St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

Luke 15:1-10

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.  So he told them this parable:  Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

How wonderful that song is, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of the earth shall grow strangely dim. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, you’ll find glory in the light of Jesus Christ.” More than anything else, Jesus showed humanity who God is like. He did a lot of things, but he clearly showed us who God is like. We can create all kinds of images of God because God is invisible. So you can create images and you can create concepts. You can call him immortal or immutable God or all presence or omniscient God, you can talk about everything about God. But the God that we believe, the God that we worship is God, whom Jesus revealed to us. Throughout his life, Jesus showed us manifestation. Who is that God whom we worship?

Today there are three stories, and we read only two stories. The first story is about a shepherd going out, looking for searching for the lost sheep. The second story is about a woman who’s searching for Drachmas, a coin worth the price of a lamb. The third story we didn’t read is about a father who is waiting and searching for his lost son, the prodigal son. So through these three stories, Jesus showed us who God is like. Our God actively searches for the lost, that is who God is. Our God is not an indifferent bystander. God is not just up there in heaven and just observing what we’re doing and coming down to punish us when we make mistakes. That is not the kind of God that we know and worship. Our God is very much engaged in our lives and is with us experiencing all the things that we experience every day, the reincarnation, and Jesus coming down to Earth. That is exactly what God looks like. Instead of staying up there in heaven, he came down to be with us even though it is muddy. He didn’t mind to be put in a muddy situation and he stayed with us and ultimately he was crucified. That is the kind of God that Jesus showed us, a God who is searching for us.

There’s one person who found the secret about of God even before Jesus came, and that was King David. He said this in Psalm 1:39, “Oh Lord you have searched me and known me.” He knew what kind of God he was worshiping. He knew that the God that we worship is one who searches and searches him, and then he went on to say that later, “where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you’re there. If I make my bed in Sheol you’re there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast.” David knew God was right there in his life. That’s why he could write such a beautiful poem like this, this image of the searching God. When I look at it, I see deep compassion and love of God.

Sometimes we see an angry God in the Old Testament, a God who is so frustrated with us, ready to punish us. God is so frustrated in the Old Testament, so you think that God is an angry God, but that’s how the old people and Asian people express who God is. But what they are trying to express is that God is very concerned about us, that God cares for us. If you don’t care about anybody, you don’t even get angry. Only when you care for somebody you can get angry, so he shows how much God cares for us. Of course, he’s frustrated, but he deeply cares. He’s never indifferent to us, so whenever we go astray, he gets so frustrated, “why do you keep going that way.” He was expressing a kind of angry manner because that’s how ancient writers wrote it, but you see the God who deeply cares for us. The woman searched all night for the lost coin and the shepherd went through the whole field, crossing the river and climbing the mountains to search for one lost sheep because they cared.

God is always searching for us because God cares. Sometimes my friends, we fall away from God. We’re so distant from God, not necessarily because we hate God or we rebel against God, but sometimes we just get drifted away. We don’t feel very close to God. Maybe life is too busy or raising family is too difficult or we get carried away with our own ambition or we get distracted by life’s temptations. Slowly we get drifted away from God. We become dry and we lose touch with God, there’s no real connection with God. Prayer becomes just language and the word of God does not penetrate into our soul. It does not touch our soul, so God is there, but he’s just there. We are not connected with God. When life’s tragedy hits us, we feel so lost that we don’t even know what to do and we get really scared too. When we are drifted away or hit by life’s tragedies, we feel distant from God. We feel that God is far from us, but that’s just how you feel. God is never distant from us. We may feel very distant from God, but God is never distant from us. God is always there actively searching for us. God is waiting for us to turn around. When I feel that God is far away, that’s when God is closest. I may feel that, but God is right there because we need God. When I’m at the lowest point of my life, God was nearest to me. When I’m hard pressed from all sides and when I’m about to give up, God is right there encouraging us not to give up. When I’m totally lost, that’s when God finds us.

When we are lost, we can meet God who searches for the lost. We feel that God is very close when everything goes alright, but when everything goes wrong, we feel that God is far away, but that’s just our feeling. When everything goes wrong, God is right there. St Paul confessed in this way. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted but not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed.” The reason he was not in despair, not abandoned and not destroyed was because he met God who was right there with him. We need to learn to recognize to search God when we go through a hard time. When you’re about to give up, God does not give up on you. When you fail, God does not fail you. When you’re scared, God holds you in his arms. You don’t always have good times. We can’t demand that we should always have a good time. We cannot even demand that. It doesn’t matter what age you may be. Sometimes life’s tragedy hits us. Just last week I visited a hospital, and I saw a young woman going through a hard time. We never expect that, but things happen, even bad things can happen. But remember, when you lose God, God finds you. When you lose God, don’t worry too much because God will find you. No matter what you’re going through, God is actively searching for you and ultimately finds you. When you face problems, don’t try to just overcome those problems or deal with those problems or solve them. In those problems meet God, who’s searching for you actively. I realized that just because you solve one problem, that doesn’t mean that another problem won’t come. I realized that problems comes one after another. But when you meet our searching God, you will be able to handle the problems that come to you. They will not scare you and intimidate you. Understand our God who finds you.

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Matthew 10:40-42

{Transcript}

Hospitality. That's a beautiful word, and hospitality is a very important aspect of living as a human. Being hospitable makes other people feel welcome, appreciated, valued and loved. That's what we human beings should do. We should make other people feel welcomed, appreciated and valued. You have no right to make other people feel miserable. You have no right to make other people feel small. We have all the responsibility to make other people feel important, to make other people big, great, valued. That's what we are called to do, that's what human beings should do, whoever we meet, whether they're strangers or family members or friends, we should always make other people feel welcomed, accepted, loved, and valued.

That's the kind of culture that I grew up with when I was back in Korea. The whole village, the whole town was like family. I could go to anybody's house and ask for food if I'm hungry. And then my friend's parents, I'm like their son, they always provide something to eat. Korean culture is like that, anybody comes under your roof, you never send them away hungry. You always provide something to eat. I don't know these days whether it's like that in Korea or not. They live in condos and all that. But when I grew up, that was the culture that I lived in. And I thought it was just a Korean culture that I grew up with. But when I went to Africa they were exactly the same, they treated me like a precious person, the king, the most important person in the world, they tribute me with such a high respect. That's what human beings are supposed to do to each other. And I thought it was just Korean culture or African culture, but it's a biblical culture.

When Abraham had three strangers and they were about to just pass by Abraham never let them go without feeding them. So, Abraham got lambs and they had a feast. And then later he realized that they were angels, not just strangers, but there were angels. And this is what the Hebrew writer said, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that, some have entertained angels without knowing it. You entertain a stranger like an angel. That's what we should do. Whoever we meet, we should really treat them like angels, welcoming strangers or somebody should be our basic human character and helping each other's needs is basic humanity. That's why we support the refugee program very strongly. And we invited an Afghanistan family.  I mean, last time we also invited a Syrian family. Our church sponsored these people to welcome the stranger to welcome people. And right now, they're living are very well in this country, Canada.

