St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

Mark 4:25-34

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How wonderful it is for us to gather here together and worship God.

Jesus said,

Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:29)

If this is not the Kingdom of God, what is the kingdom of God?

Believers gather together, eat together, share our love with each other and worship together.

God sent us into this cold, cruel, and selfish world but he didn't leave us alone. He gave us this spiritual community through which we experience love and encouragement.

That was how the early Christian community lived.

All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:44-47)

Small kingdom of God was created.

Jesus tells us about the kingdom of God today.

We can learn two things about the Kingdom of God through Jesus' teaching. These two are connected.

First, verse 27.

The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. (Mark 4:26, 27)

He does not know how the seed grows. That's what the Kingdom of God is like.

We don't know exactly how the Kingdom of God grows. The kind of change God makes within us is not visible to us. It's a mystery, hidden to us.

Don't be discouraged because you cannot see the change. You may not see it but change is happening right now.

You don't see God's work but God works. Not in your own terms but according to God's will.

Do your best and leave the result in God's hands even though you don't see the change right away. That's what faith is.

The kingdom of God is not something that I can make.

It is what God makes. It is not made by our own power and ability.

It is established by God's power. We don't know how the kingdom of God is established.

When I first started the ministry at this church, I had a dream about inclusive community. That's why I didn't put the word Korean in our church name.

I wanted this community to exist not just for Koreans but also for all those who believe. I wanted this community to be a place where everybody is welcomed and loved.

Now we see its fruit. I don't know how it happened. It is what God gave us.

We have to experience changes that God grants to us.

Life is more than our own decisions. Life is more than doing what we want.

So many things happen in our lives. God uses all these things to mould us, shape us, renew us, and bring about changes within us.

God gives us peace, joy, hope, and the heart to love. It is what God does in our lives.

The second, verse 32:

yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. (Mark 4:32)

The kingdom of God grows to become big so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Becoming big does not refer to the quantity but the quality. Your heart becomes big. This community becomes big in heart so that it can accommodate all people.

That was the pain the early Christians had to go through. To become big, they had to overcome their own tradition and the law. Their own culture.

It was painful to let go of things like culture that was like their identity. Culture was so deeply ingrained in them and so letting go was a growing pain.

I said before. To become big, you have to be ripped apart.

Only when you are ripped apart, you can become big. Being ripped apart is painful.

I hope that our heart becomes so big that we can even embrace our enemies.

I pray that this community becomes big so that we go beyond our ethnic identity and become truly a spiritual community.

The Kingdom of God!

The post What the Kingdom of God Is Like appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Life should be a wonderful witness to God and all God has done. In the end, that should be our testimony: that God was good and faithful, and God has done wonderful things in my life. I've had the privilege to be part of the Wednesday KSM services, I've played piano. While playing, I get to see the people singing, I see them singing fervently, and even with tears. During the Bible study portions, they are deeply engaged, many of them are near the end of their lives. I see them reflecting back through the Word, they didn't have easy lives. But through the Bible studies, they reflect back and see how God has been with them, they are witnesses to the grace and love of God that flowed in their lives.

Our life is a witness to God's power, grace and goodness. God gives us power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we've reflected on how faith is the key to that power. Faith gets activated best in unsettled situations, so we find true empowerment in those very unsettled situations. But what is the purpose of that power? To what end do we receive power? Is it only to get us through difficult times?

Jesus said that we would be witnesses once God's power has come upon us, it takes us back to the original purpose of God's blessings for us. 

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

God's purpose for blessing Abraham was so that through him all peoples of the earth could be blessed. That is God's desire for this world, that is why God sent Jesus.

 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)

God gives us power so that we can be witnesses of his love and the grace we've experienced, the joy we have because of God. So that others too may experience this great power, love and joy, that is the ultimate purpose of our blessing. All human beings have a tendency to become settled in the comfort of those blessings, to enjoy it for ourselves and remain there. But the Spirit pushes us out with that power to be blessings for others.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

When we receive this power, we will be witnesses as a result, we will have the power to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. It's a power that pushes us outward, it's a power to live out the purposes of God he had from the very beginning.

What does it mean to be a witness? I want to reflect on that tonight. I think it's important for you to be a witness to God's power in your own life, we reflected on this the first night.

Peter was in jury duty this week, in a court case, a witness has to give testimony of what they saw and observed. That evidence is tested in cross-examination to determine whether it's credible and reliable, do you have credible and reliable testimony to what God has done in your life?

But being a witness as Jesus talked about goes beyond your own personal witness. The Spirit came upon the gathered community of believers, this is what happened when the Spirit came upon the first believers. 

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

When God comes upon a community of people, there is generosity, everyone's needs are taken care of. There is a spirit of gladness and goodwill, I've experienced a lot of this in this community of St. Timothy. I'm very thankful for it, people are warm, they have open hearts. People are generous, the Church is a gathered community. But it is also a scattered community, the Church began to grow in numbers. As it did, it drew attention of Jewish leaders, the Church began to be persecuted. One of the key figures of this persecution was none other than our friend Paul, as the persecution increased, the believers became scattered.

But they didn't scatter into the wind, they planted new seeds of faith wherever they went. In other words, they were scattered as empowered people, they were witnesses to all they had experienced. The persecution was very unsettling and difficult, but somehow, the Holy Spirit used the persecution to fulfill Jesus' promise of being witnesses in Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

This is another great lesson for us, difficulties come at us. We do suffer from these difficulties, but the Spirit is at work to achieve good purposes. That's what the Spirit did with the persecutions, that's what the Spirit is doing in your own difficulties.

The church had to become unsettled to go out and be witnesses. The Church is a gathered church and scattered church, it is both. Without the other, the church is incomplete, what is the purpose of the gathered church, and what's the purpose of the scattered church?

The gathered church experiences the power of God in community, the scattered church is the individual witnesses to God's love wherever they go. We gather as a community so that we can be empowered by God, the early church experienced the powerful presence of the Spirit as a community. The Israelites experienced the powerful hand of God as a community – while they escaped from Egypt and when they were in the wilderness.

The most powerful experiences of God are always in community, when we gather, we experience God in profound ways. This is why we put so much into retreats, it takes enormous effort and resources to put this together. And it's a great commitment from all of you to set aside a whole weekend for this, why do we do this? We do it because we experience God in a powerful way together, we're like the Israelites in the wilderness – we've left behind our life back home to experience the power of God in community.

We are empowered by the Spirit of God when we gather, but the purpose of being empowered as a gathered community is to be scattered. Scattered as empowered people to be witnesses to what we've experienced, to share the good news. The purpose of the scattered community is for people to be blessed and receive good news for their lives, good news that the almighty God loves them and cares about them. That God can do the same things in them that God has done for you, and to bring them into the gathered community of faith where we experience so many good things.

If a church becomes only a gathered community, it becomes a settled community, we've reflected on the settled life. You settle, you die!

A settled community becomes comfortable with existing relationships, without realizing it or doing it intentionally, walls are built. It becomes a safe place for the existing in-members, newcomers or outsiders have to assimilate and conform to become a part of this community. It is not readily open to change.

A settled community is not an empowered community, it cannot become a scattered church. A scattered community without an empowered gathered community has no power, you cannot be an effective witness if you don't experience the true power of God that manifests most powerfully in community. Your zeal will wane, your experience of God will diminish on your own. You cannot be an effective witness without being part of an empowered gathered community.

(Need for empowered gathered community because difficult context for the scattered community)

We need to have an empowered gathered community, because the context for the scattered church is so difficult.

Who really believes in God nowadays? Science has destroyed much belief in the divine or supernatural. Although science is meant to understand the physical world only, many people equate all of reality with what they can see and touch and measure and quantify. Instead of God, it is up to us to create our own lives.

Many people believe in the possibility of some kind of force or presence, but they don't look to the church or traditional religions for answers. If anything, traditional religions, especially Christianity, are looked upon with suspicion, there are many good reasons for that. For too long, the institutional church used power and fear to control people, they caused a lot of harm and damage in the process.

The church we see today isn't a shining example of Jesus, they're trying to use political power to regain some of the lost standing they used to have in culture and society. They're trying to impose their views of truth onto others with power, not persuading with love, they've developed a defensive posture, an us against them mentality. Rather than an open, us for the world spirituality.

And to be honest, so many preachers just don't have anything to say to help people live through this confusing, chaotic world. There is no message of empowerment rooted in spiritual truth, and so people have tuned out church leaders.

The Bible carries a stigma. It's our main source for insight into God and God's spiritual truths, but it's seen by many people as an old and archaic collection of writings. It's also seen by many people as oppressive to freedom. Which is justified, because it has been interpreted in abusive ways by many leaders. 

And so, in this context, the only way for many churches to survive has been to become a settled church. A church centered around community and fellowship. A place to enjoy and escape the troubles of everyday life.

A settled church is not an empowered church. It is a container of blessings that doesn't overflow. It retains blessings for itself, it is like a reservoir of water that doesn't flow out. It becomes more about the community than God who brought it together in the first place and is the reason it exists. Human fellowship – not God who binds people together in spiritual fellowship – becomes the focal point.

The settled church may use the religious words and motions of God, but it is not a church filled with the Spirit of God. Our church is part of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Every year, the denomination gathers together for a General Assembly. Young Adult Representatives are nominated and sent there each year. This year, we sent Caitlin Chung to represent our presbytery. I know she had a wonderful experience meeting many people in our denomination, and seeing how things work.

The blunt truth, though, is that our denomination is dying. Not only ours, but Canadian churches in general – Presbyterian, United Church, Anglicans – are all dying. Literally dying -congregations filled with aging people slowly dying off. The problem is that Canadian churches became too settled, too comfortable. They used to be at the center of society. Every respectable Canadian attended church. But as our society changed, people stopped going to church. Our society became more diverse and multicultural. But these churches didn't change

A settled church gets used to being a certain way. It's hard for settled churches to change. We reflected on being settled and unsettled this morning. What's true for individuals is also true for communities. A settled community doesn't know how to be desperate and cry out to God in faith. That's my diagnosis of Canadian churches. They see that they are dying, but they're still not broken enough to cry out in desperation and find faith

The first generation of Koreans in Canada built churches. We enjoy the blessings of this church because of the first generation that built it. There was a dynamism in Korean churches because they were unsettled. Their whole lives were unsettled. Born during Japanese occupation, only to have their country plunged into a civil war with many deaths and much displacement. Coming of age in a poverty-stricken, war-torn country, then coming to a foreign land where they didn't speak the language. Very unsettling. But in the midst of that unsettling life, they found faith. That faith was vibrant.

