?

 

“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the 

Lord. And the Lord-who is the Spirit-makes us more and more like him as we 

are changed into this glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT).

 

According to the Apostle Paul, when we turn to the Lord, the veil between God and us is removed so that we can come closer to the throne of God and the Lord makes us like Him. However, it is not new because God already put His own image in us when He created us a long time ago. In other words, it is God’s will for us to find our true identity by getting out of our false identities in this world. 

 

That is our spiritual growth! And that is the key to the Kingdom of God eternal, the perfect salvation. In other words, we are the keys for the eternal salvation for the transformation of the world into God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven when we are changed by the message of God fully. Then we will see the Kingdom of God all around us wherever we are and whoever we are.

 

“Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 15:23b, ESV).

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the economy of God’s kingdom. When we are changed by God’s message, the kingdom of God will come on earth as in heaven and we will join the heavenly banquet, full of joy and thanksgiving! Is that a wonderful journey to be like Him?

 

So now I would like to invite you to join us in this growing journey to the kingdom of God to be changed continually by the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ! Join us!

 

Grace and Peace,  

Pastor Kyochul

Don't Lose It But Use It Always!

 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 6:22-23, ESV).

 

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

 

Now, I can see the obvious color changing in the field around, I mean, it is the season of harvesting, this month and the next month, a very busy season of the year! So, as a follower of Jesus, how’s your harvesting for the spiritual fruits this year? Are you ready to store them in the Kingdom of heaven or are you ready to share with others on earth as in heaven? 

 

However, unless we grow and mature this year, we might not have much for that and we might not be busy at all for harvesting? But are you busy now?

 

Anyway, in my house, there is an old apple computer sitting in the corner of the basement room, not very busy one because I use it only when I listen to the music. However, this computer has a story. 

 

When it was young about fifteen years ago, I used it always. It means, this computer was very busy for a few years, I mean very productive! However, after I did not use it for a week for my summer vacation, I forgot the key, I mean, the password. I punched all the possible words but no success at all! It means I could not access to my account. I lost everything in there, all of my pastoral works, my sermons and all documents! So, now I access to it as a guest only through the guest account. I own this computer but I am using it as a guest because I don’t have a key, I mean, the password. 

 

Two thousand years ago, people brought a demon possessed boy to Jesus because his disciples were not able to cast out demon from him. Of course, Jesus did that for him right away with compassion. Later on, his disciples asked him, “Jesus, Jesus, why could we not cast it out?”

 

Jesus said, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29, ESV). 

 

In other words, prayer is the right key to save this boy from the demon. Unless they have it, nothing would happen, I mean, the key! Actually, Jesus was the key for his disciples, for their success, because he is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how about our spiritual journey to the Kingdom of God eternal? Through our journey, God wants us to grow and mature and produce many fruits of the Spirit. God wants us to store all those fruits in the kingdom of heaven and also to share them all on earth as in heaven through harvesting in this season! It is a real successful Christian life, I mean the life that God wants us to have!

 

“Be fruitful and multiply…” (Genesis 1:28b, ESV).

 

What is our right key to hold for that? It is Jesus Christ! So don’t lose it, but use it always!

 

So now I would like to invite you to join us in this harvesting journey in the kingdom of God for our successful life eternally with this key, Jesus Christ! 

 

Grace and Peace,  

Pastor Kyochul