During my vacation I went to Boston to visit my grandson, he's a two-year-old. And when I got there, they had a big party for the second birthday of Charlie and the whole week they prepared all kinds of food, Kalbi, Chinese, skews and crab legs and all that, you name it. They prepared so much, and they decorated the Hawaiian kind of the theme of Moana. So, they had a Hawaiian theme and decorated the whole house. And then they said because we're very busy preparing for this, can you welcome the people? So, I was there to welcome all the people who came, and I was talking with a neighbour, he came from Jamaica and I realized that he has 11 siblings, and he was talking about his life. And then one of his sisters, she was a dentist and she quit just like Simon and then became a minister. And we were talking and while watching them be hospitable to the people I felt good, that's what we should do.

I'm going to Madagascar in October and when I went to Madagascar, they're all poor. No one is rich there. So, when I went to South Africa, some people are rich, some people are poor, but in Madagascar everybody is poor. But even with their limited resources, they really treated me with huge hospitality. They treated me with the best that they could. And I felt so welcomed and loved.

I once had a car accident while I was an intern moderator for Kitchener Waterloo church. You know Sunday afternoons, I'm very tired because it's after service and all that. I get tired and I had a meeting in Waterloo, but it's an hour away. When I was driving, I started falling asleep on the 401. I really pinched myself, I sang loud and then yelled and did all kinds of things. I tried to wake myself up and I barely made it and I was going off to highway 8 to go to Waterloo and – finally I got here and I fell asleep on highway 8 and by the time I woke up I was on the paved shoulder. I tried to control my car. It was winter, and I couldn't control my car and it went into the ditch, luckily there was lots of snow in the ditch. So, I survived. That's how I'm speaking to you now. But while I was there waiting for a tow truck for about an hour, almost every car stopped by just to see if I'm, okay. And later it kind of became you know a nuisance. And every time I came out and said, I'm okay. So, I just came out and told everyone, I'm okay. Just pass. Right, but at the time, I feel proud to be Canadian. They care when somebody is in trouble, they don't just pass by, they care, they stop doing whatever they are doing, to see how I'm doing. That's what hospitality is, that's what human being should do to each other.

Once I took the eldest Korean in our church, I went to Niagara Falls and we're under the roof. And then there were about four groups there. And I looked around all four groups. They were cooking their own thing and then there was a Korean group from another church and there is an Afghanistan group and then there were people from Brock University, geological society or something like that. And then while I was there, I was prompted by the spirit, somehow to go and visit them. They're your neighbours, go visit them. So, you know, I'm kind of an introvert. I don't really like talking to strangers and all that. It takes extra energy for me to do that. I was sitting there and I'm just comfortable with my group just eating kalbi and all this stuff, but the spirit kind of prompted me to go and talk to them. So, I went to this group and this person started talking to me and he started crying. He said his wife just passed away one month ago and he was so sad, and he was talking about his whole life and I was listening to him.

And then after saying bye, I went to the Afghanistan group, one of them said that he had 80 members of his family. One family was bigger than our whole group. When I went there, he brought his wife, his brother in law, sister in law, he introduced to everyone from his family. And I said to myself, this is what human life is supposed to be about.  We are not strangers to each other. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Hospitality, when new people come to our church, I hope that we can welcome them with love and appreciation. We should make them feel at home, comfortable.

Hospitality is a serving attitude. You serve other people's needs, that should be at the bottom of all human life, not just Christian life, all human life. We need to serve each other's needs. Jesus taught us that. He said, I did not come to be served. I came to serve, that's what Jesus did, and he showed us what life we should live through his parable, the Good Samaritan parable. Somebody was in trouble and this person stopped doing everything and he went down to help that person. That's what human life should be like. Jesus came to this world with a spirit of hospitality, but this world accepted him with hostility. They did not accept him. They treated him with hostility. He came with hospitality, but people treated him with hostility. This is what John said. He came to what was his own and his own people did not accept him. Lack of hospitality is a symptom of the darkness of sin. You don't have that spirit of hospitality, that means you have the darkness of sin.

In the world we live in, as Steve eloquently prayed, we see hostility rather than the hospitality. We need to turn hostility into hospitality. Being hospitable is not always easy because we have this fear within us and sometimes we reject other people, but we should turn our hearts into hospitality so that we may be able to welcome other people with love and care. We need to develop a new kind of leadership. The leadership of hospitality, the leadership of serving Jesus showed us that kind of leadership he knelt and washed the feet of the disciples. He served them. Unless you humble yourself, lower yourself and kneel, you cannot be hospitable to other people. You cannot serve other people.

I hope that we can build up that kind of spirit, are the people who are in trouble around you? Are there people who are in need around you? Are there people who are in pain around you? They are your brothers and sisters. You cannot just neglect them. You cannot just pass by them. You must stop doing whatever you were doing and then take care of their needs. Be with them, pray with them, show them that you care. That's what community is all about. That's what humanity is all about. We should build that kind of world, and then you will be the first people who do that. Even though the world does not have it, we Christians should exercise the life of hospitality. There are a lot of people around you who need your care. They don't say it, they sometimes suffer silently. Let us look around, who is in need and let us be their friends.

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Mark 6:1-13

[*Note: The following sermon was not recorded due to technical difficulties. But the transcript of the sermon has been included below for reference. Thank you for your understanding.]

Today's sermon title is Rejection and Acceptance.

Both words are totally opposite to each other.

Rejection is something you do not want to recognize the value of the person or thing and thus drive away that person or thing from you.

On the other hand, Acceptance is to recognize the value of the person or thing and thus embrace it.

When I look at the world these days, rejection will be the word that describes the phenomena of the society.

Whether it is about ethnicity, religion or culture, we tend to reject those who are different from us and put up the walls between them and us.

We all know that US wants to build the wall along the border with Mexico and they want to charge Mexico for that cost.

Israel is still building the walls that go up to 40 feet high to protect their own people but because of the walls, they are forcing the Palestinians to become homeless and to leave their homelands.

UN urged Israel to stop this project because it is against the international law as well as the basic human rights.

But, those who have more want to have more, and those who have power want to keep the status quo.

There is a word, called, Xenophobia.

So, Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of foreigners, people from different cultures.

As we can see from the WORD itself, fear is working in it.

If we find others are different from us, or if we do not know what is going on, we become fearful.

It is important to know why we have this particular attitude whether that is negative or positive towards certain groups of people.

Today's passage deals with the issue of Rejection as well.

This happened when Jesus went to this synagogue in his hometown.

And we must ask this question.

Even though Jesus was not a refugee but a hometown man, the rejection he received would speak loudly to him.

Why did Jesus get rejected?