The second generation that followed them also went to church. It became a big part of life for many of us because we too had very unsettled lives. It was tough being a visible minority. The church became a safe place for many of us. We found faith. That faith helped us cope with the difficulties of life. That's why many of the older members have carried our ESM.

But the church for the second generation became a settled place. It became a place to find friends, a place to escape from reality, rather than be empowered to be a scattered church. There was no teaching to give insight and a critical edge. So the church began to have no bearing on life outside the church. It became a bifurcated life: church on Sundays, life on the outside. It's become more and more where church is just a place to meet friends and to take a break from real life.

The settled church. The motto from Hi-C when thinking about the story of Abraham: you settle, you die! If the second and third generation is a settled church where we just enjoy for ourselves, it will die.

What an empowered gathered community is. The primary focus of the gathered community is to experience God in a real and powerful way.

What does that entail? Worship is at the very heart of that. We experience God's presence together in worship. This is why during COVID, when everything else shut down, we kept worship. We pulled many hairs trying to adjust to new technologies and ways just to keep the community together in worship. Everything else may go, but we will always worship God as a community.

Teaching of the Word is even more important now than ever. In a world with no God, a world that's suspicious of the church, where the Bible carries a huge stigma, how are we to be witnesses? Ironically, it is only by deeper and more critical engagement with the Word of God. I am a witness to the power of the Word. It literally changed my life. When I was lost and sort of aimless, it was critical engagement with Scripture that I began to understand myself, this world we're living in, and God. That is the testimony of people of faith.

Indeed, the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

I believe that only the Word of God has the power to change a person. This is why apart from worship, study of the Word is at the center of what we do. That's why at retreats, we spend more time in worship and reflection with the Word than on fellowship, as great as that is. It is the Word that binds us together.

Fellowship. This is a big thing. Let me reflect with you what fellowship looks like in an empowered gathered church. Fellowship is often a big factor. It's important. It's the reason many people stay or leave a church. Because we are social creatures who have a need for human connection. Because human relations are flesh and blood.

God gave us the gift of fellowship. It is a source of great blessing. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said this:

“The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” (Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

But the danger is that fellowship becomes a possession, not a blessing through which we experience God. The purpose of fellowship in a church is for the empowering presence of God to be experienced in that fellowship.

Bonhoeffer also said this:

“Jesus Christ stands between the lover and the others he loves.” (Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

It is the love of Christ that binds us together, not direct love of the other. If it's just my love for the other person, that love is fragile. It can sour and turn to hate when we see their sins and conflict arises.

Fellowship is not for my needs to be fulfilled, but to be the presence of Christ for another. Christ fills my heart, and I share Christ in me with others. Christ in the other fills me in my fellowship with them. When we share with one another, it is as if we are sharing with Christ.

I become more Christ-like through my life of worship and transformation by the Word. I can then become Christ for others, and others in the gathered community can be Christ for me.

The best form of Christian fellowship is intercessory prayer. Praying for one another. When you pray for one another, you are bringing God to the center. It is God who stands at the center of that relationship. Relationship rooted in prayer is a listening relationship. You understand their heart by listening. When you pray for one another, you are praying by understanding their heart. Worship, the Word and spiritual fellowship: these things empower us to be the scattered church for an unsettled world.

These things enable us to be a dynamic gathered church.

Here is the final part of being an empowered gathered church: it is never a settled church.

The most unsettling thing for any community is change. Change in people. People who are different. New people who are different change the nature of the community, and that makes people very uncomfortable. The greatest temptation for the gathered community is to resist change. The condition for new people is to blend into the existing dynamic of the community.

The movement of the Spirit created great change in the Jewish community. You have to remember that the early church did not consider themselves anything but Jewish. They were all Jews. The question was: for new believers who were not Jews, did they have to assimilate and conform as Jews, or could the community change to welcome new people as they were?

St. Paul was emphatic that gentiles did not need to become Jews like them to be welcomed into the community.

This is what he said:

“There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28-29)

If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's offspring. You don't need circumcision. Only Christ.

Circumcision was the primary marker of identity for Jews. This was a radical step. This was why Paul was attacked and persecuted so severely by fellow Jews who couldn't accept this change.

My friends, a gathered church must be an unsettled church. It cannot survive or thrive as a settled church. An empowered church is an unsettled church. We embrace being uncomfortable. We accept the awkwardness of change and newness. We rely only on the Holy Spirit and faith.

Our calling: be an empowered scattered community – that is the power to be a witness.

We are called to be an empowered scattered community. People feel very unsettled. People are so anxious and fearful. There are great forces of change rippling throughout the world: changes in technology, the economy, our climate. These changes make people feel very disempowered. Apokalypsis: revealing hearts of people. People react and lash out to this sense of disempowerment.

Many Christians feel disempowered because they feel so irrelevant. What can we do? What difference does it make? Especially when no one even wants to listen to us?

The early church was very insignificant. Paul's churches were tiny: they were small gatherings of 20 to 30 people. Meanwhile, this was the height of the Roman Empire. The powerful people jockeying for power, and great wars taking place.

The early church was not involved in any of these big events. They were not involved in the political debates. They were too busy simply being witnesses and sharing the good news. They shared good news with the losers of the empire. This is what St. Paul says:

“Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” (1 Corinthians 1:26)

The scattered church doesn't need worldly power. We only need God's power. We simply need to be witnesses to God's love and power.

To conclude this series of lectures:

We need empowerment to live life. That power for us comes from God. To receive that power, we need to be connected to God. Faith is the key to having the presence of God in our lives – whether you feel it or not. Faith is incubated in an unsettled state. We experience the power of God most fully in community – that is the gathered church. The gathered church must be empowered by the experience of God and be sent out as the scattered church to be witnesses to the world. That is our calling.

God will lead us. I believe that. Our response is to be a faithful part of the gathered church and wait for God to come upon you.

Discussion Questions:

The post Be A Witness: Session 3 appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

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We are walking toward the mountain of God, but is not about us, it's about God who seeks you. It doesn’t matter which direction you are walking in, you are walking towards an encounter of God. That is a reassurance and that is the basis of our faith. That it doesn’t matter what we are doing, God is waiting, and expecting to encounter us.

Last night, we reflected on faith as the key to an empowered life. Faith is the assurance that God is present even when you don't feel it. Yes, belief that we are walking on right path whether aware of it or not. It is the belief that God is there, and that the presence of God is our power, and faith is the key. It's your superpower for life

When you have a good relationship with your parents, you know they love you. It doesn't have to be said or consciously thought about, you just know they do. And without realizing it, knowing that they love you unconditionally is a great comfort and strength for you. That is what faith is like.

Faith gives you a new set of eyes. It's like getting a pair of 3D glasses to see a new dimension. It opens up your eyes to see God's presence. When I see my sin, I also see God's forgiveness. When I'm worried, I feel comfort. When I'm confused, I feel peace. Faith is an incredible gift given to us.

This morning, I want to reflect on what this faith looks like, and the conditions in which it flourishes. I think that for many people, empowerment is to have everything under control. To be settled and on top of things. To be put together in every way: financially, socially, emotionally. It's to be settled in all these areas. To be calm and confident in that settledness.

The reality of life, though, is that so many times, life is very unsettling. There is always something weighing on our minds: money is a concern, jobs are a concern, the well-being of children, family members and friends, relationships that are not in a good place, conflicts with co-workers or friends.

Any time you feel like you have something under control, there's always something else that comes along and unsettles you. Even if your outer circumstances are peaceful and good, life itself is always changing and unsettling you. Many of you are transitioning stages in life; from school to adulthood, from career to retirement. All these things can be very unsettling.

If empowerment is to live a life free of unsettling moments, then no one can live an empowered life. To live an empowered life, you have to be empowered even when life is unsettling, because that is a reality of life.

But I think empowerment is more than just coping with unsettling moments. Empowerment doesn't just get you through to the other side where you're no longer unsettled. The stories of the Bible have a very different take on unsettling situations. All stories of the Bible take place in unsettled situations. They never take place in nice, serene situations, they reveal how God led them through very unsettling situations. But it's more than just that.

The basic pattern of stories in the Bible is this: people are called away from their settled life and toward an unsettled life.

In the Bible stories, the unsettled state is where true empowerment is found. It's not about how God took them out of unsettled situations, but about how God actually called them toward unsettled situations. The whole story of faith begins this way with Abraham:

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1)

God is calling Abraham away from his settled life and toward an unsettled life. No destination is specified, that's quite unsettling.

In fact, all stories in the Bible are like this: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Ruth, Samuel, David, Esther, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, the Samaritan woman at the well, and on and on. Each of them is a story about being called away from the familiar, settled life they know, into an unknown and unsettled life.

That's the story of St. Paul; he was very settled in his life as a Jew, he was at the very center of his society and established in his life. It was what anyone would consider a good life. This was how he describes that life:

Circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:5-6)

He checked off all the boxes of a settled, empowered life. He persecuted the church because they were unsettling his faith and way of life. But then something changed.

On the road to Damascus, he met Christ. After that encounter, his life changed, he turned away from his settled life and lived a very unsettled life. His whole life after this would be very unsettled.

When I realized this pattern, that all stories in the Bible are a calling away from the settled life toward an unsettled life, I wondered: why is this the case? Why does being unsettled seem like a precondition for an empowered life? Why was it almost necessary for people to be in unsettled situations to find true empowerment?

And that's when I realized: an unsettled state is where empowerment is found, because that's where faith is formed.

We reflected last night on how faith is the key to an empowered life. Faith gives you connection to the presence of God, even when you can't see it or feel it. The greatest incubator for that faith is in unsettled situations. In unsettled situations, what you lack most is control. You just don't have control over your situation. That's why you're unsettled in the first place.

There are many ways we can respond: We can hide or run away from our problem, try to control your situation and overcome it. Resign yourself to the situation and let it take over you, or turn to God in faith and trust.

We can always be a mix of these responses. At one point there may be one response, and at another, be a different response.

