nbcchurch

What is Good?

hello@nbcchurch.org (PASTOR JOSEPH CHOI) — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 18:43:40 GMT

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good , for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

This is one of the most difficult passages to obey because this requires our heart to believe and walk in it. Our feelings get in the way when we don’t understand why things happen the way they do. Or, when relationships don’t work out, or you don’t get the job you want or your hectic schedule seems to keep you from doing what you want seems to NOT work together for the "good."

Why God would allow pain and suffering or when conflicts at work keeps us up at nights. Or when marriage life is starting to become more of a chore than “marriage.” Even having children and doing all that you can for your child seems to take a life burden. You love them and God gave them to you but when life is out of control or busy, it seems that you can’t see how God can work things out for the “good.”

You have to ask yourself what is “good” and who defines it?

When we define “good” it doesn’t seem to look or hope the way we want that “good” to look. To be honest most people don’t really know what that “good” is. I think that is the issue in most cases. It is we ourselves that define what “good” is and that “good” doesn't always work out the way we hope and it seems like it’s beyond our control. For many of us, this "goodness" that we create on our own, seems to break apart when life conflicts come our way.

This is the reason why God first tells us in order for that “good” to be “good” we must “love God.” Jesus’ first two commandments are for us to “Love Him” with all our hearts, soul, and mind” (Luke 10:27).

God wants to give us the “good” but He requires us to “Love Him” beyond anything else.

When Eunice brought up her article (Something to Consider: Does the Bible contradict itself?) on Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother …, he cannot be my disciple” the word “hate” had a unique understanding. She wrote, “.. the strong word choice here was deliberate and used on a comparative basis in order to show just how great the difference must be between our devotion to Jesus and our devotion to to everyone and everything else.”

So when God is saying “Love Him” or setting a devotion to Him beyond all else first means for us to prioritize God first. Meaning that when you set God as first before you do anything else or that when life issues come your way, you seek Him first and ask God about all your concerns.

It means for us to talk to Him first before talking to others about life issues. In order for us to know what “good” is we have to speak to the one who is the giver of all that we know to be true and “good.” When we do this and give devotion to Him then what we thought was our own “good” is nothing in comparison to what God’s “goodness” is for us.

We can only see possibly one step ahead of us but God sees a 100 feet in the front, back and the side. We can only see what we see but God sees us in all different directions. And this is where we have to “trust” in God who sees us in all our direction of life.

This is why when scripture tells us “And we ‘know’ that for those who love God…” the word “know” means that we have a relationship with God on a daily basis. Without the relationship we will not know how “all” things can work together for “good." God not only shows us what "good" is for us but He also sees the "greater good" 100 feet in front, back and the side of us. Things we cannot see, He will see for us when our devotion is given to Him.

So God will turn and make something “good” from the “bad” situations of our lives when we walk in that “trust” in Him through a relationship that does not waiver but steadfast. We must do our part in loving God first and He will surely make everything work out according to His purpose and plan for you.

Even if you're rushing off to work, school or whatever you're doing, take a time and spend a few moments with the Lord. Prioritize Him first and you will witness the “goodness” of His work in you.

Blessings,
Pastor Joseph

Something to Consider: Does the Bible contradict itself?

Sat, 24 Sep 2022 03:47:03 GMT

For many believers, the validity of the Bible may be an unquestionable aspect. For them, it is a true and everlasting guide on how to live life because the very backbone behind it, an all-knowing and all-powerful God, is without blemish and carries all wisdom and power (Psalm 19:7). It is assumed that every word in the Bible has been placed to perfection for the benefit of those who choose to believe in it because every word was breathed out by God (2 Timothy 2:18).

However, some may be skeptical or outright disagree with the validity of the Bible due to supposed contradictions. The following statement is a conclusion drawn by the

American Atheists association :

“What is incredible about the Bible is not its divine authorship; it’s that such a concoction of contradictory nonsense could be believed by anyone to have been written by an omniscient god. To do so, one would first have to not read the book, which is the practice of most Christians; or, if one does read it, dump in the trash can one’s rational intelligence –– to become a fool for god, in other words.”

These are some very strong claims that can be burdensome for any Christian to address– no matter what point of their spiritual journey they are in. It may make you wonder: Does the Bible really have contradictions? How can it be trustworthy if it does?

To set a foundation of what we’re unpacking, a contradiction is defined as “a proposition, statement, or phrase that asserts or implies both the truth and falsity of something.” In other words, the statement alone must declare that something is either true or false; it cannot be both. The atheist association provides several examples of so-called Bible contradictions on its website and, when the logic above is applied, the excerpts do seem contradictory on surface level.

The following verses are listed under the “Family Relationships” section:

“Honor thy father and thy mother…” Exodus 20:12

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26

The first verse comes from the Old Testament and it lists one of ten commandments God gave to the Israelites through Moses. The commandments were given to the chosen people of God as guidelines on how to conduct themselves as a group completely set apart from the rest of the world. The word “honor,” or “kabad” in Hebrew, can also be interpreted as glorify, respect, prize, or to show reverence. This command firstly encourages familial stability but, when the rest of the verse that wasn’t included on the website is taken into account, it’s also an example of how God promises goodness and restoration for those who make the choice to obey and follow Him.

When we honor and respect our parents, God says that our “days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12). The Lord wasn’t giving His people commandments for His own enjoyment, nor to try and take control over them. All of God’s commands were made in His people’s best interest and He desires to bless and reward them as they make the decision to obey.

The second verse fast forwards to the New Testament when Jesus is addressing great crowds that have accumulated as a result of experiencing His healings and miracles. In this verse, Jesus is making it very clear to this large group of people that following Him is not an easy journey. We must be willing to lay everyone and everything down to be His disciple, even our own selves. Jesus should be our number one priority and all other relationships should be of lower importance.

“Miseó,” the Greek word for “hate,” can also be interpreted as love less or esteem less. It can be confusing to think that Jesus used such a strong word, especially because it is more widely known that Jesus’ main message throughout His ministry was to love our neighbors and enemies (Matthew 22:37-39; Matthew 5:44). However, the strong word choice here was deliberate and used on a comparative basis in order to show just how great the difference must be between our devotion to Jesus and our devotion to everyone and everything else. The verse also does not explicitly mention mothers and fathers (as Exodus 20:12 reads) but everyone else as well.

Luke 14:27 further raises the stakes of what it truly takes to follow Jesus by comparing it to bearing a cross– which ultimately leads to death on a cross. This is a call for those who desire to be Jesus’ disciples to surrender all self-seeking ambitions and interests until one’s life comes to an end. Although these points seem surprising and harsh, Jesus was graciously revealing the whole truth about following Him fully, and how we can do so, to avoid any confusion about what it means or doesn’t mean to follow Him. In essence, Jesus was directing His disciples to prioritize God above all else.

In the simplest way possible, Exodus 20:12 refers to a God-given command on how we should treat our parents, with respect and honor, while Luke 14:26 refers to where our priorities should lie as a follower of Jesus.

As you can see from this article alone, an analysis to truly understand the context of two verses takes much more effort than to just read them and make snap judgements. My hope and prayer is that when anyone is faced with opposition or accusations related to the Word, the first inclination would not be to get discouraged, but to be motivated to dive deeper into the Word and seek the Lord for guidance and discernment. Questions like these should not bring about more doubt, but be used as an opportunity to be more intimate with God and build your faith. When we desire to understand God’s Word more and make the effort to do so, He will surely guide you and provide understanding (Proverbs 1:5).

Here are some points to keep in mind if you are ever faced with the statement “The Bible is full of contradictions” or if you don’t know where to start in your journey to understand the Word on a deeper level:

Ask the other person for specific instances in the Bible where there are contradictions. If they can provide specific examples, ask them if they are willing to search for the deeper context within each verse to have a better understanding.

Start your quiet time or research of the Word with a prayer. God wants us to learn more about Him and know His truth (James 1:5). There is immense power in simply asking the Holy Spirit to guide you and give you understanding as you read.

If you are stuck or confused on a specific verse, start by asking yourself the 5 W’s: who, what, when, where, why? These simple questions can help you learn more about where and how that verse fits on the timeline of God’s Word.

In the 66 books of the Bible written by 40 different authors over the course of 1,500 years, they all proclaim the one true God and only one way to salvation. Though each author wrote with their own unique writing styles and personalities, they recorded exactly what God intended. The differences in writing styles or emphasis are not the same as contradictions. All the authors’ unique emphasis are all streamlined to give a cohesive connection about God.

Some more things to consider:

Have you ever come across verses in the Bible that were confusing or seemingly contradictory?

What steps can you take to deepen your relationship with God and His Word?

How can you encourage those around you to analyze the Bible in a deeper way?

SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 19:7 (ESV)

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;”

2 Timothy 2:18 (ESV)

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Exodus 20:12 (ESV)

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

Luke 14:26-27 (ESV)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple,”

Matthew 22:37-39 (ESV)

“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 5:44 (ESV)

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

Proverbs 1:5 (ESV)

“Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.”

James 1:5 (ESV)

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

“Something to Consider” is a thought-process through the lens of the Bible, helping believers

process current issues pertaining to the culture of our time.

Eunice Sung
Journalist
“Fervently seeking God for His truth to be revealed, only by His grace and strength.”
sungeunice16@gmail.com

When You Fast

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 20:40:49 GMT

An Overview of the Spiritual Discipline of Fasting from a Biblical Perspective

What is Fasting?

It will be helpful to begin our discussion by providing a definition for fasting. What is fasting? Fasting refers to the practice of intentionally and willingly refraining/abstaining from food, beverages, or both for a determined amount of time to instead focus on, work towards, or achieve a desired result, outcome, or goal.

What is not included in the biblical definition or meaning of “fasting”?

The call to Biblical fasting is not about refraining from using the internet, social media, television, video games, electronic devices or any other sort of entertainment, routine, or fun activity. Escaping, refraining, or abstaining from these other things for a period may be helpful to one’s spiritual health and growth, however this is not the same as the call to biblical fasting; these actions are in the biblical category that include the call to “deny” self (Luke 9:23; Mark 8:34; Matthew 16:24) and the call to “lay aside every weight” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

May we not make the mistake of confusing the meaning of biblical fasting with the meaning of these other actions or spiritual disciplines. Biblical fasting specifically involves the abstaining from food and beverages; these other acts of self-denial are also very important and can be helpful additions to or work in conjunction with the practice of biblical fasting, but they must not be defined as the discipline of biblical fasting.

If you are led by the Lord to also deny yourself from music, television, social media, or any other thing, then let it be specifically a refraining from those types of entertainment and activities that are not of God. The Bible teaches us that: “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything” (1st Corinthians 6:12). Ungodly entertainment and activity distract and deter our hearts and minds away from the Lord and they prevent us from being sensitive to or even hearing clearly from the Lord. Especially while participating in a time of fasting led by the Lord, the type of entertainment that we enjoy, read, listen, watch, and participate in should be about and honoring to the Lord ( The goal is not to tune the world out or turn the world off, but to cultivate and nurture an environment in your life and activity that enables you to better hear from the Lord, through His word and through prayer. The Bible, Christian worship/praise songs, Christian books, etc.. are important resources to utilize to grow and strengthen our relationship with the Lord. May we be reminded: “ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)”

What are Four Main Types of Fasting found in Bible?

(Please Note: it is recommended that you please seek a medical professional/physician if you are uncertain about starting a fasting journey)

1. Full/Complete/Comprehensive Fasting

This type of fasting involves the intentional refraining/abstaining from both food and beverages for a prolonged amount of time (for days or weeks). This fast includes no foods or beverages.

Biblical Examples : Nehemiah 1:4 // Ester 4:1-17 // 1st Samuel 31:13 // 2nd Samuel 12:15-23 // 1st Chronicles 10:12 // Luke 2:36-38 // Acts 9:9-19 // Acts 13:1-3 // Acts 14:19-23

For those who are medically healthy and able to participate in a Full Fast (from all foods and all beverages), this is the suggested plan for fasting. The only beverage that may be allowed (if needed) is water; it is NOT biblical fasting or a biblical approach to drink any other fluid or beverage or mixture besides plain and clean water.

2. Partial/Selective/Specific Fasting

This type of fasting involves the intentional refraining/abstaining from specific/certain types of food and beverages for a determined amount of time (for days or weeks). This fast includes only vegetables and water , but no other foods or beverages.

Biblical Examples : Daniel 1:8-21 // Daniel 10:2-3

For those who are beginners to fasting, those who are still nursing, those who have severe medical conditions, or those who have dietary restrictions, or those who are elderly, this Partial Fast is the suggested or recommended plan for fasting; this is a lighter strenuous course for fasting. The only beverage that may be allowed is water; it is NOT biblical fasting or a biblical approach to drink any other fluid or beverage or mixture besides plain and clean water.

To provide more specific guidance regarding the Daniel Fast : All meats and animal products are prohibited (meat, eggs, fish, dairy, etc), as are sweeteners prohibited (any added sugar, natural sweeteners like honey or agave, etc), no caffeine, no alcohol, no solid fats, no yeast, no additives, and no processed foods. The Daniel Fast generally includes vegetables, whole grains, fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts, and water.

3. Intermittent/Alternating/Occasional Fasting

This type of fasting involves the intentional refraining/abstaining from both food and beverages for a determined amount of time each day or for specific days out of the week. Intermittent fasting , for example, includes consuming one meal a day.

Biblical Examples : 1st Samuel 7:6 // 2nd Samuel 1:11-12 // Judges 20:26 // Luke 18:12 // Acts 10:30

Please note : the portion size for this one meal per day must be the typical and regular portion size that you would normally eat for that meal. Water is the only beverage that is recommended for this fasting plan.

4. Supernatural/ Miraculous Fasting

This type of fasting involves the intentional refraining/abstaining from all foods, beverages, and water for a prolonged amount of time ( for weeks ). This fast includes no foods, water, or beverages.

Biblical Examples : Deuteronomy 9:9 // 1st Kings 19:8 // Matthew 4:1-2

(Please Note: this type of fasting is NOT being recommended)

What are some reasons for Fasting?

There are two main reasons why people may decide to practice fasting. People may practice fasting for religious (spiritual) reasons/purposes or for non-religious (non-spiritual) reasons/purposes. An example of a non-religious reason why people may practice fasting is to seek after physical health benefits: weight loss, body detoxification/cleansing, etc. However, in this article we will discuss the practice of fasting for religious (spiritual) reasons/purposes. Many people practice fasting for religious reasons; however, for a follow of Christ, it is very important for us to approach fasting from a Biblical perspective by going to the Bible to help us understand and participate in this spiritual discipline and practice in a way that brings honor, praise, and glory to the Lord.

The practice of fasting in the Bible is often accompanied by prayer and is usually associated with times of worship ( Luke 2:36-38 ), mourning (2nd Samuel 1:11-12; Nehemiah 1:4; Ester 4:1-3; Joel 2:12-17), repentance (1st Samuel 7:6; Daniel 9:1-19; Jonah 3:1-10), deep spiritual need (2nd Samuel 12:15-23; Psalm 69:10; Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29; Acts 9:9) or seeking the Lord for wisdom/guidance/direction/strength/confirmation regarding an important decision, situation, event, or journey (Ezra 8:21-23; Ester 4:4-17, Matthew 4:1-2; Acts 13:1-3; Acts 14:19-23)

Should believers practice Fasting Today?

To help us in our journey to gain a better understanding about Biblical Fasting, a very critical point must be introduced into our discussion. In Matthew 6:5-15 , Jesus gives instructions for praying in a way that brings honor, praise, and glory to the Lord. In this passage, Jesus uses a specific phrase that is so instrumental and vital to our understanding of this entire portion of Scripture regarding prayer; Jesus uses the phrase “ when you pray ” three times (in verse 5, verse 6, and again in verse 7). Jesus did not say ‘If you pray’ or ‘just in case you pray’ or any other phrase such as these, but instead he said: “ when you pray ” . By using this phrase, Jesus is teaching us that prayer should be an expected, a normal and a regular part of our life as followers of Christ; a life of prayer is not to be rare and optional in the life of a believer.

This idea is not new or foreign to the teachings of Jesus, it was included in what is known as his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (Matthew 5, 6 and 7); In this teaching, Jesus also uses the phrase “ when you give ” twice (Matthew 6:1-4) and “ when you fast ” twice (Matthew 6:16-18). The healthy practice of giving, prayer and fasting should be an expected, a normal and a regular reality and discipline in the life of a follower of Christ. Jesus gives instructions, helps us understand, and provides us with guidance on how we must exercise these lifestyle spiritual disciplines in a way that brings honor, praise, and glory to the Lord.

When should we Fast?

Fasting is not to be viewed as a rare occurrence or an optional practice in the life of a believer in Christ. An awesome portion of Scripture that points to the necessity of the spiritual discipline of fasting in the life of the believer is found in Matthew 9:14-17; the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast ?” (Emphasis added). Whether these men knew it or not, they were making a very insightful and perspective observation; as they watched, examined, and studied the behavior and lifestyle of the disciples that were devoted followers of Jesus, they noticed and realized that Jesus’ disciples did not engage in the spiritual discipline of fasting at all. Jesus’ response to them was a lesson for them and is a very important reminder for us today as well. Jesus replied: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast ” (emphasis added). Jesus’ disciples had no need for fasting because He (the Christ, God present in human form) was physically there with them and all they needed was physically present, available, and accessible within and through Christ.