When we look at verse 2, the hometown people were astounded after hearing Jesus' teaching.

Wisdom in Greek is called, Sophia and power, Dunamis.  And dynamite came from this word.

But, the hometown people could not give proper respect to Jesus.  (slide)

We can see something from this verse.

The assumption is operating in the minds of the hometown people.

But, did the hometown people know who Jesus truly was?

When they mentioned Jesus with the question, Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? it may refer to a fatherless son.

With this prejudice and judging attitude, they refused to recognize Jesus as he was.

In other words, they could not believe that no greater person should come from such a family.

You see, Familiarity blinded their eyes.

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But, what did Jesus do as he received such rejection from his hometown people?

There is a word hearing quite a lot when we watch hockey games, that is Retaliation.

The meaning is an act of revenge.

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Today's passage has actually two different stories.

Jesus did not retaliate even though he got rejected.

If we were in his situation, we would have retaliated and got into a fight because our ego was hurt.

Rejection is the result of the raw power struggles.

Jesus accepted the reality of rejection as it was.  And that's being spiritual.

Jesus embraced the vulnerability caused by the rejection.

He did not intend to build his value by impressing people around him.

Once a professor at theological school, Drew University, Jung Young Lee wrote a book named, Marginality.

The action Jesus took can be explained through Professor Lee's theological points.

Jesus did not mind becoming a person in Marginality.

The fact that Jesus able to accept his vulnerability was the result of his total trust in God.

And this is what the cross is all about and this is what happened to the Cross.

After that, God opened the doors in the situation that was blocked.

When Jesus accepted rejection, the new ministry was dawning for him.

So, Rejection and Acceptance are not the two different words, but spiritual words must take place together and work together.

My friends,

Whenever you face rejection in your life, please think about the Cross of Jesus Christ.

When we are not rejecting the cross which is the symbol of rejection, meaning accepting the rejection, we will experience the power of resurrection right there and the new life will be born right there, the place of our own cross.

What Jesus guided his disciples reflected the same message.

We can learn from today's passage that what happened to Jesus's disciples as they followed Jesus' instructions.

The same wisdom and the same power were given to them and they were able to heal the sick and cure them just like Jesus.

Now, we understand the relationship between these two stories: The story of Rejection and the story of commissioning the twelve disciples.

We thank God for Jesus who did not treat the rejection lightly.

What Jesus showed in today's passage should be the guidance for our life.

In life, we may face rejection here and there, small or big, and knowingly or not knowingly.

It is because rejection takes place wherever power is involved.

In our life, in our relationships, and in our ministries, rejection takes place every time and every where.

With your spouse, with your siblings, with your friends, and with your parents and children.

Hope we can catch the moment of rejection and take that as on opportunity to experience God's wisdom and power in our life.

When you receive rejection in any forms and in any size, do not retaliate.

Our Lord Jesus did not go that way.

Let us accept rejection and embrace the vulnerability.

I hope and pray that the cross becomes your power and your life as you accept rejection and as you embrace your vulnerability.

As we go through this spiritual journey, we will become a spiritual person with Sophia and Dumanis.

Let me finish my sermon by reciting some portions from today's innervoice.

I feel so blessed to have this message that comes to us like morning dew today.

It is based on 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

The real power is the power even to embrace our own weaknesses. The obsession with power is a sign of one's weakness. From the obsession, comes pretension and arrogance that makes others feel weak. The strength that comes from God's grace is the perfect power. Not only it makes us strong but also it empowers others.

May God's wisdom and power be given to you and me, so that we will continue to be able to empower others and help them.  Amen.

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Mark 5:21-43

Faith is a mysterious thing.

We sing about it every Sunday. It sounds good.

But here's the thing: until real challenges or difficulties hit us, we don't know if we really have faith or not.

When our lives are nicely put together, or when things are going well, there's no need for faith.

The writer of Hebrews states:

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

If the things you can see are all good, why believe something you CAN'T see?

But when real difficulties hit us;

when we are blindsided by an unexpected tragedy or a major setback;

that is when we know whether we really have faith or not.

At those moments, some people somehow seem able to persevere, keep carrying on and even smile through difficult experiences, while others crumble and fall into despair.

The woman in today's story had no reason to have faith.

Everything she could see was a dead end.

For 12 years, she suffered and endured so much

She lost all her money

Her condition was no better after all these years and only getting worse

Not only that, socially she would have been extremely isolated, not being able to go anywhere in public, nor being able to tell people about what was afflicting her

There was no visible reason for her to have faith that things would get better.

But somehow she pressed on. She didn't wait for Jesus to come to her, she went to him!

What made her keep pressing on?

I realize that when we've hit a dead end;

When hope seems lost;

When there is really no light at the end of the tunnel;

Faith is not something we create

Rather, faith is a gift.

When circumstances are so bleak, there's nothing in those circumstances with which we can manufacture faith.

Faith is a gift that somehow enables us to keep striving, straining and waiting patiently despite the bleak circumstances that are visible and real.

At that moment we don't even know that it's faith that keeps us going on.

It is often only later on that we realize it was faith.

This gift of faith is what enabled the woman to keep pressing on and eventually reach out to Jesus.

At our retreat this past weekend, we were blessed by the wonderful and powerful testimony of Bob and Irene.

We heard all about their journey that began with Irene's bleeding cavernoma in her brain.

They shared about the difficulties, uncertainties and challenges they faced and still face.

They shared the devastation at finding out that things would never be as they used to be.

They don't know when, or if, Irene will be able to walk again

But they also shared the mysterious faith that somehow kept them going.

Although circumstances have been difficult, and they themselves often don't understand why it is they're going through what they're going through, they nonetheless have been given the gift of faith that keeps them pressing on.

Why some people have it in these circumstances, while others do not, is a great mystery.

What I realize is that whether we have faith is not really in our control.

Faith is truly a gift given by God, not something we create out of our own resources.

But if faith is not in our own control, then is it just the luck of the draw as to whether I have it or not? Do I receive it by random chance?

As I reflected on this passage as a whole, I realized something: this passage is not only nor mainly about the woman.

If the passage was only about her, we might admire her faith, but could we really relate to that?

Yes, faith is a gift, but how many of us could really relate to that kind of faith?

But I believe this passage is actually more about Jairus, the father of the sick girl.

The story of the woman comes right in the middle of the story of Jairus.

Mark often does this – sandwiches a story within a story. And there's often a message he's trying to convey.

Jairus was a leader of the synagogue.

This meant that he was an upstanding man who was seen as faithful to the law.

He was respected by his peers and his community.

Life was probably pretty good until his daughter became gravely ill.

His world had crumbled. Everything he thought as important probably crumbled in light of this devastating situation. This leads him to desperately ask Jesus to come and save his daughter.

But his desperate plea to Jesus seems to have been for nothing when his people come to say that his daughter has died.

At this point, Jesus says to Jairus: Do not fear, only believe ! 