I was working at a securities law firm, and it was the most difficult year of my life. I had taken the job because I was so desperate to get a job. But the work itself was so against what I'm good at. My boss had it in for me. I think the only reason he kept me around was because he needed the help and didn't want to pay me severance. I was chained to my desk from 8am to 8pm, I felt like a slave. It was the hardest year of my life; how I was responded was avoiding my problems. I would party on weekends to forget about my miseries. Grit my teeth and try hard at work, I let myself be depressed. But this is also when I started to find my faith again. I had been away from church for a while, I would be praying on the streetcar, went to a big church during my lunchtime to pour out my soul. I then started attending church again, I even went to mass.

Life can be cycles of these responses. But unsettled situations creates an opening for faith. That's when things slowly started opening up. After one year, I decided to switch gears and go into criminal law. Rev. Kim heard about me going to mass, we met up – and started Tuesday Bible Study. I believe it was faith that slowly started opening new doors for me.

When an unsettled situation is beyond your control, when everything you try doesn't make a difference, there comes a point where your back is against the wall. There's nothing more you can do. That's when there's no choice but to turn to faith.

When everything is in your control, you don't see the need for faith. You feel empowered because you have things under control. But when things are not in your control, there is a ripe possibility for faith. Faith is not what you say with your lips. Faith is not what you do when things are going well. Faith reveals itself most clearly when things are not in your control, when you're desperate.

That was what Jesus saw in the Canaanite woman:

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon. But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, help me. He answered, It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs. She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered her, Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed from that moment. (Matthew 15:21-28)

In her desperate moment, we see an unshakeable faith. Faith that won't let go. Faith that's not bothered by a rude response. Faith that won't accept social conventions. Faith that trusted that Jesus could do something. Faith that wouldn't accept no. Faith is our key to empowerment.

So I believe this is why God calls us toward unsettled situations. It's almost like God knows us too well God knows that if we remain so settled, we won't have faith. Our sense of empowerment will depend not on the strength of our character, but the good fortune of our circumstances. And that's not really empowerment at all – that's called having good luck. Yes, hard work on your part, but good luck with all the other factors that are beyond your control.

What does the process of going from settled to unsettled look like? The journey of faith begins with something that shakes you from a settled life or situation to an unsettled life or situation. Sometimes, an unsettled situation is thrust upon you that calls for decision, that moment reveals who you are.

Esther was a descendant of Jews who were deported to Babylon. She became the queen of the empire after the king took a long search to find the most beautiful spouse to be his queen. She was settled and comfortable in her position, but then, her cousin Mordecai insulted the king's military leader. He developed a hatred for Jews and made plans to kill them. Mordecai, hearing of this, came to Esther to ask her to do something, but if she approached the king without being invited, the penalty was death.

This is what Mordecai said in response:

Do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this. (Esther 4:13-14)

Esther faced a grave moment of decision, this was her reply:

Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. (Esther 4:16)

In her moment of decision, I see a courageous decision of faith. I pray that when such a grave crisis is thrust upon us, that we too can respond with such courageous faith as the situation calls for.

But it's not only circumstance that shakes you, sometimes nothing might be happening on the outside, but then God meets you. When God encounters you, it leaves you shaken. A real encounter with God is not merely some feel-good experience. An encounter with God is an encounter with your whole self, it changes you.

St. Paul was on his way to Damascus to arrest the followers of Jesus there. But on his way there, he experienced a dramatic encounter with Christ, a light from heaven flashed around him. This is what happened:

He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? He asked, Who are you, Lord? The reply came, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. (Acts 9:4-6)

After this encounter, his life was completely transformed. Later on, this is how St. Paul describes his encounter with Christ:

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin, for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:10-11)

St. Paul's encounter with Christ was a revelation. The word revelation in Greek is apokalypsis . That's where we get the word apocalypse from. The word revelation means: unveiling, uncovering, disclosure of something previously hidden. I think our image of apocalypse comes from the fact that this revelation often comes unannounced, or unexpectedly. It ruptures the normal flow of events and breaks in even violently.

The theologian Daniel Migliore describes revelation this way:

A revelation of this sort may humble or elate us, disturb or even shock us. The effect of such revelatory experiences may be dramatic, possibly changing the way we think about the world or the way we live our lives. (Daniel Migliore)

Paul's encounter with Christ was a revelation. He thought he was living a good life, but realized that he wasn't. His whole belief system crumbled, it had to be built back up.

An encounter with God is a calling to leave the settled life into an unsettled one. We examined Moses' encounter at the burning bush last night. Moses was living a settled life when God met him, he attended to sheep, he had a wife and kids. Life on the outside was very peaceful.

But when God met him, this is what he said to Moses:

Then the Lord said, I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:7-10)

What a shake-up of a settled life!

Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. After living for 40 years in a peaceful, settled life, he was being called to go back to Egypt and face down a mighty power with nothing but a staff and faith.

This is what Daniel Migliore says:

Revelation is the disclosure of the character and purpose of God, and when it is received, it radically changes the lives of its recipients. (Migliore)

When God reveals himself, God reveals his character and purpose. God was the God who heard the cries of the Israelites. God's purpose was to liberate them from their suffering in bondage. When God's purpose was revealed to Moses, it changed him. Moses objected fiercely and hesitated with so many questions. But in the end, he accepted the call and his life was changed.

Why was Moses called? Was it just a random call that anyone could have received? The answer, as you may guess, is no.

When God encountered Moses, Moses was living a very settled life, but that outer peace masked an unsettled heart. Moses had a very unique and distinctive life. He was born during the time when the Pharaoh had all Hebrew boys killed. But Moses' mom was determined to save his life, so she put him in a basket and placed it in the Nile River. By chance, Pharaoh's daughter came upon the basket, was moved with pity, and brought him to be raised in the palace. So Moses essentially grew up as a prince of Egypt. But he must have been so confused about his identity growing up. He was a Hebrew by birth – part of the enslaved and inferior people, but raised as Egyptian royalty. He was an insider and outsider to both sides, but belonged to neither.

This confusion played out when he was a young man. He saw an Egyptian overlord abusing a Hebrew slave. In solidarity with the Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian. He thought this would gain favour among his fellow Hebrews, but instead, they resisted his act of solidarity. Report of his actions reached Pharaoh, and he had to run away.

He ran away to Midian, a land full of pastures and calm land. That's where he found his wife and had kids. But when his first son was born, it revealed the state of his heart:

She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, I have been an alien residing in a foreign land. (Exodus 2:22)

You can feel the pain in his heart. He belonged nowhere, he didn't know who he was. Was he Egyptian, or was he Hebrew? What was he doing out in Midian? This was something that earlier second generation Koreans in Canada often felt. We were born or raised here, so we were Canadian, but we weren't always seen or treated as a normal Canadian. Identity was a big issue for many of us. I wasn't fully Korean, and I wasn't fully Canadian, it seemed like I belonged to neither.

Moses remained there for 40 years. He learned to be comfortable and settled, but his heart was not settled. This was when he met God. When you really meet God, God reveals his purpose in a way that uncovers what's in your heart. Your aches, pains, desires, and hopes, your joys, sorrows, good and bad experiences.

Revelation is discovering a coherent pattern to all of these random events in your life. That revelation is your calling. It's a weaving together of all these things that make up who you are. There was no one else who could have received this particular calling. Who else knew the Egyptians as an insider? Who else knew how they thought and lived? The pain and confusion he experienced and lived with became the energy and fuel that God used for his good purpose of liberating his people

God has good desires for this world, and specific desires for you to do good. God wants to bring all of you to bear in a way that only you can. Each of you here is a unique blessing to this community. No one else can bring what you bring in terms of who you are. You are God's unique gift to this world.

But to fully unlock your uniqueness, it requires a journey of leaving behind a settled life into an unsettled life. What shape this takes is unique for each of you. Not all of you are required to make a dramatic career change, or support a spouse who does – although some of you might. But it is a journey into the unknown based solely on faith. It is a call into an unsettled state of being.

Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt with amazing deeds of power, but after they escaped Egypt, they spent 40 years in the wilderness. Moses' time of action was very short, most of his 40 years in leadership was in the wilderness. He never got to go into the Promised Land. It was almost anti-climactic after the amazing things they did while escaping from Egypt.

The wilderness was an unsettling time of waiting. They often grumbled, they were fearful and anxious. They even wanted to go back to Egypt, they were impatient.

But this is where they developed faith. They witnessed God's miraculous provision of manna and water . For 40 years, they lived off of what God provided each day. They saw God's presence in the pillar of cloud that led them by day, and the pillar of fire that watched over them at night. In their unsettled time in the wilderness, God became so real. In the wilderness at Mount Sinai, they formed a new identity as the people of God when they entered into a covenant with him.

They lived an unsettled life. They didn't get anywhere, that whole generation lived and died in the wilderness. But they are seen as most blessed generation ever. Generations after would find inspiration from their experience. They are the most blessed because they found faith. Faith that made God so real. They found power in their unsettled life.

The life of following Jesus is to live an unsettled life. The disciples left their nets and followed him. They had no idea where they were going, only the promise that they would fish for people. The life of discipleship is a life of permanent tension.

This was Jesus' last prayer:

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. (John 17: 14-16)

We are in the world but not of it. We are always unsettled, never too comfortable. Always unsettled, always turning to God in faith. If you're too comfortable and there's nothing driving you toward God, perhaps it could be a sign that something is off. That something is hidden and waiting to be uncovered.

Some of you have lived in an unsettling situation for a long time. There is real suffering that comes from it. I don't want to minimize it. But think of how this has affected your faith, in your desparation, you've had nowhere else to turn. God has become so real for you. The suffering is hard, but you have been blessed because you found God

St. Paul said this:

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-4)

Your suffering produces faith when you turn to God in prayer. That faith is your superpower for life. It will open your heart for God's love to be poured into.

Life will always be unsettling, whether you want it or not, but when these moments come, don't hide or run away from it. Turn to God in faith. Let your unsettled situation unlock the power of faith in your life

Reflection Questions:

The post Be A Witness: Session 2 appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Welcome to our fall retreat, my heart is really warm. It's really warm. Maybe it's the presence of God's spirit with us, so I'm looking forward to a really good time together. It's good to have our new members for the first time and familiar faces as well.