A parallel account of this event is found in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 2:18-22) where Jesus’ reply to the same question was made even clearer : “ Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast . The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day ” (emphasis added). Therefore, Jesus prepared and provided them with the understanding that when He would no longer be physically present with them, then and only then will they have need for the spiritual discipline of fasting as a regular and normal part of their life and ministry.

We find a third account of this event in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 5:33-39) and we find another observation regarding the disciples of John the Baptist. Luke 5:33-34 says: “ And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days ” (emphasis added). They were coming to examine and investigate to see if Jesus was the true Messiah and the one that John the Baptist had been preparing them for. It appears that the disciples of John the Baptist (who along with John the Baptist had been awaiting and preparing for the arrival of Christ’s 1st Coming) were taught that fasting was to be an expected, a regular and a normal part of their life and lifestyles. May I be so bold as to suggest that we (The disciples of Christ of today ) should have lives and lifestyles where we “ fast often and offer prayers ” as we await and prepare to meet the Lord, Christ, and King at His 2nd Coming.

What is the Main Purpose of Biblical Fasting?

The Bible teaches that: “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” (Proverbs 21:2). Furthermore, the Bible explains that: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25). Left only to ourselves, with our plans, our will, our way, etc.. (without God) leads only to wrong decisions, harm, destruction, and death. We are all called by Scripture to: “ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord , and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:5-8) . When we hear the admonition and warning to “turn away from evil”, we rarely realize or receive the understanding that in God’s sight: engaging in our own decisions without Him, our activities without Him, our deeds without him, our plans without Him, our ideas without Him, our will with Him, and refusing to “acknowledge him” in all our ways is seen by God as ‘sin’ and as “evil.” The spiritual discipline of prayer is so beneficial in helping us navigate through our decisions; but we must not forget that God has also given us the spiritual gift of fasting to equip and prepare us as well.

The main purpose for participating in the spiritual discipline and practice of biblical fasting is for it to be an act of complete surrender to Lord and humbling of self to seek after the Lord’s heart, His thoughts, His mind, His purposes, His perspective, His will, and His plan in any situation and through any circumstance. The Bible teaches us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; 1st Peter 5:5; 2nd Samuel 22:28). We must always remember the Lord’s declaration, He proclaims: “ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The Bible teaches us that “ Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do” (1st Corinthians 8:8). Therefore, fasting is not a way for us to earn or pay for anything from God. Fasting is not about trying to manipulate or control God. Fasting will not make God to do anything that is outside of His will or His character. Biblical Fasting is about surrender, being changed by God and coming into agreement with God’s plan; it is about being spiritually prepared, equipped and empowered to carry out your role in His divine plan and purposes. The spiritual discipline of Fasting is a gift from the Lord; He has given us this as way to help us in becoming spiritual prepared/positioned, in humbling ourselves, focusing our attention on the Lord, enhancing our sensitivity to spiritual truths/realities for any situation, and empowering us to come into agreement with God’s Will with the right motives and perspectives from the heart. (Ex: Ezra 8:21-23; Psalm 35:13; Romans 6:12; Romans 8:12-17)

How should we be Fasting?

Jesus teaches us that when we fast, it can be a challenging journey, but it should not be viewed by the believer as a burden or duty. Fasting is a privilege that we get to experience and participate in as a form of worship in spirit and in truth to the Lord. In the passage that we discussed above (Matthew 6:16-18), Jesus explains to us that we must not let how we practice the discipline of fasting be physically or outwardly obvious in such a way that it shows any attention seeking behavior or is being done to “be seen by others”. We are not called to fasting so that we can get approval, recognition, respect, or praise from other people. Also, Jesus teaches us that when we fast , we must do so in such a way that it is honoring and pleasing in the eyes of our Heavenly Father. We must be mindful of the motive and condition of our hearts and let that be reflective in the quality care that we have for ourselves (both inwardly and outwardly) during our time of fasting. God will reward those who practice fasting in a biblical way that honors Him and brings glory to His Name.

We invest a significant amount of time each day on the activity of eating and drinking. We spend a considerable amount of time making choices about food and beverages, in the purchasing, moving, deciding, planning, preparing, sharing, enjoying, distributing, partaking, eating, drinking, packing, storing, and everything else that is involved with activity of eating and drinking. Biblical Fasting provides us with the opportunity to redirect and use our desire to satisfy our physical hunger as a catalyst or internal heart cry to choose instead to satisfy our spiritual hunger and desire for the Lord. Instead of receiving your physical energy and strength from eating and drinking, chose instead to seek spiritual energy and strength from the Lord.

Moses teaches us about the Lord, reminding us by saying: “ And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord ” (Deuteronomy 5:3). Moreover, Jesus proclaims that: “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4). The act of fasting is a physical, mental and a spiritual journey. During your time of fasting, instead of choosing to fill up your stomach with food and beverages, you will choose instead to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:17-21) and fill up on the Word of God (Colossians 3:16-17). The goal is to focus and seek the Lord when your physical body feels hungry. Jesus reminds us that we are to “Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” (Matthew 26:41). Do not surrender or cave into the temptation of the physical food, but instead enjoy and consume more of the spiritual food/nourishment that flows from God’s word. When you fast , physical hunger can be overcome and satisfied by letting your spiritual hunger be satisfied and fulfilled in the Lord.

When you fast, prayer is key and plays an important role in helping you remain faithful, strengthened, and consistent with the decision and conviction that Lord impresses upon your heart before, during and after your time of fasting. The spiritual disciplines of both Prayer and Fasting are especially amazing when practiced together. Biblical fasting helps to focus our prayers, cultivate an undivided heart/mind, strengthen our confidence/faith in God and intensify our determination to seek the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Biblical fasting helps to renew our reliance and dependance upon the Lord and His Word. Jesus reminds us to: “ ...seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

May we never forget: “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)

May we proclaim with the Lord Jesus: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34).

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1st Corinthians 10:31).

At all times, but especially during the time of fasting, may we be mindful to rely on Christ to fulfill all our needs, now and forevermore. Amen (Philippians 4:19 ).

The Will of God

hello@nbcchurch.org (PASTOR JOSEPH CHOI) — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 02:26:22 GMT

What is the will of God for you?

What is the will of God for you in this season of life or what is the will of God for your work, relationship, finance, and so on? Especially when you have to make a decision or plan things out in life. Many believers are wanting to know what is the will of God for me ?

We know what Jesus said about the greatest commands or two great obedience we must do, “Love God and love your neighbor” ( Matthew 22:34-40 ). We also know the desire of God, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” ( John 3:16 ). We also know that God has given every follower of Jesus the “Great Commission” or the highest priority of assignment above all other assignments, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …” ( Matthew 28:18 ).

What then is the will of God?

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

So, another way of saying this is, “Not everyone who says, ‘Jesus, Jesus,’ will enter the God’s kingdom but the one who ‘does’ or ‘obey’s’ the will of God , desire, or plan of God will enter heaven.” There is much to unpack just within this one verse and in the entirety of 21-23, because these same people have also prophesied in Jesus name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name (v. 22) but will not enter the kingdom of heaven. These people did supernatural works in Jesus’ name, yet Jesus himself says, “And then will declare to them, ‘I never knew you ; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (v. 23) and continues with, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24).

The word, “knew you” means a deep relationship or intimate relationship, meaning these people did miracles under Jesus’ name, but they didn’t have a deep relationship with God. Jesus’ will is for us to have a deep relationship with Him above ALL else and Jesus knows you personally when you “obey” His words. When you “obey” His words, then your house will be built upon the rock.

The parable of the Two Sons in Matthew 21:28-32 , gives us a clear picture of what it means to do the will of God.

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘ I will not ,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went . 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘ I go , sir,’ but did not go . 31 Which of the two did the will of his father ?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him .

This is a very powerful illustration of the will of God. The Father gives the first son a command “ go and work in the vineyard ” but like many of us in the beginning, we don’t follow God’s command initially like loving God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength as Jesus commanded. So, the first son says, “ I will not ” which means he is rejecting God’s Words and rebelling against God. In essence, he is sinning against God.

What is very interesting is in Matthew 4:17, Jesus comes on the scene and delivers his first message to the Jews, declaring, “ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The word “ repent” means “ change of mind ” and the first son eventually repented before his father and “ went ” meaning he eventually “ obeyed ” his father’s word.

Many of us associate the word “repent” with being “sorry” and because of guilt or shame, or that we sin (rebellion against God), we “repent” and we “repent” each time we sin, but God is not asking us to say, “sorry,” He is wanting us to change our mind.

Why? and What is the difference?

When we apologize or say sorry, it impacts one particular behavior or instance, but when we “repent,” or “change our mind,” our entire perspective of all sins changes direction. Our projection and direction of our soul (identity) heads towards heaven and the Holy Spirit helps us to overcome all obstacles when we truly change our course of direction. Remember, what controls all of our body, including our emotions is our mind. When we just say, “sorry” or “apologize” we will just face another or different issues, and it becomes an unending cycle of saying, “I’m sorry.” We don’t overcome or change, but “change of mind” takes us on a new perspective because our mind is headed in a new direction.