The issue, and the suspense in this plot, then, is: will Jairus have faith?

On the face of it, it's game over. His daughter is dead. What is there to believe?

In almost any circumstance, I think he would have folded.

My daughter is dead. Thanks Jesus, but let me go home to mourn and grieve.

Really, what can be done now?

But wait!

This isn't any ordinary circumstance. Jairus has just witnessed something.

This is what he saw: (5:33)

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

In other words, in front of Jesus and the whole crowd, she gave her testimony!

She gave an account of all that she had been through: the hardships, her isolation, her despair, her many dark moments, yet a mysterious will that kept her going, and a crazy and illogical faith that if she somehow reached out and touched Jesus' cloak, that she would be healed, and how indeed it had been so!

Jesus' response to this testimony of faith was simply: Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease. (5:34)

What a testimony! What an experience it must have been to witness this account!

This testimony did something to Jairus.

After Jesus' command of Do not fear, only believe , we don't hear any response from Jairus.

We do hear about the people around him

Those who told him not to trouble the teacher any longer

Those at his house who were weeping and wailing loudly and causing a commotion

Who then laughed when Jesus said she was only asleep

But we hear nothing about Jairus

I imagine he probably had many different thoughts going on

I’m sure he was shocked, stricken with grief, and confused by what Jesus had said

I'm sure he had doubts about what Jesus was doing

But what we do know is that he allowed Jesus to lead and do his thing

He simply followed Jesus' lead

I believe that at this point he too received the gift of faith!

Not a faith free of doubts, but a faith that trusted nonetheless

Where did this faith come from?

I believe that it came from the woman's testimony

The gift of faith that the woman received helped her carry on with her own struggle

But her faith also became a gift of faith for Jairus, to help him in his own struggle to cope with the news and believe and trust Jesus

We see here a deep interconnectedness of faith, where one's own faith deeply affects the faith of another

At the retreat, we learned about spiritual gifts

In particular, we learned 2 Greek words used in the New Testament for gifts: charismata and pneumatika

Charismata are gifts given to individuals

They are innate talents or abilities that you are born with

So some people are gifted in music, others in serving, some in speaking, etc.

Our own talents belong to us and can be used solely for our own benefit or for the benefit of others

Pneumatika are gifts of the Holy Spirit

They are gifts of the Spirit that don't belong to any one individual, they are possessions of the Holy Spirit

These gifts are manifested through individuals at particular moments

The purpose of these gifts is to build up the community of believers

Bob began his testimony by saying public speaking is not his gift

And maybe you're right, Bob – maybe public speaking is not your charismata, your innate talent or ability

But Bob and Irene: your testimony of faith became God's spiritual gift for this community

Through your honest and raw telling of your struggles and challenges, many of us received the gift of faith through your testimony to find strength for our own challenges and struggles

For that, we thank you, and we thank God

The good news about this gift is that it is not randomly given. The gift of faith is available for all of us in the community of faith.

When Jesus left the earth, he promised to send his Holy Spirit

That Spirit moved among his believers to create the Church, the body of Christ

The Church is God's gift to us

We are just normal people who face the same struggles, challenges and hardships in life just like anyone else

We are also flawed and broken just like anyone else in this world

But we are people who cling to a belief – sometimes desperately, often foolishly – that God looks out for us

But this foolishness of faith becomes our strength for life

In the community of faith, our struggles to hang on, to keep going on, become our testimony of faith

We become testimonies of faith for one another

And so in the Church, we receive the gift of faith through one another

God gave us a gift of faith through Bob and Irene's testimony, but they also shared how they were able to find strength and faith from this community. Bob said that he saw God in us.

In the community of faith, there are times when we are testimonies of faith for others, and times when we draw on others' testimonies for strength

That's what it means to be a community of faith – sometimes I need you, sometimes you need me – and we are all there for each other

What a blessing this is, so different from a world that preaches self-reliance, self-sufficiency, not depending on anyone else but me. What a myth and fallacy that is.

But what gifts God has given to us!

The gift of faith within the gift of community

Our testimony of faith – our account of how we persevered and waited through our challenging moments – becomes good news for others

Bob shared a letter that he wrote to Irene when she had to remain all alone in the hospital, not knowing what would lie ahead but knowing that everything was now different

He titled it Banana Bread , because Irene has a gift for making amazing banana bread

At the retreat, our sister Kris was reading from 1 Corinthians and she accidentally pronounced it as 1 Koreans

Well, maybe this letter can be called 1 Koreans, because it's a profoundly theological letter that we can draw strength from

Bob and Irene graciously allowed their full testimony, including the letter, to be posted on our website

I encourage you to all go there, under the News and Views section, read it and comment on it to share how it has affected or touched you

This letter is their testimony, their account of their journey of faith, and I believe this is good news for us

He begins the letter by talking about the banana – it starts green, then gets yellow and ripe, which is when everyone loves it, but then becomes bruised and then thrown into the green bin

But instead of getting thrown into the green bin, he offers good news

I'll read just a portion of it here:

Babe. I fell in love with you. My banana. You are different, everyone loves you. You are yellow like a banana! I fell in love with you when you were your best. It was easy to love you when you were ripe!…everyone loves a banana when it is ripe. However…like some banana’s, you started to spoil earlier than you should have. You started becoming dark and bruised. However…instead of expiring and going to the green bin. God had a greater plan for you.

He hand picked you to transform you into something else, rather than letting you go to the green bin. He had to peel away your outsides but kept what I fell in love with. Your insides.

God then mashed you into something you couldn’t even recognize. He broke you. He broke you so he could mold you like clay into something even more beautiful. He added different ingredients to make you whole again. He then put you into a pan which is the Hospitals. Then was the hard part that only you can do alone.

He put you into the oven which represents your wilderness. It’s somewhere only you can go alone like Jesus did. The heat around you that is testing you is the devil…just like Jesus our savior had to endure. Right now you are being tested and I know how much you hate being alone. But the oven is a place only you can bake alone.

After all the baking is done. No matter how long it takes…you will become a banana bread! You will become someone new! You will not be the same banana you were. But be grateful and give Glory to God that you didn’t go to green bin. You will be whole again. You may not be the same banana but a new creation that was baked by God.

This is the gospel.

What amazing news this testimony is.

We are all bananas that are bruised, ready perhaps to be tossed into the green bin.

But God has taken us from the refuse pile, placed us in the oven where we go through our own wilderness, only to transform us into something else, a new creation, delicious banana bread.

May God grant us the gift of faith to carry on through all that comes our way.  

May our own stories of struggle, perseverance and hope be testimonies of faith for one another, and may we draw strength from them in this beautiful community of faith.