We're here to retreat from our everyday life. I think there are two things that are very special about retreats. Number one is nature, we're away from the city and we can enjoy being more connected with nature. Being here in the lush green, it brings out a side of us that are suppressed throughout the year. The second thing is we get to really be here with a community of people and simply enjoy each other's company. So in this beautiful context of nature and community, we have an opportunity as well to reflect on our lives. It's a rare opportunity, so I really encourage all of you to make the most of opportunity out of it. In our sessions, try to listen intently to the content, and hope that there are things that really speak to you. Then in your groups too, let's really engage. That way you'll really get a lot out of it and grow in your own reflection.

The theme of our church for this year has been Be a Witness, and this is the theme verse of the year:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Tomorrow evening I will focus on what it means to be a witness. Tonight, I want to focus on the first part: the power that we receive. When the Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power. You will live an empowered life. We've been reflecting a bit on this theme the past few weeks because I think it's so important that we live an empowered life.

When I look around, I feel like so many people feel disempowered. I feel like this is what's happening all around us. People feel swallowed up by forces that are too big. They feel no control. They feel kind of powerless, so that makes them feel anxious or afraid, or angry, or it makes people give up and they become apathetic and resigned. Then it makes them self-centred, being like, Ah, who cares! I'll just take care of myself.

I think any of the problems we see is because ultimately they feel disempowered. I feel bad because many young people feel that nowadays. When I'm having conversations, that theme seems to come up. They don't see the point when the world is doomed anyways. Nothing's gonna change. Things like climate change, it's inevitable. Powerful people are just going to gain advantage whenever they can, so I might as well do what I can do. So they vent out in anger, or retreat in apathy and despair.

But I don't believe that despair and apathy is the only conclusion. That is not God's desire and will. I believe that God's Spirit is still moving and present with us, and I believe that God's desire is to empower us. I really want to reflect on that with you.

We need power to live. We need power to live the right way. Power to do the right thing. Power to heal. Power to forgive. We need power to move on from the past. Power to be true to yourself. Power to live the life you're supposed to live, and power to become the person you're supposed to be.

We need empowerment to have motivation to keep going, and we need empowerment to live.

So, the question is: where does this power come from? This is a very important question. Where does, or where will your power come from?

For St. Paul, it was very clear where this power comes from:

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

Do you believe that? I do. Some people might find their power elsewhere. For some people, it might come from their good fortune and circumstances that they've created for themselves. For others, it might come from within – they find that power within themselves. For others, it may come from a good and supportive community that they feel empowered by. Those are all good and great things.

But for me, I stand with Paul in finding my power from God. That power is my treasure. A treasure contained in this clay jar that I am. But it's an extraordinary power that has sustained me, and that still sustains me. That is my testimony, and that's the testimony of many people throughout the ages. That's what we sang, A thousand generations. There have been people where that's their testimony: My power comes from the extraordinary power of God that resides within me. This is why we still read and reflect on these letters and scriptures. All of you are in different places right now. Many of you may believe this, some may not yet, and that's okay. We're here to reflect together. 

Tonight and throughout this retreat, I want to reflect on this extraordinary power that comes from God.

In Acts 1, this power comes when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. The Greek word for this is eperchomai. When the Spirit has come upon you. It's like it envelops you, cloaks you. This image came to me, it's like a net that wraps around you, but it's like one of those permeable things that start to absorb into your body. The spirit comes upon you, envelops you, and then goes into you. It's inside of you. You become infused with this divine presence. That divine presence in you is your power. So the power that we receive is deeply connected with the presence of God in us. When this divine presence is in you. So this presence of God in your life is what gives you power. That's what we're talking about here. I want to reflect on this presence of God in your life. It's important for us to reflect on that because according to people like St. Paul and what the writer of Acts is saying, that's where our power comes from. When the presence of God has come upon us. This presence of God in your life is the key thing you need to live your life with power.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. That is very strong language. When it comes upon you. It says that God has a mind of his own. God coming upon you is not in your control, and it is not a soft, passive thing either. The Holy spirit comes upon you. It's strong language, it's almost forceful.

To me, it's kind of like falling in love for the first time. When love just comes upon you, you don't go out seeking to make it happen. I know for some of our young people, I know sometimes you want to make it happen, but it doesn't work that way. It will come upon you. You could make all these lists of criteria, but it doesn't mean that automatically it's going to happen. You can have the best on paper, but there's no chemistry. Then somehow, this person meets none of the criteria and then, BOOM! That's why when our young couples meet, my favourite question is: what's your origin story? How did you guys meet? What happened, and how did the other person respond? It's so beautiful. It just happens and then it overtakes you. Then it consumes you. For other people, this is what happens, right? When it overtakes you, it can be passionate and fervent. That's what first loves are like. 

This was what my first experience with God was like. It happened at my very first Hi-C retreat, when I was in grade 7, and it was right here at MBC! That blew my mind! It was so long ago that I don't really remember what it looked like, but when I looked back, that's right, we were on top of the hill, in the cabin. It's crazy. I was so young. My first hi-c retreat, I only went because my friends were going and I wanted to have fun. It was the March retreat, so they showed us a video. There was tubing at the time and it was cool. During the message time, there was this speaker, he was from New York. I still remember what his name was, and then he spoke. I have no idea what he said, no recollection, but what I do remember is somehow, at the end of the night, it's prayer time, he said a few things and something hit me. What I do remember is him leading us in prayer saying, Jesus, I love you, I praise you, and I thank you. We kept repeating that. Then I just felt this burst of emotion. Something just filling me up. Something I've never experience before. I felt the wonderful presence of God in my life. All these tears came flooding out, and pent up emotions I didn't know I had. It was intense, but it did change me. I grew up in the church, but I wasn't really attending church. I was aware of the weekly Hi-C gatherings, but at the retreat, I didn't know anyone who was going. No one in my grade or class went, but I just went. There were a bunch of older Hi-C kids and it was very intimidating. But I started to go and I joined the choir! The practice were Thursday nights, but I just went because I was so riled up with faith. So, when God comes upon you, it can feel like that. Especially in the Hi-C years when the emotions are intense. That's why I'm such a firm believer in our Hi-C and youth ministry. I love it. That's why I would only call them the yutes, not the Hi-C. They're the yutes, you know! It's a time and space for them to experience God.

For those who've been around for a little bit, like love, it falls, it changes. That passion and fervour, it has to evolve. It doesn't remain like that forever. Just like the presence of God too, it grows and evolves. Your connection with God will reflect the stage of life you're in. For Hi-C years, as you go through adolescence, there are a lot of intense emotions, so experience of God can be very intense. 

But as you get older, things change. It's less about the emotional intensity, but more about the mind's uncertainty. As you bump up against all these things, these ideas, and new challenges, it's your mind that starts to get more confused and has to figure things out. So too, the shape of God's presence has to evolve.

That's why for a lot of young adults, it can be a very confusing time because if they've had a very intense experience of God, they kind of wonder why they don't feel the same thing anymore. So they feel confused, but that is totally normal because you're changing. God is not only present through the emotions. God is present in all the other areas of your life as well. Your mind, your thoughts, and what you're experiencing in life.

Just like any relationship, it requires attention. For love to grow and evolve, it needs attending to. Once that initial fire has cooled off, it needs to be fueled through attention and care. I'll try to put this into more practice too. Relationship with God it's the same way, it needs attending to. 

The difference is that God is not a flesh and blood human. That's why with human beings, it can a be a little more obvious. You're not attending to them because you're not there. Or you're sitting beside them, but your mind is totally checked out. It's more obvious and apparent. But God is spirit. The presence of God is not physical, it's spiritual. So to be connected with God, you have to be connected to God in a spiritual way.

It's hard to do that in this physical world that we live in. Day to day, we're occupied by things that happen in our physical space. It's very difficult to attend to spiritual things, when our senses are always occupied. It's hard enough to attend to emotions that are inside of us, and what's happening inside. What happens on the outside kind of takes our attention.

As life gets more complicated, life on the outside gets more complicated, unless our spiritual skills grow, it becomes more difficult to be connected with the presence of God. As life on the outside gets more complicated, if you're spiritual skills or abilities don't grow as well, it's hard to remain connected spiritually with God. 

St. Paul said this in one of his letters:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. (1 Corinthians 13:11)

My kids fight all the time about things. That's mine! I was playing with it. Can't you just share it? It drives me and Deb nuts sometimes. Nothing triggers her more than kids bickering and fighting. But for me, it's part of learning what it is to live life harmoniously with other people. They're learning skills of maturity and interaction, so they can learn how to interact with other people; to function in this world. In the same way, as we get older, as life gets more complex, we need to keep growing in our spiritual maturity too to stay connected with God. We can't rely on the same thing that we used to when we were younger. We can't just rely on emotional intensity. It's like muscles. We need to have spiritual muscles, and they need to keep growing. Otherwise they atrophy, and they can't be used. Then it becomes hard to stay connected with God. 

It's not God who becomes distant and absent because we believe that God is omnipotent. That means present everywhere. It is us who don't grow our spiritual muscles to notice God as life becomes more complex.

So being connected with God is not merely about doing the right actions we perform. It's not merely about doing activities such as praying or reading the Bible. It's kind of like working out. Simply doing mindless bench presses everyday is not going to get fit. You have to do workouts that are best for your body. In fact, going to the gym is fine, but that's more of an artificial environment for our modern, busy life. The best kind of workouts are those things you do in your everyday life. 

There was this story about these college students who got jobs doing junk removal. You go to someone's house, you lift the junk, put it in the crates, take it to a depot, and then empty it out. It's a lot of lifting and bending, a lot of natural motions. These students, they were in the best shape of their lives after that. Their bodies were ripped because naturally they were doing that. So these natural everyday things is what get them in shape. You can supplement it by going to the gym and working on specific areas. So it's the same way in the spiritual life. 

The best way to cultivate spiritual muscles is to practice them in natural ways that are a part of your everyday life. Focused activities like prayer and Bible reading are good and they supplement what you do naturally. 

So how can we develop our spiritual muscles? Let's look at the story of Moses to reflect a bit on this. 

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up. When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here I am. (Exodus 3:1-4)

Moses is a famous figure in the Bible. For Jews, he is THE pivotal figure. He was the one who led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. A weak, divided and victimized people became the people of God under his leadership. He had power that came from the presence of God. If you read Exodus, you see how connected he was with God. 