When we “ change our mind ” we’re able to move our entire mind towards the light. We were projected towards darkness, but with the true heart of “repentance” God helps us turn to the light “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Changing our mind helps us to see the mind of Christ, which would in turn help us see God’s truth. This is how repentance works, by changing our mind, we change the direction of our walk, and as more steps are taken towards God, we see more of Him. The more we see God, and as we walk closer to Him, we can hear God’s voice clearly.

Thus verse 30 makes sense about the condition of our heart in doing God’s will, “And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘ I go , sir,’ but did not go .” The other son clearly did not move or obey on the father’s command. In other words, we can say with our lips, I believe in Jesus and even read the bible, but don’t actually follow or do what God says, then we will never understand the will of God. Moreover, James 1:22 tells us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Once we “change our mind” through God’s working in our hearts, we desire and want to seek, follow and obey His words. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” ( 1 John 5:14 ).

The only way we can know God’s Will is for us to repent to God and have the confidence and assurance through our prayers that heaven will hear us.

So, in closing of knowing God’s Will

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Repentance will change the course of your direction, and it will change your life. Once you begin your journey of obedience to His will through God’s Words, you will hear His voice and you will have freedom to do His will.

What is Passion Week?

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 20:20:15 GMT

Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday is called Passion Week or Holy Week. Each day leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, “Good Friday” and to Christ Resurrection is very important for all followers of Jesus.

During this week, every step, action, and Words of Christ is important to know why Jesus did what He had planned before the foundation of the world. Reflecting upon “Passion Week” helps our own identity with God and our search for meaning and purpose in life because everyone suﬀers and every person will go through emotions that reflect those suﬀerings and challenges in life.

In the King James Bible, “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days,

…” (Acts 1:3), in another word “his passion” means “his

suﬀering.” Jesus, who is God intentionally and with a willing heart, was willing to suﬀer for our iniquities, our gross immorality, injustice, wickedness and our rebellion against God. Jesus was passionate to fulfill God’s plan and to die for the sins of this world, and He took “our sins” upon His own shoulders to save us and to give us the free gift of salvation for those who would accept it. When we think of the word “passion” we connect it to a very strong emotion, a strong focus and determination to finish and to complete the task. In Latin “passio” refers to an “enduring suﬀering” and “Passion Week” encompasses both the strong emotion and suﬀering of Christ.

Each day of the “Passion Week” directs us to Jesus’ passion (his emotions) to fulfill His suﬀering on the Cross. It is this journey of suﬀering of Jesus on the cross helps us to understand our own suﬀering. It is when we connect with Jesus’ journey, we understand

this scripture: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but 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 2:20).

On Resurrection Sunday, we end the suﬀering, because Jesus rose from the dead to give us life and victory. Praise the Lord! We now have victory over sin and death, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly ” (John 10:10). My friends, the devil only wants to keep you under depression and darkness, but Jesus came to give us life and to conquer over our sin. We no longer need to live in spiritual suﬀering and walk this journey by ourselves because “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Isn’t this the good and greatest news ever told! When we accept Christ with a true repentance, we no longer need to walk this journey by ourselves, but with Jesus who will be our friend and will never leave you nor forsake you.

This is why we need to take the time out of our busy lives and process and contemplate Jesus’ emotions and suﬀering during the “Passion Week.” When you take the time and investment to understand Jesus’ emotions and His suﬀering, this will help you reflect on your own emotions and suﬀerings in life. Let’s be honest with ourselves, every person will go through testing, challenges and certain levels of suﬀering in life and it is very depressing to walk this journey in mind and heart by ourselves. When we walk by our own emotions, we will fall with no one to give us a lending hand, but Jesus has already walked this journey and now gives us the victory path for us to walk across.

Questions to Consider:

• Can your emotions and suﬀering be surrendered to Jesus?

• How do you allow The Holy Spirit to take control and give you victory over our sins?

• What would this victory look like in your daily life?

May you be blessed and take each journey of emotions to be captive to Jesus.

Passion Week Bible Reading “Following His Emotions” Palm Sunday: Jesus Enters Jerusalem

• Matthew 21:1

• Mark 11:1

• Luke 19:29

• John 12:12

Monday

• Matthew 21:12

• Mark 11:22

• Luke 19:45

Tuesday

• Mathew 21:20

• Mark 11:20

• Luke 20:36

• John 12:20

Wednesday

• Jesus prepares for last supper

• Judas and Sanhedrin prepare for Jesus’ arrest

Thursday

• Matthew 26:1

• Mark 14:1

• Luke 22:1

Friday “The Trials of Jesus”

• Matthew 26:1

• Mark 14:53

• Luke 22:54

• John 18:13

Saturday

• Mathew 27:66

Sunday “Jesus Rises from the Dead”

• Matthew 28:1

• Mark 16:1

• Luke 24:1

• John 20:1

Salt and Light Bible Study: Spirit, Soul, and Body

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 04:09:03 GMT

What goes to heaven, your soul or your spirit?

God created all humans to have 3 parts, the spirit, soul, and body. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 tells us, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul,
and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God’s desire is for our faith to grow and give us life and to start building the process of healing beginning with our spirit, then soul and body. And not just parts of these but the whole of these parts.

So consider a picture of 3 circles with the most inner part as “spirit” (human spirit), then “soul” as the second outer circle, then “body” as the last circle on the outside.

The human spirit is the deepest part of a person and with our spirit we can communicate with God through prayer. No other creature on earth was created like this. When you accept and repent before Christ our body becomes a temple for the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19) and the Holy Spirit starts to clean out and sanctifies our human spirit, so that our prayer life can be stronger because our connection is not broken.

If you want to grow in your spiritual life, then your connection to God in prayer must be strong. So consider a Wifi (internet connection) capability to the fifth-generation network that is 5G which is a super fast downloading and uploading speed. But even with a fast 5G network, any severe weather condition can hinder and dampen the network speed. Some severe weather conditions can even create power outages or black outs that cannot connect.

With God in our spirit, you’ll have a 10G capability or higher, but it all depends upon our desire to connect to the Lord. If you want your Wifi to be connected all the time even in severe situations or trials of life, it's best to stay connected to a power source that will never disconnect and never fail you. Even when faced with daily challenges in life, your “spirit will be at peace knowing that God’s Spirit will take control when others have failed.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they lost their internet connection or “spirit connection” with God and they covered themselves and hid behind trees, hoping God would not find them. However, because of what Jesus has done on the cross, we are now able to receive this “spiritual connection” or Holy Spirit again and have connection with God. For the believers who sin, it is our repentance and making things right before God, brings our connectivity back with strong speed. This is the importance of the “human spirit.”

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul . (Genesis 2:7)

The next circle is the “soul” , our personality or identity. Our “soul” defines who we are. it is with our soul, we can think, reason, consider, remember and examine all things from our heart. We can find our passion in life and what drives us to finish even in the midst of difficulties. Our soul drives us to the finish line.

The body is a “vessel” or “host” for the soul and it gives the body life and its vitality. So consider a soul as nothing more than what it gives a body life and it doesn’t matter if you are a Christian or not. Every human being that has breath has a soul.

As the Lord enters through our spirit and starts to work in our soul, then God in His will and in His perfect timing will heal the physical and the internal organs of our body. God will work the tangible things in our body and our physical body is the external sign or the visible part of how others see us. This is why God tells us to physically “… go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). God’s desire is for our physical bodies to be his hands and feet in expanding God’s kingdom and it is our “spirit” in the Lord that is what we deliver and share the good news with.

So, when our spirit is connected to God, and our soul (identity and personality of who we are) becomes a new creation in Christ, then our desire is to trust and obey and move into sharing the good news of Jesus is how all of our 3 parts connect and move in unity.

Finally, what goes to heaven, soul or spirit?

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

So, it is here we understand that it is our “spirit” (those who accepted Christ as savior), who will enter the kingdom of heaven. Our personality and identity (soul) will not return to the Lord.

Something to Consider

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 14:40:48 GMT

Is Spiritual Food greater than Physical Food?

To my church friends and family. Early in the morning during prayer, this revelation came into my mind and I couldn't shake it off. So, I decided to write it down. Only when you have the time, please read it and consider the questions. Thank you for your time and my apologies in advance if any of the statements or questions will be provoking your thoughts towards any negative view. This is not my intention. Please consider and pray about what is happening to our churches today. My hope is to awaken and spiritually discern the believers to see clearly God's path and His Truth. For in Him, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

Is Spiritual food greater than Physical food?

For believers of Jesus Christ, is our spiritual food greater than physical food?

