September 16, 2023

“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

This story happened before Sejin was born. When Hyemi and Sebin returned back from their trip to Korea, Sebin brought new toys that her grandparents bought for her. Half of the luggage was toys. One of the new toys that she brought was a very fish tank where you can put in toy fish. You fill the small tank with water. After that, you can turn the switch on. When you press a button, music will come on with bubbles in the little tank, and the toy fish will move around. Sebin loved it. 

Well, Sebin insisted that she put the little aquarium right in front of the television. I am already freaked out because you know what babies can do. I didn’t want the small tank to knock over, spill water, and cause trouble with the television! You just can’t predict what the baby will do! So I would tell her that we’ll move the tank to somewhere safe, but for some reason, Sebin had to put it there.

Thankfully, Sebin never knocked it over and ruin the television, at least for few days. I was ironing my shirt by the television, and Sebin was playing around me. Suddenly Sebin became quiet. When babies get silent, it’s a sign that they are up to something. I looked up. Sebin said proudly, ‘Daddy I am cleaning the TV!” She put her hands in the small tank to wet her hand and she was wiping the television screen! I shouted, “No!!!!!!!!!!!” 

Oh, Sebin had good intentions. She wanted to help daddy. But the method was wrong. I wonder if that’s the mistake Saul had made. He clearly disobeyed God’s instructions. When Saul was to attack Amalek, he was not to spare any life. Yet, when Saul won the battle, he spared the life of the king and the best of the animals. Then he made a sacrifice to the Lord. Making sacrifices seems to be good, after all. Intentions seemed to be good in his own eyes. But he clearly disobeyed God.

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September 9, 2023

“For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” John 12:43.

When you are scuba diving under the water, all the live wildlife is in the strong current. One time, our dive team went down to a shark point. It was a dive point where you could see a lot of sharks. But there is always a strong current, so in order for you to stay in one spot to enjoy watching all the big sharks, you have to use a hook to hook yourself to the bottom of the point. Otherwise, you would be swept by the current, for using the fin to fight the current to stay in one place would be nearly impossible. It would be much easier just to let go and stay in the current. Just go wherever the current leads you. But if you do that, you’ll miss out on the incredible view.

It seems that’s what the rulers were doing back then. Verse 42 tells that the rulers believed in Jesus (as He performed great things, and recently, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life), yet they could not confess due to the Pharisees. They did not want to be put out of the synagogue. They were not willing to fight the current to watch the incredible view, which is receiving the reward of salvation as we confess to believing in Jesus. They gave in and went along with the current. Peer pressure is something that is not easy to go against. And for these rulers, it wasn’t just peer pressure, they would be cast out of the social connections and the community since they’d be kicked out of the synagogue. Hence, it was persecution for them. 

What about us? There will be a time when people will give us trouble for expressing our faith in Jesus Christ. What should we do? Should we give in to the current and go with the flow like the rest of the world? Or should we learn to hook ourselves on to Jesus and be able to receive the rewards that He has prepared for us? You know the answer.

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September 2, 2023

“By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.” 1 John 4:2,3.

Do you enjoy the holidays? During holiday times, I see friends on social media posting pictures of great food, making comments on how thankful they are, and pictures of them with their big families. When it comes to holidays, I see that it’s about being with the family again. 

It’s no different in Korea. During the big holiday season, the whole country is on the move. Highways will become heavy with traffic. I mean it’s really heavy. These highways are 4-lane wide on each side. A drive from Seoul to Busan usually takes about 5 hours. But during this time, the drive will take up to about 17 hours. You will see cars parked on the road because due to heavy traffic. 

Why go through all this mess? There is only one answer: to see their families. It’s as simple as that. Jesus has prepared for us a home in heaven. That is our journey and goal in our lives. As our verse states above, Jesus made it possible for us to be His family again. The only thing we need to do is to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh for us. Accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, and we are His. That makes us His family and would offer us the right to go back home to where we belong.

#pastorsblog #waukeshachurch