But before all of that happened, he didn't know God. Today's story is how his first encounter happened. It's worth examining the story in detail to really gain some insight. 

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. (Exodus 3:1)

I did a little bible study with the interns and they gave me some really good insights. So, I thank them for some of the insights I gained as well. When you look at this, what sort of day was this? Was there anything special happening this day? Not really, right? It was an ordinary day. He was just in the pasture. He had a wife and kids. He was chilling. He was watching sheep. He wasn't thinking beyond that this day. But here's the very interesting thing: without realizing it, he was walking toward the mountain of God. He wasn't conscious or thinking about anything, but he was walking toward the mountain of God. 

We live our day to day lives without thinking much about it. We wake up,  we eat, go to work, go to school, do what we have to do, go home, play, eat, sleep. That's our life. But without realizing it, we are always walking toward an encounter with God. You don't need to think too much about it. You don't need to worry. Whatever path you're on, you're walking towards God.

Isn't that reassuring? It's not about you and what you do. You are walking toward God. To a place where God wants to meet you.

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush (Exodus 3:2)

Who initiates this? It's God who initiates. That is the important thing to know. God is trying to get your attention. Maybe it's through something that happened to you. Interaction or conversation that you had. God is an active agent trying to connect with you. God is not just watching out there from a distance. 

he looked (Exodus 3:2).

God initiates. But the question is: do we look? 

If Moses had tunnel vision, just focused on his job, just leading his flock, not really noticing his surroundings, he wouldn't have seen that burning bush. So many times, in our tunnel vision, we don't even bother to be aware of what's going on. Many things pass by our line of sight, but what do you look at? That's a very important question to ask as well. So I've tried as an exercise. I've been here many times and it feels just like yesterday that we were here. As I look now, even that plaque in that back, I didn't even notice that is said Muskoka Baptist Conference. That's what it was at my first Hi-C retreat. That was the old name of it. I didn't notice that. So many things we just whiz by, we don't notice. 

…he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. (Exodus 3:2)

Looking is one thing. What does it mean to look? Is a glance the same thing as look? Moses' looking was not a mere glance. It was not just a quick scroll and then onto the next one. He looked enough to see that the bush was blazing but wasn't being consumed. You have to take a close look, it takes a lingering and observation to see what Moses saw. He stopped long enough to notice, linger and observe. He didn't just stop there.

Then Moses said, I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up. (Exodus 3:3)

I must turn aside, and see why. It's not just a cool, and then move on. No, I must turn aside and see why. There's a curiosity at him. Curiosity is a big part of spiritual life. If you're not curious, then there's no way you can begin to delve into the great mysteries of the spiritual reality that is God. You need to be curious to enter into this whole spiritual world where God is present. 

We are flooded by information and consumption. I wonder if that helps kill our curiosity, or numbs our senses, so we can't even wonder in the first place. 

In the story of the Good Samaritan, a man was robbed, beaten, and left half dead on the road. A priest and Levite came across him. 

Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (Luke 10:32-33)

We may see, we may look, we may even be intrigued. But do we turn aside, and ask these questions, or do we pass by on the other side?

When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here I am. (Exodus 3:4)

When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, that's when God decided to call out. The spiritual life is about our attention. Spiritual life is about our attention. Not merely in a sensory way: with sight, smell, touch, hearing. It may start with our senses, but from there it goes to our looking, lingering, observing, curiosity, and acting on it. When your heart is looking, lingering, observing, and asking questions. These are the spiritual muscles required. God is always trying to get your attention. We need to notice. You will do so as you build up your spiritual muscles.

How do you build up these spiritual muscles? Using the analogy of the junk removal workers, we do this in our natural everyday life. There's no one way to do this, but I'm going to give you a little bit of a spiritual workout, a routine. I call it the Thanks. Help! Wow! workout.

Thanks:

What are you thankful for? But here's the twist: make it about something not related to you. Not something you have or posses, or the blessings you have, those are the usual things you're grateful for, but this workout, something outside of you.

You can start with something in nature. For example, I didn't realize how beautiful the trees and vegetation are. I'm thankful for this green-ness that makes me feel life. Something like that, notice something outside of you and give thanks for that. Here's the more interesting thanks exercise. Think about people: think about people you encountered that day, and give thanks for that person. Take a little time and stop and observe. Reflect on that person. What am I thankful about this person? Including and especially who annoyed you or got under your skin. It's easy to see the things that irk us about people. But instead of that, stop. What am I thankful about that person for? Do that. It's helped me enormously, and it's brought so much to ministry too. I'm so thankful for all of you. 

Thank you for the people around me.. Make that a practice! You'll be happier too, you won't be so annoyed by the people. I think that's what Jesus really meant when he said love your enemies. Do this as a spiritual practice. Thank God for the people that you've met. Focus on what's good about them, that way you'll start noticing things outside of yourself.

Help!

What is beyond your control? What's weighing on you or your heart? What happened that makes your heart heavy? Notice and identify these things. Then present those to God and ask for help. Many of the psalms are cries for help. They recognize their limits. Here's just one from David:

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also. For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing;

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, You are my God. My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love. Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord, for I call on you. (Psalm 31:9-17)

Help, that's what he's asking for. We recognize our limits when we cry for help. That's when we know we need a power beyond ourselves to keep us going in life. 

Wow!

This is the ability to look at your life and this world and say wow ! How amazing! The other day, Joonie had ball hockey in my old neighborhood. I decided to park and walk through my old neighborhood that I grew up in high school, university, until my first year of law school. I passed by some of my old friends' houses, and there was a park we used to play tennis and football all the time. Up the street, all these memories started flooding back. On the one hand, those were hard years. Teenage angst, my highschool years, eugh. Thinking about who I was, the struggles I faced, and the self esteem issues. Those memories came flooding back, while I was there, another set of memories came flooding back. God was with me during those times. My church, the Hi-C group I was part of, it was such an anchor for me, and without them, I don't know how I would've survived. I experienced so much joy from my church and my faith. Through this, I just sensed the goodness of God's grace. I was filled with wonder. The weather was so beautiful too. It was like heaven. Moments like that. We have to be able to experience the wow of life. Wow that brings a sense of gratitude and a sense of joy. When you can do that, it brings you a little closer to sensing the presence of God in your life. So practice the thanks and the help and those will help you get more and more to the wow. Which I think is the ultimate step to get a taste of God's presence in your life.

There is one final key, THE key, ultimately to the presence of God. Those are good spiritual muscles to build, those will really help you. You'll notice when God is trying to reach you. But that is very hard work. There is one key to the presence of God in your life. This is the ultimate gift that is given to us so we can see God. 

This gift is faith. This is how the writer of Hebrews articulates faith:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

The assurance and conviction of things not seen.

Faith is the assurance of God's presence, even when we cannot see God with our physical eyes or feel God. Faith is belief that God is there even when I don't feel God. So faith is the key to God's presence because it's my assurance that God is there even when I'm feeling so distant from God. So when you have faith, you don't have to constantly try to detect God in your life. When you have faith, you just know that God is there. You have the assurance and confidence that God is there, even if I might be feeling so distant from God. Faith is the superpower for an empowered life, but it's like a hidden superpower. You don't even know you have it. It's the mystery of faith. I was addicted to this fantasy book series in high school. It was called the Xanth series. The whole premise is, it's a different realm. The regular earth is called Mundania because it's so mundane. This other realm it's where magic exists. Every person is given a magical talent, but by a certain age, you have to discover this talent. Otherwise, you get banished to Mundania. Some people have very special powerful talents. They're called Magicians. So this one guy, Bink, the main character, he had no talent. He didn't even have the most basic talent. He's on this quest to discover his talent, then he went to this magician who could detect an individual's powers. This magician tells him he has magician level talent. But what do you mean, I don't even know what my talent is?

Interesting things happened as he went on and lived life. Whenever he got into trouble and bad people would use magic on him, he would emerge unfazed. He wouldn't get harmed by other people's magic. His talent was that he could not be harmed by other people's magic. That's the most powerful, he could not be harmed. It was hidden, he never knew! But that's what faith is like. He never knew. Faith is a hidden superpower because it's not something you can consciously acquire for yourself. That's why we call faith a gift. Faith is a gift and a mystery. People didn't realize they had faith, but they had it. It's your superpower to live an empowered life. When you have faith, you know God is with you. So you know that you can get through this with God's presence in your life. Even if I feel empty and dry, I can get through and carry on! With faith, even if I see no way, I trust God will make a way for me. So, more than anything, our prayer, our fervent prayer always should be for this gift of faith. Lord, may you grant me faith to believe and trust in you. If you have that, you have the superpower to live an empowered life. 

Cultivate your spiritual abilities and ability to notice God, they are food to nurture our faith. The more you do that, the more your faith will be cultivated. At the end of the day, our main prayer is for that gift of faith.

Reflection Questions:

The post Be A Witness: Session 1 appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Psalm 23

Due to technical difficulties, the Worship Video & Worship Audio are unavailable this week. Sorry for this inconvenience!

Today's psalm is psalm of King David. This is perhaps most famous psalm from the Bible.

It's so beautiful.

It has given peace and comfort to so many people throughout the ages. It still does.

The Lord is my shepherd. It's such a famous line. A comforting line.

I shall not want. With God as my shepherd, I will truly lack nothing.

How comforting that is. What peace that gives us.

In all of your striving, you can rest in the knowledge that God is your shepherd and will provide everything you need.

David came up with such beautiful imagery because he had intimate knowledge of what a shepherd did.

Before he became famous, he was a shepherd.

In his settled life, he tended to his family's sheep while his older brothers were off at war.

He took his flock beside still waters. He warded off creatures trying to eat them. He knew the peace of still waters.

These experiences became images he drew upon later in life. Because later in life, his life was very unsettled.

The prophet Samuel came to his town and anointed him as the future king of Israel. The problem is, there was already a king of Israel – Saul, the first king and monarch of Israel.

To be anointed king of Israel when one already exists is a politically seditious act.

This anointing thrust him into an unsettled life. But he lived out an empowered life with confidence in God.