The post The Empowering Testimony of Faith appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Mark 4:26-34

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The Kingdom of God is what we plant. The Kingdom of God is not just given to us. It’s something that we plant, it’s a like a new kind of concept, new idea but I discovered that from this passage. Ah, Kingdom of God is not just given to you or is not just coming to you? The Kingdom of God is something that you plant, every day. But in planting the Kingdom of God, two things that you have to remember and two challenges you have to remember the first one is: the growth of the Kingdom of God is not visible. Once you plant the seed in the soil because it’s under the soil, you cannot see the seed growing. It is just there, but you’re not sure whether it’s doing anything. Sometimes we feel when we see the progress that we get energized, we feel like, wow, something is happening. Something’s going great, so you work harder, but when you don’t see any result for what you do, sometimes you wonder; what I do, does it make any difference? When we feel that we feel like giving up, we get discouraged when we don’t see the result, but today Jesus gave us the very important truth and that truth is the earth produces of itself.

It is not us, which makes the seed grow, but it is the earth itself. Once you’ve planted, then the earth will take care of it, the soil will take care of it. My job is to plant the seed and it is the job of the soil to make it grow, and that truth Jesus told us and that truth is also spoken by an apostle Paul. He said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth so neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. Once we plant it. You don’t need to worry about it, it is God who makes it grow. The second thing that you have to remember, the second challenge you have to remember is that from a mustard seed is so small. I don’t know whether you saw most or not. I’ve seen a few, but when you really look at it carefully, you cannot really look at it, so small and this is what Jesus said, it is like the mustard seed, which when sown upon the ground, it is smallest of all the seeds on the Earth.

That is the what the Kingdom of God is like. Jesus is comparing the kingdom of God to the mustard seed. It is so small you cannot even see it well. Sometimes we wonder what we do for the Kingdom of God is so small. We are so small. We feel like we are not significant enough to be able to make any difference in the world. What difference can I make in the world? Sometimes we feel so insignificant. I’m the person who has only one talent. You know the parable of talents, the person who received one talent, two talents, and five talents. The people who received two talents, five talents worked really hard that produced double. Another two talents, another five talents. But the person who received only one talent, he didn’t do anything because he felt that one is not good enough. One talent is not good, sometimes we feel like that.

It is so small. What we do is so limited, so small, we feel discouraged and we easily give up, but even though it is small in the beginning when God touches it. It grows, it becomes a shrub. It becomes a big tree. So under the shadow, the birds will come and enjoy that being under the shadow, even though you look very insignificant, not important enough, but when God touches you. Through you, you can give so much rest to many others. You can make other people, abundant. Not only is your existence becomes abundant but through you, many other people’s lives will become abundant. When you really look at Jesus. Jesus never was never a political person or international person. He just stayed in Jewish land; Galilea and Jerusalem. A few times back and forth. That’s all he did. His geographical boundary was so small, he only worked with 12 disciples, 12 people every day sitting down and teaching them and all that.

And in these 12 disciples were not really extraordinary leaders, they didn’t understand what Jesus was saying, Jesus feels so frustrated, but he kept teaching them that small seed became the plant that changed the whole world. St Paul, he ministered few churches, but only 30-40 people, and even though, in that small group, there were so many problems. Sexual immorality and the fight and division, all kinds of problems he faced. But he wrote his letter every day, without really realizing that this letter will be a read two thousand years later, in Etobicoke by St. Timothy people. He never expected that. But he wrote it. He planted the seed and that seed became the giant scripture that everybody reads it and gets inspiration from it. Even though what you do, may look small, but when God touches it, that can be the greatest shrub in the world that makes many other people abundant. Doing our best in our given situation. That is the attitude of planting the Kingdom of God. Let us plant the Kingdom of God daily in our daily lives.

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2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

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2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture I believed, and so I spoke we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

There was a famous American author who was deaf, blind, her name was Helen Keller. She said this, “the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” It is true, the really beautiful things in life. You don’t see them with your eyes. You have to feel it with your heart. That’s why people close their eyes when they enjoy the beautiful things, they want to taste it rather than seeing it. I think our faith is like that too. Faith is not to accept what you see. Faith is to accept what you don’t see. You believe and see. Not that we see and believe the order is the other way. The first belief, and then we’ll be able to see it.

Once Thomas doubted about Jesus’ resurrection and this is what he said, “unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in this in his side, I will not believe.” He demanded to see before he believed and Jesus said to Thomas, have you believed because you have seen me, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. Faith is not to believe what you see, but what you cannot see. That’s why the Hebrew writer defined faith in this way. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Faith is the conviction of things not seen with eyes of faith, we accept what we cannot see. St Paul confessing this way. “We look not at what can be seen, but at what cannot be seen.” I mean these great people are so different from us. St Paul and all, Helen Keller, all these people, they were able to see what cannot be seen? What ordinary people cannot see, these people were able to see.

The beauty of being able to see what you cannot see is that you find treasure in life. I mean what we see in the world in our life is only 10 percent. Ninety percent of the life that we are experiencing is what we cannot see. But you feel only if you live only seeing what you can see you’re living only 10 percent, but when you’re able to see what you cannot see it, you can find the treasure. You can find the beauty in life because beauty is hidden in what we cannot see. For example, our outer nature, no matter how beautiful you are, you may be, as you get older, a belly comes out and a hair gets grey and then you get wrinkles. Your outer self is naturally wasting away, no matter how much I try, so I don’t like to get taken pictures anymore. So I run away whatever people put the camera on me, I run away because when I look at the mirror, sometimes it’s okay, but when I look at the picture, it comes out exactly as it is. That’s why I don’t want to see.

So our outer nature, you can see so clearly that you’re wasting away. You’re being wasted away. Every year is different. When you get to near 60, you will experience that when you’re in 20’s is okay, 20 or 23 years, still beautiful. But when you become 60, 61, 60 something, make so much difference. But. But it’s important. But St Paul saw the inner self. Inner self is what you cannot see. Your inner self is being renewed day by day. He saw that. He saw what cannot be seen. He saw the inner self-being renewed day by day. And also the house that you built on this earth. No matter how beautiful you may’ve designed, after 10, 20, 50 years, it becomes decayed and destroyed. St Paul saw that, but the when the earthly tent is destroyed, he saw what cannot be seen. That is the home in heaven that you can never destroy. That home, that house, not built with human hands, but built by God will never be destroyed.

That’s why Saint Paul said, I don’t lose heart even though my outer nature is being wasted away and even the earthly tent is being destroyed. I don’t lose my heart because I have an inner self. And also I have a home that is eternal in heaven.

If he looks at only what we can see, we’ll lose heart. But when we see what we cannot see, we can get confidence. Last week was particularly difficult for me because one of my friends actually he was very close to me. Lee Soo Chul jundosanim. He was not just jundosanim. He is my golf buddy and he’s a wonderful man, so we spend a lot of time together, we share a lot of things together. His wife had a heart condition, so he was always concerned about his wife’s health. So, he always went home and made sure that she was okay and her a heart, she had a heart attack about 30, 35 years ago when she was giving birth. So she always, all her life, she lived with a heart condition and all of a sudden, last week, she couldn’t handle that anymore. She has three heart attacks that morning. And then when I by the time I visited her, she wasn’t conscious. She wasn’t able to survive.