Most Christians would say "Yes" to this question, but in reality, many Christians' behavior says "No" and follow the wide gate.

Currently, in Montgomery County, Maryland, restaurants are open, but everyone has to wear a mask to enter. However, when eating, everyone sits down and takes off their masks to eat and converse with family and friends (No six feet apart and no masks). For the physical food, you can sit and take your masks off and have a wonderful fellowship with friends and family, but yet for spiritual food and in many churches today, you are still required to keep your masks on and be six feet apart.

Today in Montgomery County, Maryland, when you walk into a church, you are required to wear a mask, but when you sit down and are ready to eat spiritual food, you are STILL REQUIRED to wear your mask. Even when you want to have a conversation with your family or friends inside the church, you are required to wear a mask.

Inside the restaurant, and seated you are allowed to take your masks off and enjoy each other's laughter, joy, fellowship, food, and even to pray. You can even sing and pray without masks when the physical food is present, but yet we must wear a mask inside the church, six feet apart, and sing praises to God in the House of the Lord. In the house of the food , we are free to sing, pray, talk and have the joy to our belly's content, but be stricken with chains of rules when spiritual food is present at a church.

Is physical food greater than spiritual food?

I had a meeting with 8 other pastors for lunch in Rockville, Maryland. We all walked in with masks and ordered our food. This was our first gathering of Pastor's fellowship since the lockdown, so we naturally hugged and welcomed one another. No one checked to see if any of us was vaccinated or not. No one asked if any of us had any symptoms of covid or knew of anyone that did. No one needed any passport to get into this restaurant, at least for now. Two out of the eight had major heart surgeries. Two of us also had strokes and one is still taking medication for his cancer. So, you can imagine, everyone is taking precautions but it all changed when the food came out.

We all sat down next to one another, inches apart with masks on at first, but when the food came out, everyone took off their masks to pray . Then, we had a great time of conversation and catching up with laughter and joy. Not a single person ate with their masks on . Not one person talked to one another with their masks on. Everyone had joy, laughter, and great fellowship without their masks on and no six feet apart. But as soon as the food was done eating, most of the pastors put their masks back on. They started to talk to one another and fellowship continued with their masks on. "What just happened?" was the thought that came to my mind. When the physical food was present, we all saw each other's food in their mouth and teeth and talked with great freedom, but once they were done with the food, they put their masks back on.

I and one another pastor were the only ones without a mask. At first, I got really confused. I thought to myself, "What is the difference? Why is everyone wearing a mask when the food is gone? Why is everyone talking, laughing, and having joy and praying when the food was present and not wearing a mask but as soon as the food was gone, people went back to wearing the masks?"

This was very strange.

What was the difference between the physical food being present and everyone taking their masks off to pray, eat, talk, and laugh but inside the church we are still required to wear a mask and be six feet apart? Are restaurants and physical food greater than spiritual food and churches? Why is the presence of physical food in restaurants greater in freedom than in many churches? "Am I the only one seeing this," I thought to myself. When a former president of the United States can have a large birthday party with a few hundred people, with no masks and no social distancing inside a facility, and celebrate his birthday, then why can't churches open up and have that same freedom to celebrate the risen Lord?

When the food was present, everyone took off their masks and had a great time of fellowship, but inside the church , when we sit down and are ready to eat spiritual food, we still must wear a mask and be at a social distance? Why are churches still limited to six feet apart and wear masks when restaurants host many parties with no distance and no masks when ready to eat, drink and be merry?

Do the places of physical food have a greater benefit than the places that offer spiritual food?

Romans 12:2 tells us, " Do not be conformed to this world , but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Have we come to the point of conforming to the world?

Why are we not "testing" so we can "discern" the will of God?

Are we not transformed by the renewal of our minds? Why are followers of Jesus Christ, sitting down, ready to eat spiritual foods, but still be six feet apart, wear a mask, and sing praises and give thanks offering to the Lord with masks on? Why is the world greater in giving freedom and joy than the Christian churches?

Romans 12:1 tells us, ". . . by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

Are we offering our bodies as a sacrifice to the physical world without any consequences in the spiritual realm?

I am not questioning the rules of a county but I am concerned with the spiritual welfare of the body of Christ. If we are to give a facility that offers physical food freedom to pray, laugh, and have joy, and even to sing without masks, then we should give freedom to churches that offer the greatest food that nourishes our souls and sing praises and thanksgiving in the house of the Lord. I would ask that we all pray and first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness as we ponder upon these questions of our season.

Matthew 7:13-14

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

“ Something to Consider ” is a thought process through the lens of the Bible, helping believers process current issues pertaining to the culture of our time.

Prophetic Music Ministry

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 16:37:42 GMT

What is a prophetic music ministry?

Why do churches do praise before the message or sermon?

1 Chronicles 25:1

David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals .

And in verse 2, list the names and, “Asharelah, sons of Asaph, under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.” Through verse 4 and 5, it continues with names of those in service for the king and then in verse 6, “They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God.”

For many years, I have read through scripture multiple times, but this time, God’s words captured my attention to the revelation that the musicians can serve in prophecy “ with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals.”

Other versions illustrate the following:

NIV “the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by”
KJV “who should prophesy with”
NASB "who were to prophesy with”
NLT “to proclaim God's messages to the accompaniment of”

This is all “in the house of the Lord” for “the service of the house of God.” And, “in the house of the Lord” we are all to manifest our hearts in worship “who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord” (verse 3). Our heart attitude to prophesy is with thanksgiving and praises for the service of the house of God.

What is the difference between “Prophe c y” and “Prophe s y?”

When I think of prophe c y (Noun: A prediction of a future happening), God wants us to prophe s y (Verb: To state that something will happen in the future). 1 Corinthians 14:1 reminds us, “. . . earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”

To get a basic understanding of “Prophe c y” is a “message from God” and “Prophe s y” is to “proclaim a message from God” and the one who does or says it is a “prophet.” With that said, we have to keep in mind, since the Bible is complete, it is imperative to understand that God knows the past, present, and future. Any authoritative word about the future is already stated in the Word of God and man is to be His spokesperson, interpreting His Word properly.

2 Peter 1:21

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

We have to keep a solid reminder that “The Bible IS the Final and Complete Revelation from God.” No man can predict what God had already spoken through His word. God is the creator and distributor of time of past, present, and future. It is our responsibility to decode what God has already encoded.

So, what does prophecy mean for today? The New Testament gives us a good picture and manifestation of this spiritual gift.

1 Corinthians 14:3 ( Amplified Bible )

But [on the other hand] the one who prophesies speaks to people for edification [to promote their spiritual growth] and [speaks words of] encouragement [to uphold and advise them concerning the matters of God] and [speaks words of] consolation [to compassionately comfort them].

So, what does all this mean, and how does “prophecy" relate to musical instruments? Let’s begin with few questions to help us process these revelations.

How can we edify and promote spiritual growth through songs and musical instruments while giving thanks and praise to the Lord?
How can we give encouragement and compassionately comfort others accompanied by musical instruments?
How can we proclaim God's messages to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God?

David is a good example of a prophet (Acts 2:29-31), who was filled with the Holy Spirit and wrote much of Psalms foretelling of the coming Messiah. David prophesied through Psalms and music: Psalm 2, 16, 22, 34, 69, and 110.

1 Chronicles 25:1-8 explains that David and the chiefs of the service set apart three family groups of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with lyres, harps, and with cymbals (verse 1). They prophesied with musical instruments. In other words, they wrote songs to proclaim God’s messages.

In 1 Chronicles 25:1 the word “prophesy” (Hebrew “naba” pronounced “naw-baw”) is a verb meaning “ under influence of the divine spirit .” In other words to speak or sing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

So for those who are in a praise team or are Christian singers and musicians, this shows that “prophecy” is not always “a message from God” but under the influence of the Holy Spirit to sing songs and use instruments in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord.

What is very interesting is that this task of organizing and setting apart by David and the chiefs took much time and effort in developing the prophetic music ministry within the temple. The Hebrew word “sar” meaning chiefs, captains, rulers, governors, and leaders were mostly of military personnel. Praise and giving thanks through prophetic music were so important that even a king and his military generals were assigned and set apart for the house of worship. Who said, you can’t swing a sword and play the soft and peaceful lyre? Surely, David was a mighty warrior, and their leaders thought otherwise.

The prophetic music ministry was a well-planned and intentional strategic effort. This was of high importance to be “in the house of the Lord” for “the service of the house of God.” If this was very important to David then it meant that this prophetic music ministry was also important to God.

Why? Why was this prophetic music ministry so important to David?

David viewed this prophetic music ministry as meant to be used with instruments and songs that praise and gave thanks to the Lord as a key vital life to the entire nation of Israel . The spiritual vitality of the temple required this prophetic music ministry. This made sense as to why many “who were skillful” was chosen and “trained in singing to the Lord” (1 Chron. 25:7). Even those who are “small and great, young and old alike, the teacher as well as the student, cast lots for their duties to worship in the house of the Lord.