With that confidence, he took on Goliath when no one else would, and he conquered him. Just a boy compared to this giant and armed only with five smooth stones and unshakeable faith, he killed the enemy's champion.

That made him a hero to his people, but struck the ire of King Saul. He became a marked man.

As David's exploits grew, so did Saul's fury and mistrust. Saul began plotting against David.

It got to the point where David had to flee. He had to survive with support from villagers wherever he went.

He was a fugitive for years, eking out survival while remaining in hiding.

When King Saul finally died, he was crowned King of Israel.

But his life didn't get any easier. There were so many problems.

Political factions he had to deal with. Loyalists to Saul he had to contend with.

He had many sons with different wives and women. There was competition among them.

One of his sons raped a half-sister. That half-sister's brother, Absalom, was filled with rage. He demanded Justice from his father, David.

David, having a soft heart for his sons, couldn't give that justice. So Absalom took matters into own hands and killed his half brother.

He was young, strong and handsome. He began to amass power for himself. He challenged his father and forced him to flee from Jerusalem.

Absalom was eventually killed in battle as David fought back. But David was devastated by this loss and never fully healed.

David sinned and sought forgiveness. He was full of life. But that full life contained more than its fair share of sorrows. He loved, he lost.

He was a man after God's own heart.

His greatest dream was to build a temple for God.

He began plans for it but couldn't do it, because his whole reign was spent in wars and battles to defend and expand his kingdom.

This is the life context in which he wrote the most beautiful and famous psalm.

He did not write it in peaceful and settled circumstances. He wrote it in the midst of many troubles and stresses.

He faced so many challenges in life. He was not a pure man.

But through all of this, he found rest. He found rest in the goodness of God.

His experience of God’s goodness sustained him and empowered him through all of his ordeals and trials in life.

My friends, life in this world is so difficult.

All our days we are faced with trials and worries, fears and anxieties. Every day we have new things to contend with.

Jesus was filled with worry for his disciples as he prepared to leave them.

This was part of his final prayer:

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. (John 17:14-16)

Living in this world is hard enough. But for followers of Jesus, we have the added burden of living in this world in a state of permanent tension.

We live in this world and have to survive in it, but we don't belong to it. We belong to the world of God. We try to live according to the values and ways of God's world.

Living in this world brings its own troubles. But trying to live in it while being of a different world is even more difficult.

That is why our Lord was crucified. His way of life could not survive in this world.

We are sent as a scattered church into a world that does not love us. It is a hard journey.

Which is why we need the empowerment we've reflected on this weekend.

What we need in all our toils is rest. Our rest is in the goodness of God.

God who leads us beside still waters and restores our souls. God who fills our cup and lets it overflow. God who protects us in the darkest valley.

We have our God who gives us this rest so we can be sent back out into the world.

Jesus did not send us out unequipped. He sent us out with peace.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14:27)

After Jesus was crucified, the disciples hid behind locked doors. They were scared and didn't know what to do.

Many times we feel like hiding behind locked doors because we don't know what to do.

That's when Jesus appeared to them

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:19-22)

Jesus does not send us out alone.

He sends us out with peace and the power of the Holy Spirit. That peace is our rest.

Peace is not the absence of troubles.

Peace is the power to live with our troubles and not be overcome by them

Peace is finding rest in the goodness of God.

God had given us this gathered church. He has given it so we can find rest in this world. To be empowered and sent out with peace in our hearts.

I love this community of faith. I love each of you. Some of you I know better than others.

But you are all my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this weekend. It has been a great joy to be called as a pastor for you.

God's goodness led me through all of my own difficulties and challenges in life to bring me to this blessed place of ministry.

I have been so filled and blessed with God's goodness and mercy through this ministry.

You are my family. My spiritual family.

I understand what Jesus said when his mother and brothers were looking for him.

Who are my mother and my brothers? And looking at those who sat around him, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. (Mark 8:33-34)

Every day, every week, I pray for you. I feel God's burning desire and love for you.

You are God's precious children.

God loves you. God does not send you out into the world alone. God sends you out with his Spirit.

God will be with you. God will take care of you.

May this community be a place of rest and blessing for you so that you can go out as empowered people.

May you always find rest in the goodness of God.

The post Rest in the Goodness of God appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

What did St. Paul discover after meeting Christ?

Pause!

There are many things he discovered.

He discovered new things about himself. He realized that he was a sinner.

He discovered that he had an inner conflict within him. Even hypocrisy.

He discovered that he had lived with a wrong conviction. Peace and conviction he had were all made up and they were not based on true understanding.

Yes, he discovered all these.

BUT I THINK,

The greatest discovery he had was the discovery that HE WAS NOT ALONE.

He didn't have to do everything by himself.

He realized that everything in life did not depend on him. He didn't have to figure out everything for himself.

When you realize that you are all alone – You have to do everything – And nobody can help you and nobody can do anything for you. That makes you feel pretty lonely.

Before he met Christ, he lived with a tremendous pressure to live up to the ideal he set up for himself.

He had to be a good Pharisee. A good son. A good leader. A good Jew.

He had to constantly prove to himself how good he was, how capable he was, and how faithful he was.

That's what God wanted, he thought. Believing in God meant being good, being strong, and being capable.

Not only to himself, but also to God, he had to prove himself. That's a tremendous pressure.

He was very self-centred in that way.

It is self-centredness in a strange way. Not in a selfish way.

He wasn't selfish. But in the sense that everything was about him. And everything depended on him.

He had to figure out everything for his life. His future, his career, his behaviour, and his faith.

With his own strength, he had to protect himself, his family, his country, his religion. Even God he had to protect.

That's why he wanted to go and arrest Christians because they were contaminating the pure Jewish faith, destroying the tradition and the law.

But after meeting Christ, he realized how wrong he was. How self-centred he was.

He realized how oppressed he was. He didn't realize the pressure he put upon himself.

He was chained to his expectations for himself. He was in bondage.

Bondage not to things like drinking, smoking, gambling and doing drugs. Bondage not to being pressured by external power.

But bondage to himself.

That's why he talked so much about freedom after meeting Christ. Because he experienced freedom.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

That yoke of slavery was himself. The real freedom was the freedom from himself.

Freedom from his expectations. Freedom from the pressure he put on himself. That's what Galatians is all about.

He was enslaved to his own expectation for himself. To his own power. To his own righteousness.

Everything he had to do it on his own. He thought that everything depended on him.

My friends, life is too heavy to hold it with your own two hands.

But we constantly put pressure on ourselves. We still live with this illusion that everything depends on us.

But in Christ, he found freedom. What gave him this freedom?

This was what he said.

this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

He discovered the extraordinary power that belongs to God, not to himself. That discovery gave him the freedom.

That discovery shattered the illusion that everything depended on him, his ability, and his righteousness.

He also discovered that he was only a clay jar.

But you know what? That was Ok. Being only a clay jar was Ok.

That used to scare him so much.

He never wanted to be only clay jars. He wanted to be an important vessel.

He had to be an important instrument. He had to be somebody important.

This was what he said.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: (I am) circumcised on the eighth day,

It was all about I am and I am.

That enslaved him. That created fear in him.

Self-centredness does that. It enslaves you.

When you start thinking everything depends on you, the only thing that remains is worries and anxiety. That will enslave you.

You are enslaved to your expectations.

For example, you go golfing. The first 5 holes you get par, par, par. And your friend tells you that you are hitting even. After that, bogey, double bogey, and triple bogey.

You're enslaved to your own expectations and your muscles tighten up. You can not really live up to your expectations.

To prove that I am capable, he had to reduce life to a manageable size.

He never experienced the majestic, grand, and magnificent scope of life.

He had to make life small so that he could control. His thinking was narrow.

But after meeting Christ, he went to the ends of the earth.

He experienced much bigger life. He was able to do much greater things than he ever imagined.

Saul of Tarsus became St. Paul, the Apostle.

That's what we are studying in KSM on Wednesdays.

The biggest idolatry he had was himself. Self-Idolatry.

That is what modern people fall into now. Self-Idolatry. It enslaves you.

It imprisons you in a small world you created. It robs you of the joy of living and enjoying life. It makes you focus on all about you all the time.

THAT'S TIRING.

It takes away from you the ability to be able to see people around you, and the world.

After meeting Christ, St. Paul found freedom and he said this.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:19, 20)

I is dead.

That means he is free from his ego. He is not enslaved to his weaknesses. Or the fear of his weaknesses.

The world constantly tells you that you are not good enough because of your race, because of your gender, because of your shortcomings.

Don't succumb to these negative pressures. Don't try to prove to the world how great you are. Don't try to make friends with those who make you feel miserable.

It's Ok to be a clay jar.

It's Ok to be different from them. It's Ok not to have so much money and so much fame.

St. Paul even said,

We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day. (1 Corinthians 4:13)

You know what?

You may be clay jars but within you, there is treasure. You are clay jars WITH treasure.

You have the extraordinary power that belongs to God.

You can make changes not because you are great. Even though you are a clay jar, you can make changes because of the extraordinary power that you have.

So even in circumstances that you cannot handle with your own power, you can survive and even thrive.

That was what St. Paul said.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9)

Everything depends on you?

No, everything doesn't depend on you. No, life is not just about you.

God gives you the extraordinary power.

Be saved from self-idolatry. Be healed from self-idolatry.

The extraordinary power kicks in when you are healed from self-idolatry.

In Paul's language, when you die to yourself, the extraordinary power starts working in your life.

Experience the extraordinary power that comes from God. It is the power that raised Jesus from the dead.

When Jesus could not do anything, this power did something wonderful.

When you cannot do anything, this power will do something wonderful.

When you encounter very difficult situations, be calm.

Don't be shrunk. Don't run away. Don't give up.

Wait and see how the extraordinary power is working out for you.

The post It’s Ok to Be a Clay Jar appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Romans 8:12-17

Living an Empowered Life

Our time here on earth is short. With the time we have, I believe it's important to live an empowered life.

I believe that is God's desire for us.

These were Jesus' last words to his disciples:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. (Acts 1:8)

It was a promise of empowerment.

After St. Paul met Christ, his life changed. He lived an empowered life.

For him too, the source of this power was clear: the Spirit of God.

There was a clear contrast between an empowered life and a disempowered life.

This is how he describes it:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:5-6)

To set your mind on the things of the flesh is a disempowered life. To set it on the Spirit is life and peace – an empowered life.