I had a really difficult time, doing the funeral, you know, whenever we had, you know, the staff, she really took care of us very well. She was a good cook and she always made new food and let us taste it and enjoy it and all that. And so, I miss her terribly, but his family came from Chicago to attend a funeral and his sisters also came and then his younger sister somehow got very stressed and she passed away yesterday. And so I went to hospital and I did the final rite. Then they have to send that a body to Chicago and then they will have a funeral here and there and before he can even a grief for his own, wife. Now he has to get to Chicago to grieve for her, his sister’s death. I mean, how can you handle that? How can you handle that kind of a tragedy, the tragedy in your life? How can you survive? Yesterday, I went to the hospital and then he held my hand and then he said, “thank you, thank you for being with me. And thank you for doing the final rite for my sister.” And he said, “I’m out of my mind right now. I can’t think.” But with tears, he really thanked me. Where did he have room to thank other people.

That thankfulness is faith. That thankfulness. This morning when I arrived at, at a church, he was there waiting in the parking lot for me before he left for Chicago. He came to tell me, “thank you.” What a great person. I mean he came all the way from Scarborough just to see me, to thank me. IT’s like the 10 lepers getting healed and one came back and thanked Jesus. The same way.

If he lives with only what he can see, he’ll lose heart. But, he was able to see what cannot be seen. That’s why you didn’t lose heart. The Cross, we can see. The suffering, we can see. But the resurrection, we cannot see. The glory. We cannot see. In this life, we not only see suffering, but we also see glory. We not only see the cross, but we also see the resurrection. People with great minds and great heart, they live seeing what cannot be seen. That’s how they live. When their situation is totally helpless and hopeless and they cannot see anything hopeful they saw hope which cannot be seen.

They saw treasure hidden in the field when most people cannot even see that there’s a treasure in the field, but they see the treasure in the field and they sell everything that they have and then they buy the field. Sometimes in life, like jundosanim, we look around, we cannot really see what’s ahead of us. It’s like a foggy road, you don’t see an inch, but you have to move on, but you cannot see anything because suffering is so much. The pain is so much. The sorrow and sadness, that is so much that you cannot see anything beyond an inch. That was the experience of Job. This is what Job said. “If I go forward, he’s not there or backward. I cannot perceive him. On the left, he hides. I can not behold him. I turned to the right, but I cannot see him.

Job Felt total desperation. He lost his children. He lost his health, he lost his possession, he lost everything in life, and then he cannot see anything

Forward, backwards, right or left. He could not see anything. But Job said. But. This but is important. Right after he said that: “I cannot see everything” he said, “but he knows the way that I take. When he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.” What a confession. What a great mind. What a great person. That’s a greatness of Job. Because of suffering, he cannot see anything but God sees me. I can not see God, but God can see me. That’s what he knew. That’s hope that we have. I cannot see God, but God can see me.

There’s a fire in the house. Everybody rushed out and then the father and the mother, they all rushed out, run, run, run. They all came out and the father thought that everybody came out and then he looked up and there was a son in the second floor at the window. And the father said jump and the son said. “Dad. I cannot jump because I cannot see you” and the father said, “but I can see you.” But I can see you.

That’s where the hope is. We cannot see God, but God can see us. When we are suffering so much that we can not see anything ahead of us, but God can see you. And God will bring you out.

My friends, what can be seen is temporal, temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. Hold onto what’s eternal. Don’t hold onto things that are here for awhile and vanish, but hold onto things that are eternal. When you cannot see anything, still you gotta move on because God sees you. This is what Martin Luther King Junior said in his sermon. “Fly as high as possible. If you cannot fly, run. If you cannot run, walk. If you cannot walk, crawl, but don’t ever sit down and give up. Move on. Don’t ever stop your journey.” We gotta move on even though we cannot see anything in life.

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2 Corinthians 4:5-12

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For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

We feel like we cannot take another step. Sometimes we feel like throwing the towel. No matter what we do we see no result and we are going nowhere and we give our best shot, and yet even with the best shot was not good enough. We feel like giving up to solve our problems. We have tried all different things different ways and yet nothing works. That’s when we feel helpless and hopeless. We all experience that in our lives. Some people struggle with their marriage. Doesn’t matter what they do. Somehow, nothing seems to work. Some people struggle with their teenager children. They love them, but they don’t know what to do with them. Sometimes teenage children, students a, feel that with their parents, no matter what they do, you cannot, they get never pleased them. I remember my daughter, my own daughter used to say, we can never please you guys. Teenage students, they go through their own struggles. Some people struggle with their health, they try their best, but it does not work and they don’t know what to do.

When you feel that, what do you do? When you feel this helplessness and hopelessness, what do you do? I suggest that you go back to the basics, go back to the basics. What are the basics? Look to God. That’s what basic is, you have to look to God. That’s exactly the moment that you need to look to God. When we look into today’s passage, even Saint Paul the greatest disciple and apostle who founded Christianity. Even that great Saint experienced, the same thing as we experienced: total exhaustion, total helplessness, and total hopelessness. He also felt that there was nothing for him to do anything. He said he was afflicted in every way, but that’s not all, he said, he confessed that he had looked to God. He went back to the basics. He looked to God.

This was what he said. “For it is the God who said, let my shyness that God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He looked at God and then somehow as he, look to Jesus Christ the light of the glory, shone upon him and he saw that light and he was filled with that light and that light gave him hope and new strength. He had this spiritual moment of experience in the power that did not belong to him. He experienced the power that comes from outside himself. He didn’t know what to do but somehow as the light of glory shone upon him he experienced empowerment in life.

Spiritual people, look to God. I hope that we all become spiritual people. When you have problems, don’t look anywhere else. Just look to God. They don’t go to self-help books. They don’t go depending on common sense or street wisdom. They don’t trust their own power alone. They looked to God when their problems been looked to God. If you are able to do that, you are lucky. We have to live a spiritual life. As we live, a spiritual life, we will experience the extraordinary power that doesn’t belong to us. People who look to God, need God, the people who need God they experience the power that comes from God. Saint Paul looked to God and he met God and as he met God he experienced the power that did not belong to him but that belongs to God.