So, then the question would be, are churches today through praise giving thanks proclaiming God’s message?
Are our songs proclaiming the gospel?
Can Christian musicians today have the ability to play prophetically on their instruments in such a way as to release the anointing to the people?

"The prophetic musician sees further than the task of music because it is a ministry requiring knowledge beyond the physical task of playing notes in the right order. It is a music of divine appointment to comfort, encourage, strengthen, confront and stir people to higher goals, or take us to another level of worship" (Excerpt from "The Musician" by Kerry Wright).

In Closure

Now, I have a greater understanding as to why churches do praise and then a message in the house of the Lord. This is the prophetic music ministry and worship of the church in which leaders (small and great, young and old), sing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and proclaiming God’s messages.

Then the following passages started to be more clear:

1 Samuel 10:5-6

5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

Now, even a harp played by David to drive the evil spirit away soothed King Saul’s soul, “Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well” (1 Samuel 16:16).

13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 14 And Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. 15 But now bring me a musician .” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him (2 Kings 3:13-15).

After the musicians played, then Elisha prophesied about the “dry streambed full of pools” (2 Kings 3:16) and that “He will also give the Moabites into your hand” (verse 18).

This all started to make sense as to why music and singing were a major part of worship in the temple during David’s reign along with all small and great, young and old. David brought up, “. . . 4,000 shall offer praises to the Lord with the instruments that I have made for praise” (1 Chronicles 23:5). David was so passionate about this ministry that he even made his own musical instruments for the house of the Lord.

In essence, prophetic music ministry is prophesying through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is more than our natural talent and abilities. This is about our surrender to God so that the Holy Spirit can release His Spirit to proclaim God's messages to the accompaniment of lyres, with harps, and with cymbals. Under the divine inspiration and the revelation of His words, God will release His fulfilled purpose and the presence of Jesus will become a blessed reality. The prophetic music ministry will edify our spiritual growth, singing and using lyre, harp, and cymbals will encourage our souls, and His words will comfort us in the house of the Lord.

King Hezekiah Restores the Temple Worship

2 Chronicles 29:25-30

25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king's seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. 30 And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.

May the spiritual vitality of the church come back to the House of God and edify, encourage and comfort all who seek our savior, Jesus. Amen and Amen.

Something to Consider: Why does God love me so much, even to the point of dying on the cross for me?

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 15:38:52 GMT

Christians and non-Christians alike may know of this renowned Bible verse, John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life.”

But... why? Why in the world would an all-powerful, all-knowing, infinite being like God love us,
human beings? What was the point in Jesus enduring that painful persecution and ultimately
being hung and killed on a cross for us? Why does God love us that much?

It seems completely absurd but, when it comes down to the truth, it’s relatively straightforward:
God loves us because He is love. God is the very root and definition of love (1 John 4:8, 16).

You may be thinking, “How can someone just be love?” But don’t worry, because even those
who have been believers of Christ for many years struggle to fully understand the depth of
God’s love and how it works; it’s that wide and great and deep. But, we can try to have a better
understanding by going back to the beginning, back to God’s original intention of our
relationship with Him.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the
earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen.
1:26-27).

One of the main reasons I believe God loves us is because He created us. We are not merely
animals roaming this Earth without a purpose, nor are we the equivalent to any other creature
on this earth. We were made in God’s image so we have all been designed with a specific
intention and to be a reflection of Himself, the perfect, almighty God.

Although the following comparison comes nothing close to the love that God has for us, the best
way for me to imagine it would be the relationship between a parent and child.

A loving parent does everything in their power to care for their child. Even before the baby is
born, before the parents even know what the baby looks like or what the child’s personality will
be like, the parents are usually already in preparation mode. From frantically buying all the
baby’s necessities (crib, stroller, diapers, baby bottles, etc.) to reading and researching anything
and everything about how to raise a child, all of the parents’ time and energy goes into caring for
their coming baby.

But the work doesn’t stop there. Once the baby is born, the parents are doing everything in their
power to keep the baby happy, safe, well-fed and cared for. To go even further, the work still
doesn’t stop there. As the child grows and experiences new stages of life, the parents are right
there beside them – guiding them, teaching them, disciplining them – all out of their love for the
child.

The baby didn’t do anything to deserve the parents’ love. It was simply brought into existence by
the parents. Despite the countless headaches and heartaches the child may continue to give
the parents as they grow, the parents have this love for the child because they are the parents’
precious creation.

There are obvious and numerous exceptions to this example and it may not be a perfect, nor
remotely close, representation that many people can relate to. However, I believe this is the
closest we can get to visualizing a small piece of what God’s heart may be like towards us.
God created us and He desires for us to be with Him. This is why He provided a way, through
Jesus’ death on the cross, for us to be reunited with Him again. We did absolutely nothing to
deserve it and we, in fact, deserve the complete opposite. We were bound for death and
destruction, but God made a way for us to have complete salvation through His love.

And the best part is, there is nothing that can come between us and His love for us.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39).

Some more things to consider:
1. Do you feel loved by God?
2. Can you think of a time when you felt God’s love in your life?
3. How can you love God?

SCRIPTURE:

Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV)
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and
over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man
in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

John 3:16-18 (ESV)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is
not condemned, but whoever does not believe is already, because he has not believed in the
name of the only Son of God.”

Romans 8:37-39 (ESV)
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am
sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

1 John 4:7 (ESV)
“Beloved let us love one another, for love is from God and whoever loves has been born
of God and knows God.”

1 John 4:16 (ESV)
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and
whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

1 John 4:19 (ESV)
“We love because he first loved us.”

“Something to Consider” is a thought-process through the lens of the Bible, helping believers
process current issues pertaining to the culture of our time.

Eunice Sung
Journalist
“Fervently seeking God for His truth to be revealed, only by His grace and strength.”
sungeunice16@gmail.com

New Chapter: Marriage Part 2

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 18:58:05 GMT

Main Scripture for Study Genesis 24:10-14

A Sign from God

In the weeks leading up to the sermon series New Chapter, I asked some of the married couples to write to me on the following questions:

What is the one thing about your spouse that was the final confirmation to knowing for certain he/she was the right person for you to marry?
Did you ever ask God for a sign that he/she was the right person for you to marry?

(Michelle and Abner)

For me and Abner, I didn’t like him or speak to him in the beginning when we first met we met in school in philosophy class. We were also in a group the whole semester and the only time I spoke to him was when we were doing group work. When the semester was about over, we started talking about random things, and then I learned that he is a believer also. So from then on we spoke about everything like church, family, etc. but I always saw him just as a friend but he liked me more than a friend.

I had a lot of trust issues and I never dated or was in a relationship before Abner so I was just always careful and didn’t want to get hurt, but Abner was respectful and patient. We clicked just like that. Before I met Abner, I asked God that I wanted a husband who loves God, comes from a good Christian family, is educated, knows how to handle money (cause I can’t ) , and is kind-hearted . And that’s exactly how Abner is. Also, when we were courting, I asked God that I want him to propose to me on New Year’s Eve . And Abner did just that. Those two signs were the confirmations from God to me.

Can you ask God for a sign?

In the book of Judges, God tells Gideon to, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” However, Gideon is uncertain because, “my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 6:15). In other words, he has doubts about what God really can do and what he can do. He is also indecisive and uncertain, even when God proves he can do it. Gideon still obeyed, but still hesitant and on his first attempt at obeying God, “Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night” (Judges 6:27).

It is interesting when Gideon was afraid of God’s command and uncertain he was given the opportunity and permission to ask for a sign, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me ” (Judges 6:17).

Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel (Judges 6:33). Even with all the signs from God and His strength and power to support Gideon, he is still asking for a sign.

Judges 6:36-40

36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone , and it is dry on all the ground , then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece . Please let it be dry on the fleece only , and on all the ground let there be dew .” 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Here Moses was uncertain, afraid, and indecisive about His calling in life and willingness to serve the will of God, even when God spoke to Moses directly, he doubted.

Exodus 3:9-12

9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you , that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

So God is giving Moses a sign. Can you ask for a sign? Yes! If you are seeking the Lord and have a relationship with Him. Why? Why would God give you a sign? Because a sign from God will strengthen you and give you hope and because He believes in you.

So, what sign was the head servant asking for?

Genesis 24:10-14

10 Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor . 11 And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘ Drink, and I will water your camels ’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

And God responded with a clear sign from the servant’s prayer. [Please read towards the end]

______________________________

(Cece and Danny)

Everyone knows me and Danny's story. But I prayed to God if we were meant to be. Specifically, when he didn't like me (I still can't understand this). I prayed that God would turn my feelings off if we were not meant to be, but feelings got stronger.