Things of the Flesh

We need to know what the difference is between flesh and Spirit.

St. Paul did not mean literal flesh. He meant things that relate to our earthly existence. Things we need to live, like: Money. Health. Job. Reputation.

We need them to live, but they are temporary and perishable. When we die, all of that goes away.

Setting our minds on these things is not an empowered life. But that's easier said than done.

We know that these earthly things are temporary. But they affect us on such a deep level because these are the things that make up so much of our daily lives.

When you don't have these things, or your situation is shaky, it makes you feel vulnerable and insecure.

Your experience of lacking these earthly things can rock your sense of safety and fill your heart with fear.

Money struggles may come and go. Health challenges may come and go. But the fear they produce remains.

The things of the flesh may be temporary, but their effects on our hearts can be permanent.

They make your heart fearful. That fear saps power from your life.

The Solution to Fear

We think the solution to overcoming that fear is to improve or get rid of the circumstances that produced the fear. So we set our minds on these things of the flesh.

But that is setting your mind on the wrong things.

To set your mind on the things of flesh does not lead to life and peace.

Yes, your circumstances might be better. But your heart remains the same. It remains a prisoner of fear.

Focusing only on creating good circumstances is not the path to an empowered life.

But so much of our time and energy is focused on that. Because that is what we see.

We are not only flesh. We are not only physical creatures who eat and reproduce.

We are also spirit. We are spiritual beings who have a consciousness and desire for meaning.

Just like your body, your spirit must be tended to and nourished. If you neglect it, it will be malnourished and shrivel up. It won't come alive.

When your circumstances are good, then you have the pleasure of those circumstances. Pleasure is good. But pleasure is like dessert.

I love dessert. After a great meal, it is a delightful way to end it. But that's just what good circumstances and pleasure are – dessert. If you have it, that's great!

But without the main course, dessert is just empty calories. Too much dessert, and you feel sick. You need the main course.

The main course is food that feeds your spirit. Food that makes your heart come alive.

We've been too focused on making and eating dessert. We haven't fed our hearts with the main course.

This is the reason people don't feel passion for life. Why people feel no meaning or purpose in life.

They are not driven by the real desires of their heart. They are driven instead by fear.

Their hearts remain locked away in fear. It remains buried.

The Spirit Sets Us Free

So many people don't know what their heart truly desires. That is a sad reality of our modern life.

For St. Paul, it was clear what the main course is: the Spirit of God.

The Spirit is not something we can touch or see. The Spirit is present in your heart.

When the Spirit is connected with your heart, the Spirit revives it.

The heart heals. The heart gains new insight. The heart grows.

Most importantly: the Spirit gives you power to break free from the fear that imprisons your heart.

The empowerment of the Spirit is the power to set your spirit free from fear.

This is the freedom that St. Paul experienced:

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is set free (2 Corinthians 3:17)

A heart set free to soar. To dance. To desire.

I don't own a dog, but I've seen dogs unleashed at the park. They are free. They become who they really are – dogs.

An empowered life is having a spirit that is set free from fear.

It is not about your circumstances. Whatever your circumstances, a strong spirit will give you empowerment.

That is the kind of empowered life that St. Paul lived:

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

That is an empowered life.

Let the Spirit make your spirit strong, and you will live an empowered life.

This is the most important thing in life.

A strong spirit will get you through any and all circumstances.

It doesn't mean that fear doesn't exist. But it no longer has a hold on you.

Say Yes!

You want to know what an empowered life looks like?

It is a life of saying Yes!

Yes to life. Yes to my present circumstances, even difficult ones. Yes to helping others. Yes to sacrificing your comfort. Yes to what is asked of me.

No, or maybe, is the response of a disempowered life. No is the answer of fear.

When your spirit is set free from fear, it is free to say yes!

Do you want to be free?

Then practice saying yes. Let that be your spiritual practice and discipline.

Say yes, especially when you feel afraid, uncomfortable, or inconvenienced. That is the time to say yes.

Saying yes will make your heart come alive.

It will stir up fear in your heart. But it will increase your faith and trust in God.

It will open up doors and paths you never imagined. It will heal you.

You will discover what your heart desires. It will create a new shape for your life.

You will live out your calling when you live a life of saying yes.

Saying yes is a blessed life. Blessings for you and blessings for others.

Saying yes is the sign of an empowered life.

When you are afraid, uncomfortable or inconvenienced, say yes.

When you are at the fork in the road, pray for courage. Pray for a bigger heart. Pray for faith.

God will set your spirit free and give you the power to say yes.

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

God brought you into this world to live an empowered life. God loves you so much that he sent Jesus to rescue your heart and set you free.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)

Jesus has set us free!

Let your heart be set free.

Let it soar. Let it dance. Let it persevere through your challenges with faith. Let it be strong.

Let it say yes!

The post Set Your Spirit Free! appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Acts 2:1-21

Due to technical difficulties, the Worship Video & Worship Audio are unavailable this week. Sorry for this inconvenience!

The Spirit Upon the Devout Jews

After Jesus rose from the dead, it gave the disciples hope. Easter showed the power of life over death.

The only thing was, they didn't know what to do with this hope.

Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. He promised that he would send the Spirit to them.

The Spirit would lead the way. The Spirit would also give them power, and they would be witnesses to that power.

This is what he said:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

This is the theme verse for us this year. It's what I'll be reflecting on more deeply at the retreat.

Today's passage is the story of what happened when the Spirit came upon them.

The Spirit came upon them in a powerful way. The Church was born.

The Spirit comes like a rushing wind.

Tongues of fire come upon each person, and they begin speaking in other languages. Many people witness this amazing phenomenon.

The scene is quite dramatic:

Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs (Acts 2:5, 9-10)

The author of Acts didn't spill all of this ink for nothing. This scene is the key that unlocks the meaning of this experience.

There were devout Jews born and raised in all corners of the known world. They were diaspora Jews.

All Jews used to live in one homeland in Palestine. But over the course of history, they were scattered across the known world.

They spoke the language and understood the cultures of the places they were raised in.

They were like many of us, whose ancestors are from places like Korea, Italy, Jamaica and elsewhere, but who have lived in Canada.

Yet, as devout Jews, they did not completely feel like they belonged in their surroundings. They struggled with what it meant to be a Jew living among non-Jews.

So they came to Jerusalem to be connected with their people in their ancestral homeland. But even in Jerusalem, they were different.

Everyone there spoke Aramaic. Their culture was different. They didn't feel completely at home in Jerusalem either.

They were in between two worlds without really belonging to either one. This must have been very unsettling.

But look at the disciples and first followers of Jesus as well. They were all from Galilee. Which was like the rural country.

People in Jerusalem could tell their Galilean dialect right away. They stood out and were not settled in Jerusalem either.

What we see is the Spirit bringing these unsettled people together.

That is the real meaning of this event: the Spirit powerfully bringing together unsettled people, united in their vast differences.

Brought Together

This was the first Church. A Church of diverse, unsettled people.

This event at Pentecost has captured the imaginations of Christians throughout the centuries.

It was an experience and a phenomenon never seen before. It was a powerful spiritual experience.

Many people want to replicate this kind of powerful experience.

Many Christian movements focus on having the same kind of experience that these people had on Pentecost.

The focus is on the experience.

But this is where proper understanding of Scripture is important.

More important than the experience is the question that the witnesses to this experience asked:

All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? (Acts 2:12)

What does this mean? – that is the important question.

When the Spirit comes upon you, it can be a powerful experience. It is wonderful to experience that if God chooses.

But understanding is more important than experience. More important is what the Spirit is doing.

It's not about the phenomenon of speaking in tongues.

It is about the Spirit powerfully bringing together these diverse, unsettled people into a new community.

That's the real meaning of Pentecost.

The Power of Language

The Spirit used language to bring people together. Each person heard of God's deeds of power in their own language.

Language is a means of communication. It helps you relate to others.

Once during a Young Families get-together, when Nolan and Hayoon (children of St. Tim's community) were much younger, Hayoon kept speaking Korean to Nolan but Nolan couldn't understand her. A bit frustrated, he finally exclaimed: I don't understand your language!

Yes, language helps you connect, and the Spirit used language.

But this is not a story about language or speaking in tongues.

It is about the power of the Spirit to unite.

Language was merely the tool that the Spirit used to bring people together.

In fact, language does not always bring together.

You can speak the same language as someone else, but still not understand that person. You may speak the same language but feel like you're speaking a different language.

Language can also be used as a tool of power.

The minority has to use the language of the majority. The powerful party can erase the language of the conquered.

Language can divide and fracture relationships.

This was the policy of our country with respect to indigenous peoples. Through residential schools, they tried to erase their language, erase their identity. To kill the Indian in them.

Connecting at the Heart

Connection is about more than spoken language. It's about understanding. Connecting at the heart.

This is what the Spirit was doing at Pentecost.

They became a new community that transcended differences in language. They became a new community bound together by the power of the Spirit.

Diaspora Jews had to conform and speak the dominant Aramaic language. But now they were hearing of God's deeds in their own languages.

They were being connected in their hearts.

When you are filled with the Spirit, you receive power to bind together.

Power to overcome differences. Power to understand. Power to speak the language of the other. Power to connect, heal and reconcile.

This is the true miracle of Pentecost. This is God's desire and will for human beings.

The Canadian government and churches erased much of the language of our indigenous peoples.

When we go to Sioux Valley this summer, we may not speak the language of the Dakota people who live there.

But when we go, our desire is to connect at the level of hearts.

Despite our differences, we go with faith that the Spirit will powerfully bind our hearts together. We witnessed some of this last year, and we prayerfully ask the Spirit to lead us again.

A Movement Guided By the Spirit

God has a burning desire to bring together.

The Spirit didn't come gently. It came like the rush of a violent wind.

God's desire is intense.

That is what St. Paul discovered after he met Christ.

There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

People are anxious with all the change that's happening. This anxiety is making people angry and tearing us apart.

People don't know where to turn to for answers. Many people don't trust traditional, institutional religions anymore. This includes the Church.

If anything, people are turned off by the institutional Church. There have been too many sins, too many harms done. That too, is a part of our history that we can't or shouldn't erase.

In times like this, we need to go back to our origins – our essence.