There was a famous concert pianist, the early part of 20th century. His name was Ignacy Paderewski, 1860 to 1941. He was also prime minister of Poland. There’s a very famous story about him. He once had a great concert hall. He was so famous at that time. There were lots of people came. There were all waiting for his performance with excitement and enthusiasm but the time came and he didn’t appear. So people were wondering, “why isn’t on the stage yet?” While they were wondering, a little boy came down the aisle and started walking towards the stage. Everyone looked, what is he doing. And he went up to the stage and he went over to the piano and the sat down and he started playing Chopsticks. It was the only song he knew how to play. Chopsticks. And then people were kind of mumbling to each other “what is he doing,” “where are his parents,” “they should take him down,” and all kinds of commotion going on. And then Paderewski, in the back of the stage. He heard this commotion, and instead of telling the usher to remove him, he came out in the tuxedo and he came behind the little boy who was playing chopsticks, with his big hands on the right side and left side. He was doing improvising the accompaniment of Chopstick. The ordinary playing of a little boy became an extraordinary masterpiece. Do you know what he said to the boy? “Keep playing. Keep doing it. You are doing very well. Do not stop. Do not stop. Keep playing.” While he was doing the improvise accompaniment.

Listening to this story, I was thinking about [unknown]. With our small hands. We are trying to make our life. We struggle and struggle and struggle and then the big hands come behind us and start playing our life. And then our life becomes all of a sudden extraordinary. Our ordinary life becomes extraordinary. And God speaks to us; “Keep playing. Keep moving on. Do not give up. You are doing well.” Sometimes we all feel like giving up. I’m done. I can’t go anymore. And yet God comes to us, do not give up, keep moving, I’ll be with you. And he plays the music with us. I wish that you all experience God coming to you. I wonder what would have happened to that boy. There was no record of what happens to the boy. I can imagine that he will never forget the experience that he had in his entire life. Once you experience that extraordinary power, you will never forget that. You will always look to God. When life is difficult, we need to experience God’s hand then our difficulties become our blessings. When life is good, we don’t experience blessings. When life is difficult, those difficulties can become blessings in disguise. When life is hard, look God. The fear will disappear in the background and new confidence will appear in the foreground. Anger will die down and you will be able to embrace your life. Dark clouds will move over and you will see a bright sunshine. That our life will be much more enjoyable. Are you going through a hard time? Difficult time? Learn to look to God, you will be stronger.

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John 3:1-17

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Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.  Jesus answered him, Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.  Nicodemus said to him, How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?  Jesus answered, Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, You must be born from above.' The windblows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.  Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?  Jesus answered him, Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

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.

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Nicodemus was a learned man. He knew a lot about religion, politics, and life, and he was elite. He was cream of the crop. He was a man of elite status and yet he did not know the Holy Spirit. Knowing the Holy Spirit is like knowing the wind. Jesus said, “We cannot really know the wind. We hear the sound of the wind but we don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going to go.” The spirit is elusive, uncontrollable, unpredictable and unknowable.  We don’t understand exactly how the wind works and we don’t know exactly how the spirit works.

You know whenever I read this passage, I feel freedom. Total freedom. A freedom that comes from a strange sense of empowerment. The life that I tried to control is hard. Very hard and the matter of the fact is that there are not many things in life that you can really control. We can prepare for the future, but the outcome of the future we cannot control. Other people, we cannot control. How they treat us, and how they view us, we cannot control. People hated Jesus and gathered together to plan to kill him and ultimately they crucified Jesus on the cross and yet Jesus did nothing to control them. Because he knew that he could not control them. He could not control how they behaved or sinned. Judas betrayed him. Peter denied him. But Jesus simply accepted them and he did not try to control their behaviours.

There are many things in life as a matter of life that we cannot control. But people love to control. People, they want power because they want to control. They want to control other people, they want to control the situation, they want to control their life. They love to control that’s why they are seeking power. They’re continuously thirsty for power. You need power to be in a position of control. Power of knowledge, financial power, political power. The power over other people. We need powers to be able to control our life, our situation, and other people. You can say that Nicodemus had all these powers as a matter of fact. He was in a position of control but seeing Jesus, Nicodemus had this realization that life itself is not just about control. Seeing Jesus he realized that life is bigger than the life of taking control. That’s why he came to Jesus at night. He was very interested in that different alternative life. What it looked like. What it was like. That’s why he came to Jesus at night. He had never seen that before. He was so used to the life he could control. But he has never seen the life that Jesus.

In the world, there are many people who have no power to control whatsoever in their lives. They don’t even have the power to even control what rightly belongs to them. Like their land, their children, their family, their culture, their history. They do not have control even over things that rightly belong to them. Many of your parents, many of your grandparents experienced that. In their lives, directly by Japanese occupation.

Aboriginal people in this country are in that situation. Palestinians in the Gaza area are in that situation, we will hear more of that today from Amy. They didn’t have the kind of power, they don’t have that kind of power that Nicodemus had. Jesus told Nicodemus, you have to start again, you have to start your life all over again from the beginning. You have to be born again. Jesus taught us that the life of being born again is not the life you control with your own power. The life of being born again is a life that is being led by the Holy Spirit. There is a huge difference between the life you control and the life that is being led by the Holy Spirit. When I look at Jesus life, Jesus was totally controlled by the Spirit and by the time, he often said: “my time has not yet come.” Jesus life was not a life of controlling but a life of being led. He lived a life that was led by the truth, he lived a life that was led by justice, he lived a life that was led by love. There is a radical difference between life controlling and life being led. In their attempt to control their lives, they try to manipulate others and even conquer them. Being led by the Spirit, you don’t need to manipulate others, you don’t need to have power over them, you would rather share that power you have and you will rather empower others who don’t have it.

Tower of Babel was a typical example of people who tried to control their destiny. That was the ultimate mistake that human beings made, recorded in the Bible. Let us read what they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth.”

Is it a life of being lead? Or a life of controlling? God called Abraham as an example of the future generation where being led by God. Not the people who control their destiny and others. Abraham was the example of how we human beings should live. Faith is not to dictate our life using religious power and political power but to truly follow the guidelines of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will lead us into the truth, the SPirit will lead us to justice, the Spirit will lead us into love. The cross was a symbol of not controlling but a symbol of being led. Jesus prayed like this in Gethsemane and going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me and not what I want but what you want.” Is it a life a controlling? or a life of being led?

We can see clearly that Jesus was led by God, he did not dictate his own life, being called means now we are ready to be led by the Spirit. Every moment we need to be led by the Spirit. In this world, people try to control others, whether in the family or even in the friendship, they try to control others. One nation tries to control other nations, for their own benefits, they try to control the situation, control other people and control nations. They try to maneuver the situation with all the power they can have, to fulfill their will, they will have no problem sacrificing other people even killing them. They do not uphold others lives, their human rights. They try to solve all their problems by the power that they have. With that attitude, we cannot see the kingdom of God or enter it. The life that you try to control ultimately brings destruction and death, but the life that is led by the Spirit will lead us into eternal life. Jesus came to give us life whoever believes in him will be led by it into eternal life. People who are led by the Spirit will create a new world, a new history. The new world of God will not be established by the people who have the power to control, God will call the people who are willing to be led by the Spirit and God will create a new world, a new history, a new Order.