So, then I prayed if we were meant to be, to turn his feelings on (Danny) , like a switch, God turned them on. Boom boom bam got married and then a child.

In all, I'm glad we were friends first, despite me enduring a one-sided love for a while. It felt like a kdrama (From Korean Drama Shows) but it all worked out.

Now for a sign. I didn't ask God for a sign but I was given one. [Like Moses]

One day we were at a gas station and Danny prayed for this homeless guy out front, unashamed of people around. One guy originally ignored the homeless man and the guy went into the store but when he came out of the store, he saw Danny praying for the homeless man and he stopped in his tracks and went back and gave the guy some money.

That's when I said, I wanna marry this guy!!

He was not embarrassed to pray for others in unexpected places and his prayer moved someone else heart to help the homeless man.

___________________________________________

(Nicole and Delace)

One thing about Delace that confirmed for certain that he was the man for me was that he had a heart for the Lord and he protected not only me but all the women in his sphere of influence. To be so respected and honored by a young man was not typical in my experience, and even when he developed feelings for me, he wanted to protect my heart. That was an overflow of his love for the Lord and it was obvious that it wasn't just an act.

I definitely DID ask God for a sign , but it was about the guy I was dating--not about Delace. I ended up meeting with a trusted older woman from our church, and as she was talking with me and praying with me and God was speaking to my heart. In those moments it became abundantly clear that the guy I had been dating but still wanted to reconcile with was NOT the man for me, but rather Delace was exactly the man who had been being prepared to be my husband (poor guy).

I walked out of that meeting, saw Delace, and I knew. I was overjoyed and apprehensive, but there was no doubt in my mind.

__________________________________

(Young and Brian)

For me and Brian, no big signs. But it was important that everyone approved, including Jade, our dog who is no longer with us. Most of you know how brutally honest the men in my family are. If they don't like my best friend of mine, they will make it known! Everyone including Jade approved.

I don't know if we will ever know if we are right for each other. But I do know that God has been doing work in our lives

And I know he will continue to work…

_____________________________________________

(Sangmi and Jae)

At the beginning of 2016, I started praying for my future husband. I prayed to God, I want a husband who loves Jesus the most, is fearing the Lord, and truly believes in the word of God.

A few months later, Jae and I got closer and started dating. Later I found out that Jae had a crush(?) on me and started praying for a relationship in the beginning of 2016 as well.

More importantly, before I met Jae, I was a different person. I always had carried this sinful nature in me- being very negative, dark, and depressed which I wasn't even aware of myself.

During the early stage of our courtship, God revealed my sinful character through our relationship. Through Jae and our relationship, God showed me how sinful I have been during all of my lifetimes. I realized that it always caused issues from my past relationships with people, which I really did not show outside, but deep inside of me, I always have had this ugliness.

As soon as I was aware and acknowledged this sin, I repented before God. I really wanted to be changed, but I knew that I won't be able to change by my own strength. I asked the Holy Spirit who has the power and authority to turn me into a new person. I shared this with Jae and asked for prayers too. My negative character was also affecting Jae, and he was having a hard time as well. I think he was almost ready to end our relationship at that time. I was so sad to see someone who I really liked be hurting because of my weakness for the first time. I was desperate.

God is amazing- as soon as I started to repent and pray, the Holy Spirit covered me with the blood of Jesus, and I could feel that it was gone. I did not know what it was back then, but looking back, I think I was always hopeless and depressed. After this incident, I was different.

People came to me and said, "Sangmi, you look different," "Hey, you look happy these days," etc. Even Jae was recognizing- "You are a different person now."

"to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV

Later, Jae told me that he was amazed and could truly believe that God can change everything. He told me it was one of the moments that he wants to marry me (씨익). He thought, '*gasp* she decided to change herself for me…?"

We both started to learn that it was not just about us and our relationship but something beyond us. After this, our relationship became stronger.

There are many other things God has been working in our lives, before and after we got married. I also agree with what Young says, God will continue to work and teach us how to obey and glorify Him.

_______________________________________

(Wu and Sue)

In my mid-20s, I had a very rough time- trying to figure out my identity at work, church, and amongst friends. I was also broken from relationships- unhealthy and toxic relationships from the past. During this time, my old church united with another church. Still broken, I wasn't looking for a relationship- in fact, I didn't even bother praying for a significant partner because I was depressed in thinking about having a relationship.

One night (Friday night worship service) I remember seeing Sue praying so fervently after the service was over. I never envied someone so much, because I wanted to have that moment of pure surrender and connection with God through prayer because I was desperate for a change. Who would've thought that the person I envied the most at the time would become the person I would commit to for the rest of my life? It's amazing how God not only shows you what you need but also pairs you up with someone who can remind you for the rest of your life!

I never asked God for a sign, but he did confirm Sue was the one I needed to be with. If you know me, I like to know and learn about a lot of things. In fact, I always thought I could do anything and everything. I was so full of myself, and I was confident that I was always right.

To come and think about it, God had to break me in order to put me on a path that would lead me to the place I am today. And let's just say Sue was the hammer. She was the only person that I've met who stood strong, and tell me what I was doing wrong- to discern what I thought was right but is wrong, and always looking out for what was best for me. To come and think about it, my friends would tell me what I WANT to hear while Sue would tell me things that I NEEDED to hear (still to this day lol).

____________________________

Wow!

I am truly thankful for all those married couples who wrote in and addressed those questions with honesty and transparency. God moved everyone’s heart and for some to be given a clear sign for a compatible person for marriage.

This was the case for Isaac. His mother had passed away and his heart was grieving for a compassionate and loving person to be coming along his journey. However, not just any person who has compassion for a hurting person but a very specific plan of God and a specific person that God has in mind. And, this was the case for Rebekah.

When the head servant of Abraham asked God at the end of his 700-mile journey to find a wife for Isaac, he asked for a very specific sign. This was his prayer, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink and I will water your camels’ -Let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this, I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master” (Genesis 24:12-14).

Not only did Rebekah gave the servant of Abraham a drink when he asked, but she on her own will served even the camels and made sure that they all had water to nourish. It’s not an easy task to fill water for ten camels. Most especially in the near east at that time would not even allow a man to talk to a woman, let alone a young lady, but she gave a man who was thirsty and diligently served to have the animals drink. This tells you something wonderful about Rebekah. Her character was of compassion and willingness to serve those who were weak and to go the extra mile even to help the animals when she didn’t need to.

Most people when they are not required to help others look at the ten large camels and think of this load as overwhelmed and stressed to even consider the hard work. There were many from the city getting water for their own families, yet Rebekah in her heart served the thirsty servant of Abraham and his ten camel’s, along with her own family in which she had to serve. This was the exact compatibility God would connect to Isaac because God knew he needed someone to fulfill’s God’s promise and Rebekah was chosen and sign confirmed through the head servant of Abraham.

When you ask for a sign, God gives you more than one.

The head servant asked for a sign, but he made a vow to Abraham that he would find someone from his hometown. God kept His promise and fulfilled his promise that His seed would carry on towards Jesus, but it all started from the servant's prayer.

Genesis 24:23-27

23 and said, “Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?” 24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor .” 25 She added, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.” 26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord 27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.”

There is one thing that I realized was an important aspect about those people asking for a sign from God; they all have a deep relationship with God. From Gideon, Moses, and the head servant of Abraham, they all have a relationship with God and God responded to their relationship by fulfilling their request.

So, can you ask for a sign? Yes, but before asking for a sign, we should ask for a deep relationship with a Living God who is the one who can give us signs.

Questions to consider:

How is your relationship with Jesus?
Do you pray often or daily to grow your relationship with God?
How is your personal devotion to the Word of God? [Your personal devotion through the Word of God (Bible) can help you understand your relationship with God].
Once you establish your daily relationship with God, what specific signs would you ask God? [Remember, always consider the reasons for asking for a sign. Are the signs to expand God’s kingdom or are they for something else.]

Understanding Missional Marriage Through the Bible

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 19:40:21 GMT

Living Out Ephesians 5:33 (Part 1)

Before we begin with Ephesians 5:33 , “However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband,” we must first consider Philippians 4:13 , “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

There will be times or you might have already experienced or that you are currently in the time when your marriage seems like it’s impossible to connect, heal or understand your relationship. In the United States, the divorce rate is at 50%, which means that one out of two people separate and this rate is similar for Christian couples. This is why Jesus needs to be at the center of our marriage (not religion). Married couples have much going on in life: children, work (career), finance (house budget or paying the bills), family, and so forth needs our attention, energy, and direction. It is when we understand how to surrender all with all the stress in life to God and allow Him to work in us and through us as a “missional marriage,” we gain a greater sense of our purpose and meaning. Your marriage will have a greater mission in life than just finding someone to connect with and survive. As a "missional marriage" God will help you thrive and live a life full of joy and direction. To help us thrive in our marriage and direction, God’s greatest command to start is to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. When we do this then God gives us the second greatest commandment to love our neighbors as yourself ( Luke 10:27 ). Even with much trials and testing, your marriage will grow and be a blessing to many and we can truly "do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

So, let's begin with some questions to consider:

Where is your marriage headed?