The Church is not an institution. It's not a religion. It's a movement of the Spirit.

A powerful movement that binds together.

Pentecost teaches us that God is an active agent.

God is not a passive spectator watching from a distance. God is involved. God is on the move.

You don't need to seize control of your situation. Don't fall into that temptation.

Do what the first followers did: wait and pray for the Spirit to come upon you. The Spirit will lead you in a powerful way.

In your families, among friends and in your communities, don't be someone who tears apart.

Be someone who binds together. The Spirit will give you this power.

The post The Spirit Binds Together appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

John 17:6-19

Jesus’ Last Prayer

What we read was Jesus' last prayer before he died.

Jesus sensed that his death was coming near. His situation was getting worse and more dangerous.

This all happened because he raised Lazarus from the dead. After raising Lazarus, Jesus became very popular and so many people followed him.

This wasn't good for Jesus. Jewish leaders were threatened by Jesus.

Jesus' influence became bigger and bigger and he became more powerful. This didn't sit right with the leaders who had the power during Jesus' time.

So they decided to get rid of Jesus. We see that in chapter 11.

In chapter 12, we see Mary pouring her perfume on Jesus' feet to prepare his death.

And in chapter 13, before Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he said this.

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)

Death was all around Jesus. Death was the inevitable reality Jesus had to face.

Then we see Jesus' last prayer in chapter 17. After this prayer, Jesus was arrested.

Full of Love

This is a beautiful prayer.

Not just the content of what Jesus said but Jesus' heart.

He was facing his own death. His death was imminent. He was facing his own critical moment.

And yet, his thoughts were so focused on his disciples. He was talking about nothing else but the disciples.

Help them not to fall into the temptation of the world. Even though they may be hated by the world, strengthen them so that they may overcome the troubles they may face.

Help them O God so that they clearly understand that they belong to you, not to the world. Protect them from the evil one. Sanctify them with your truth.

It's all about the disciples. Nothing about himself. He only worried about his disciples. Their well being.

Isn't that what love is?

If you love somebody, you think about that person before you think about yourself. That's what love is.

That was what St. Paul said.

Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:4, 5)

Then Paul talked about the mind of Jesus.

(He) who, though he was in the form of God,

Emptying oneself – yes, that is love. Unless you empty yourself, you cannot love.

That is what love is. You empty yourself and leave space in your heart for others.

If you are full of your own agendas, full of your own thoughts, and your wants, you can never love anyone.

If you do everything on your terms, then, you can never love others.

We reflected on Jesus' love last week. His love was sacrificing himself for his friends.

What we see in Jesus' last prayer is his love. That's what I see.

The Heart of Parents

That is what our parents did and do. They always worry about their children.

Are they doing Ok? – Korean parents always worry about their children not eating properly. Maybe it has to do with their poor upbringing. Eating well was important.

We cannot imagine parents who lost their children. Who will ever understand their agony? I can't imagine how the young couple would cope with their pain?

Manivannan and Jawahar who lost their parents and their child in highway 401 crash in Whitby in the course of a police chase.

They said this.

His small toys and clothes remain spread around our home, and we have no courage in us to even enter our home which is filled with our only son's memories. My parents had arrived in Canada only two days before the tragedy.

There is a Korean saying: When parents die, you bury them in the ground. But when your children die, you bury them in your heart.

After family gatherings, my wife always worries about children. Sometimes, she said they don't look good.

Not because there is any problem. But it is just a mother’s worries. If there is any holiness in worries, it is mother's worries.

Parents always think about their children before they think about themselves. That is the heart of parents. That should be the heart of parents.

As I reflected last week, the first people babies encounter in this world are their parents. The first experience they have is love from their parents.

Especially, mother's love is special. Mother's love makes us who we are.

The Aching Heart

In parents' heart, there is . It is a special Korean language. It literally means lump – it is an emotional lump – emotional baggage.

It is the aching heart. When they see children, their heart aches. When the children suffer, the parents suffer more.

One day, my son took us out to get delicious food. After lunch, he was going back to his work and I watched him walk away.

To me, he looked so sad. I started to worry if he was doing okay in his cold, competitive work environment.

Jesus showed very well the aching heart of parents by telling us the story of the prodigal son.

The father was waiting and waiting for his son who took everything from him and wasted it.

The elder brother was angry and did not join the party. The father had an aching heart for the elder son too.

If you have no love, there is nothing to worry about. There will be no aching heart.

But parents always worry.

Jesus told us not to worry about anything but parents' worry, even Jesus cannot stop.

They are worries that come from love.

It is an automatic thing. I would like to call it the holy burden.

Loving with Parents’ Heart

Now we parents have to turn those worries into prayer.

Even our children, we have to leave them in God's hands. As Jesus left his disciples in God's hands, we should leave our children in God's hands.

When parents pray, it has the power. Because it comes from love. It comes from their desperation.

I didn't have much interaction with my father. He passed away when I was 18 years old.

My father was busy but I was also a teenager and had no interest in interacting with my parents. So I didn't have a deep relationship with him.

But my mother – I started the immigrant life with my mother. She was my immigrant partner. Including my brother.

She never told me to do this or that. She was always gentle. But through her quietness, I learned so much about life.

You don't have to be a parent to have parents’ heart. Jesus' heart was parents' heart.

As our parents loved us, let us love one another with parents' heart.

Appreciate your parents' love. Show them your appreciation.

The post Even In the Last Prayer appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

John 15:9-17

The Last Commandment

Love one another. This is the last commandment Jesus taught us.

It is the last commandment, the greatest commandment, and the most important commandment.

When you put together everything Jesus did, said, and taught, the ultimate conclusion is this: LOVE.

So Jesus said this conclusively.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12)

What is the meaning of the word, commandment?

It doesn't mean having obligation to do what you don't want to do.

It means what is the most important in your life. What makes your life life. The reason for you to live.

The reason for you to live is to love. The ultimate purpose of life is to love.

Love is the most important thing in life.

That's why St. Paul said at the end of his famous chapter on love.

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

That was his conclusion too.

Do you believe that?

Love Makes Us Happy

Also, love gives you happiness. When you are in love, you are happy.

People who are in love have a big smile on their faces. Because they are joyful. They are happy.

That was what Jesus said today.

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)

The reason Jesus came to the world was to make you happy.

He came to love you and tell you how much God loves you so that you may become happy.

Love makes joy come alive. Love makes you happy.

Do you believe that?

Then if we believe that love is the most important thing in life and love makes you happy, how come I don't see love much around me?

I see a lot of hatred and anger. I see indifference. People don't seem to care. But not love.

Maybe we say we believe that but don't truly believe that in our heart? Maybe we don't have conviction in that?

Created in the Image of Love

Christians believe that love is the most important thing in life and love makes us happy.

Because our Lord Jesus said so. Because we are also convicted in our heart as the truth. Because we have also experienced that ourselves in life.

When God created us, God put love within us.

When love is the most important thing, wouldn't God put that in our heart?

It is more important than eyes, ears, arms, and legs. It is more important than stomach, intestines, liver, and kidney.

When God put all those things within us, wouldn't God put love which is the most important within us?

Yes, God put love within us when he created us. God created us in the image of God and the image of God is love.

This was what John said.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

Because we have love, we can be connected with God. Because God is love.

God put love within us so that we can relate to God. Also so that we can relate to each other and relate to the creation.

This was what the first human being said about Eve.

This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. (Genesis 2:23)

Growing to Love

We have love almost like an instinct.

I could see that last week. Teddy and Nicole's baby, Cody, had a complication.

I received a text on Wednesday from Nicole, asking for prayer. Fortunately, Cody is Ok and he came home.

I know the feeling of Nicole and Teddy because Yong Mi and I went through a similar situation. I saw the love of parents.

Babies will grow with parents' love.

They are the first people they see when they are born. That is the first world they encounter. The first thing they experience is love.

Love makes you grow. Love makes you a complete human adult.

Being an adult doesn't mean now you are 18. It means to become a person who can fully love.

That was Paul's idea of love and being an adult.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. (1 Corinthians 13:11)

He said this in his famous love chapter.

When you are able to fully love, you put an end to childish ways and become an adult.

Teach your children love. There is nothing more important than that.

When they learn to love, they will survive in any situation. They will be strong.

You are strong not when you have muscles. You are strong when you are able to persevere through extreme situations.

When you have love, you will have that strength.

Rekindling Our Love

The reason we cannot see much love around us is because the love within us is damaged.

When we are hurt, we are not just hurt but the love within us gets damaged.

We become hardened. We become incapable of receiving love and giving love.

Jesus came to heal the damaged love within us. Jesus came to rekindle the love within us.

Love heals. Jesus' love heals.

Jesus expressed his love in this way.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15:13)

Jesus showed love that laid down his life for a friend. He showed the ultimate form of love.

He sacrificed himself for love. That love flowed out of the cross. The love that flowed out of the cross flowed into us.

That love heals us. Our diseases, our hurt, pain, suffering, worries, doubt, anxiety, and darkness – love heals them all.

Our hardened heart will become soft. We could not receive love before. Now we can.

We could not freely give love. Now we can.

A Way of Life

Love is not something you feel. Many people think of love as feeling. But that is not true.

Feeling comes and goes. But love does not. If love is a feeling, no one can love forever.

(Baek Hyun-woo) did not just feel for (Hong Hae-in). He took the bullet for her. (Korean drama – Queen of Tears)

Love is neither feeling nor action.

There are times when you cannot do anything. But that does not mean you cannot love.

Love is the way we live our life. Love is something within us.

Love is the way we interact with others, other people, the world, and God.

Since it is the way we live our life, we should practice. We need to practice to receive love from God.

Meditate on God always and carve in your heart how much God loves you. That is a practice.

You have to practice to love so that love within you grows. You cannot learn a full marathon overnight. You cannot learn to love like Paul overnight.

Empty yourself and build others up. That is a practice.

Don't let your hurt damage the love within you. Turn it into compassion: Suffering love.

Learn to understand others. There is no love without deep understanding.

Thick, Nhat Hanh said,

Without understanding, love can't be true love. We must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs, aspirations, and suffering of the one we love.

Practice it so that love within you becomes healed and stronger.

Practice it so that love within you freely flows out of you.

The post God Planted Love Within Us appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.