God will bring about God’s justice, the good people who are called and who are led by the Spirit. People who are led by the Spirit will no longer be governed by fear, they don’t fear anymore, they will just follow in the way they are led by the Spirit. They will listen to the voice of the Spirit, they don’t know where the Spirit comes from or where the Spirit is going to, but they will obey the voice, the voice of the Spirit. Let us always pray. Let us listen to the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will need to hear him. We will hear after service from Amy, I hope that we all be able to hear the voice of the Spirit. What God wants to do in this world. Jeremiah said this, “Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” God will show us great and hidden things. Let us hear attentively the voice of the Spirit.

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Romans 8:26-28

Sometimes we don’t know exactly what we want in our lives and actually, it is the hardest thing to really know what we want in our lives. Our deepest desire is often hidden deep within us, so it is hard to articulate. It is hard to be aware of what I really want in my life. We thought we wanted this and we really worked hard for it and we even prayed about it, but when we actually get there, we realize that that’s not really what I wanted. That’s not really what I want. I mean, before we want that so much and then we prayed for it and the strong desire to have it and when once you have it you realize that that’s not really what you wanted, so it just really hard to know what I want in my life. When I talk to a lot of young people. So what do you want in your life? I’m not sure. I’m not really. I don’t know what I want so we can identify with Saint Paul what Saint Paul said in today’s scripture passage for we do not know how to pray as we ought. This is Saint Paul talking about we don’t know what we ought to pray for. What is prayer? Prayer is pouring out your deepest desire to God. That’s what prayer is, isn’t it? And when you don’t know your deepest desire, even prayer becomes very difficult. We don’t even know what we pray for.

In that sense, I realized and knowing the will of God is the most difficult thing to do, we talk about the will of God all the time, but really knowing the will of God for me, for us is the most difficult thing to do. I mean, I believe that the will of God is what’s best for you, isn’t it? God doesn’t want you to suffer the will of God is God’s desire to be, to give you the best. That’s what will of God is, but it is really hard to know what the will of God is. If you know the will of God, that can be the best thing that can ever happen to your life. If you really know the will of God for you because God’s will for you is perfect and flawless. If you understand the will of God for you, you will be the happiest person in the world. God wants the best for you and God wants to give you what’s just right for you. Once Jesus said this about prayer, is there anyone among you who if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for fish, will give a snake? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children? How much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.

God will give good things to those who ask him. Same passage, but it is expressed differently in Luke Gospel, so they talk about the same thing, but you know a little bit of a different tone and as a. When you look at Luke, this is how Luke described that. Is there anyone among you who if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of fish? What if the child asks for an egg will give him a scorpion? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the holy spirit to those who ask him? One Matthew says, what is good for you? Good things that God gives. And then Luke says, God gives the Holy Spirit to you.

God’s will for you is to give what is the best for you. And yet it is so difficult to know what God’s will for me is. Hey, what’s difficult? Even for Saint Paul, it was difficult for him to know the will of God too. St Paul gives us this wonderful news. It is a spiritual wisdom he discovered. Matthew said, God will give what is good to those who ask him, but Luke said God would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. In this two passage, we get a clue what is good for us and the Holy Spirit and what is good for us, his Holy Spirit. In other words, what is good for us God will reveal to us through the Holy Spirit. We don’t know exactly what we want, what is best for us, but through the Holy Spirit, we understand what is best for us. Even Saint Paul did not know what is God’s will for him, but through the Holy Spirit, only through the Holy Spirit, he was able to see what was best for him, what the will of God for him was.

This is what Saint Paul says. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the very spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words and God who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, according to the will of God. We don’t know what the will of God is, but the Holy Spirit will intercede for you according to the will of God. The spirit knows what is the will of God for us. I said that our true desires deeply are hidden within us and sometimes we don’t know. We are not conscious of it, but the Holy Spirit searches through the heart and knows what we truly desire and intercedes for us according to the will of God. Interceding means speaking to God on behalf of us for our favour. The spirit searches our desire and let us know and let God know.

Today’s the Pentecost, on Pentecost we Christians believe that celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. You are not alone. You have the spirit with you. You’re not an orphan. Jesus Christ gave us the spirit after he left the earth and that spirit, guides you, leads you, always empowers you, encourages you. You all have the spirit within you. This is what Jesus said and I’ll ask the father, and he will give you another helper. That’s a spirit to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and we’ll be in you. The spirit dwells with you and his spirit is in you.

We don’t have to figure out everything about life on our own. The spirit helps us and guides us according to the will of God. You cannot figure out everything on your own because life is too big to figure out on your own, so every day, be mindful of the spirit within you, be in touch with the spirit who dwells within you, and then you will come to understand what you truly desire. Otherwise, you will just follow what other people do. You will just live a life that is given to you. You will pursue what other people pursue other people pursue. You will think that that’s the best life. Sometimes we live our life, not our own life. We live the life that other people want us to live. You can’t do that. You have to live your own life, not other what other people want from you, but to really know what I want in life, we have to be in. We have to be in touch with our deepest desire and then we cannot really get there by ourselves, but the spirit guides us and leads us and the searches our heart, and lets us know what is deeply in that heart, in your heart and what you truly do desire for your life. That’s what spirit does for us. The spirit knows how much you suffer, and then Paul says, Spirit suffers more than you. He says with a size too deep for words he prays for you. The Spirit prays for you and the Spirit intercedes for you with sighs, too deep for words. So every moment I try to be in touch with the spirit, sometimes I just get influenced by my emotion and all that, but I tried to go back to the spirit that is within me and being touched with that spirit and that spirit, I believe that will guide me and guide you.

You know what the result is? The result is this. We know that all things work together for good, for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. This is not an empty promise. This is not just positive thinking or wishful thinking. The spirit knows what is best for you and it works within you and guides you according to God’s will for you. When we walk in the spirit, we can have confidence. When you’re in doubt, sit down and be in touch with the spirit. You will know where to go. When you’re sad and angry, sit down and be in touch with the spirit. The spirit will calm you and spiritual will touch you with its gentle hands.

When you make decisions, don’t make just decisions by your emotion, sit down and be in touch with the spirit and sees how the spirit guides you and leads you. The spirit will open the door for you and you follow that. That’s the best thing that you can ever do. You may not know God’s will for you, but spirit knows God’s will for you. When the spirit is with us, not only we have confidence, we have joy, we will be filled with joy. Out of our belly, rivers of living water will follow day by day. I hope that all of us be in touch with the spirit. We are spiritual beings, we are not just material beings, we are spiritual beings. Spirit is with us, so trust in the guidance of the spirit day by day, and you will see how your life unravels itself. Sometimes you wonder when you’re so filled with emotion, you wonder where my life is going, but when you’re in touch with his spirit, you can see the guidance and direction. The Holy Spirit gives you. That’s the greatest gifts. That God, Jesus left with us. The spirit is with us and searches your heart. Let us sing together.

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