Are we living out Ephesians 5:33?

To have a good understanding of what Ephesians 5:33 would look like for us to act and live it out, we must first understand what the Bible is teaching us in the context in which it is written, so we can allow God’s Word’s to heal our hearts and surrender to Him in order for us to live it out. So, before, we begin, I need to ask you one more question: Are you willing to obey God’s Word?

No matter how much you study or learn God’s Word, if we are not willing to surrender and obey His Words, then “Living it Out” is impossible, because our hearts are not ready to repent before the Lord. The Holy Spirit cannot penetrate into our hearts, because we don’t allow God to do so. Thus in the book Luke 9:23 , “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. If we are to follow Jesus and have our marriage work, we must “deny himself” or surrender our pride, flesh, control, and desires and “take up his cross” (God’s words, Jesus death on the cross), and then we can “follow” with full obedience to His direction. And, when this happens, you and your spouse will move towards a “missional marriage” with a purpose and a blessing to your children and family.

Let’s start with a shocker:

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord” ( Ephesians 5:22 )

“I ain’t going to submit to my husband!”

“I’m not going to submit to him because he doesn’t deserve it!”

“Why should I be a rug for him to walk all over me!”

“He should be listening to me because I know things he doesn’t.”

“What country are we living in? We don’t do this in America!”
“We both work and we both deserve to work with each other and listen to each other.”

O.K., your voices are loud and clear.

But does what “submission” mean for the wife to be “compliant”, “submitting to the authority or control of another” especially your husband? When we think of the word “submission” most people consider this word as negative, abusive, and as a slave to be thrown away. Remember, the devil is good at deceiving and turning God’s love and His compassion into what the world wants us to see for “submission.” Let’s not be fooled by the devil and his tactics of deception.

To get a grasp of Ephesians 5:22-33, we need to take a look at the beginning of Ephesians 5:1 to begin our understanding about “submission,” “respect” and “love.” (Please read through all of Ephesians chapter 5 before progressing and if possible, for both the husband and the wife to read together)

“Therefore be imitators of God , as beloved children. and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” ( Ephesians 5:1-2 ).

Wow! This is a loaded start but gives us a clue towards “submission, respect, and love” in building our marriage. Another way of saying “imitators” is to say:

Follow God’s example
Followers of God
Do as God does

What is God asking us to do? What do the “imitators of God” look like? Ephesians 5:1 begins with the word “Therefore” so we must first look at the words right before this verse and see Ephesians 4:31-32 .

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Within the body of the church and in many of the marriages, there were much bitterness, wrath (strong vengeful anger, strong words to fight back), anger (a strong feeling of displeasure), clamor (noisy shouting), slander (utterance of false charges, misrepresentations which defame, damage another's reputation or credibility, or basically to hurt one another’s feelings), and all malice (desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to one another). These were Christians or believers hurting one another and they were “imitating” like the world and each other. People in nature were “following” their flesh and “do as they do” or “fight as the world fights” like the world.

That’s why Ephesians begins with “be imitators of God” or “Follow God’s example” because we can succeed or overcome the marriage challenges with God's help but we must "die to ourselves or deny ourselves." You don’t want your marriage to be stressed, so God is giving us a very good example by commanding us to “imitate God” so our relationship and friendship can grow towards Christ-likeness.

Remember, God is not asking us to be perfect, for He knows we can never be perfect, but He is asking us to follow His ways and not our ways. And, we have to begin with the right heart between us and God before we make others to be right before God.

This journey begins with our heart first and this is the reason why God’s first great command is for us to love Him with all our hearts. It is when we “Live it Out” with loving Him first, then Ephesians 4:31-32 opens to a whole new world of joy, love, and submission.

Questions to consider (The first step towards "Living Out Ephesians 5:33":

How can you begin on a daily basis to love God with ALL your heart? Remember, God is not asking others to love Him with all their heart, God is asking you directly to love Him with all our hearts.
If you are uncertain as to what “Loving God with all your heart” means, please seek God in prayer and the Holy Spirit will reveal to you an amazing journey of unpacking God’s mystery. Pray daily and the Lord will reveal His truth and set you free to love God and to love your neighbor.
Is there anything to "die to our flesh" or "deny ourselves" and give it to Jesus?

Note: Remember, this is a journey and a long process for many to work towards Living Out Ephesians 5:33, but it begins within our hearts first.

Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10) Part 2.

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 15:50:48 GMT

So, what would it look like through scripture of “ Being still and know that He is God?”

In this scene, we have Saul who becomes the anointed King of all Israel. (He is the first king) But from the midst of Saul’s warriors, there is one that became the mightiest and his name was David.

David was so well known in his victories that they even sang songs, “Saul struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 21:11). However, for Saul, his jealousy took over and God’s Spirit had left him. Many times Saul planned and acted upon killing David but all had failed.

David lived a life of pain and suffering, hiding from his own king who would do anything to kill him, even killing 85 priests and all that lived in the city of Nob, including men, women, children, and all the animals of flock and herds (1 Samuel 22:18-19).

David became the number one enemy of Israel and David fearing for his life hid in secret places, hoping not to be captured. But then an opportunity arose for David to kill Saul. David’s soldiers spoke to convince David to kill Saul, while he was alone.

When I first read this in the Bible many years ago, and as a young person of faith, I thought, “there is an opportunity to take revenge and to fight back. David didn’t do anything wrong. This was not his fight nor his battle. David just did what Saul ordered him to do and he did it well. Why does David need to suffer?”

“David doesn’t know how much longer this fight will last. How much longer does David need to keep running away from a king who will stop at nothing to kill him, because of jealousy?” was what I was thinking. These and many questions kept running in my mind.

Finally an opportunity to take revenge. David lost his family, his wife (whom Saul had given), his identity, his reputation, and his name was all at a loss. “So David does have the right to fight back?” was what my flesh wanted. This is our human nature to fight back, especially when we didn’t do anything wrong. When others accuse you of something wrong or say hurtful things to you, it is in our human nature and in our flesh to fight back.

But God’s nature is different and especially when Christ dwells in you, our old nature must die and our new nature (Holy Spirit dwelling) must now take dominance over our flesh. This is then where God clearly speaks to David, “Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.”

David didn’t kill Saul but just cut off a piece of his robe. Why?

After David cut off a piece of his robe the Lord had spoken in his heart, He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed” (1 Samuel 24:4-6).

After David had spoken directly to Saul and helping him to realize that he didn’t kill Saul when he had the opportunity, they departed their ways. By David’s honor and reverence to a king, even though he didn’t deserve the honor, David stayed faithful to God more than man. He didn’t need to fight or take revenge on God’s behalf. Yes, David did suffer because of Saul’s pursuit to kill him, but ultimately God allowed Saul to die in battle.

There was another occasion even after this for David to kill Saul because Saul and his men were in a deep sleep (1 Samuel 26:12). Even with all these opportunities, David did not fight back because God was protecting David, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:10).

David understood what it meant to “be still and know that I am God” and because David had a strong relationship with our Heavenly Father, God was the mover of mountains in his life.

So if you want God to move the mountains, then establish a firm foundation with Jesus in prayer and Word. Start to activate the faith in which God has called you. Daily grow your relationship with the Lord.

Stop the battle of your daily life and take a moment of silence in prayer with you and God alone. During your prayer give up all your burdens and cry out to the things of your heart but take an important moment towards the end of your prayer and “Be still and know that He is God.”

Will you today just take a few minutes of your time and just be silent. Turn off all your devices and simply tell God, “Lord, here I am. Please speak into my mind and convict my heart. My flesh and my human nature is getting in the way of your voice. Fight the battles of my enemies and help my mind and heart fully surrender to you.”

Here are some things to consider for your Bible Study:

- Did you ever take revenge?

- How did you overcome the enemies in your mind and heart?

- In Matthew 5:44 says to "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," (How can we do this?)

- How do we do what David did and "be still and know that He is God."

Be Still and Know that I am God (Part 1)

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 14:01:00 GMT

During the morning prayer, I kept receiving “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). “Lord, do you want me to be still and to hear your voice” was my response. The more I prayed, I realized that I needed to read the full context to understand what God was speaking into my heart. Remember, prayer is our relationship and communion with a living God, and the Bible is what helps us understand and gives us insights into that relationship.

To understand a Bible verse, it’s always best to read the full chapter. To understand the chapter, it’s best to read the whole book. To understand the book (i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), it’s best to read the Bible in its entirety from beginning to end.

So, what did God mean when He said, “Be still and know that He is God?” Does God want us to be silent? Does it mean for us to do nothing? What does God mean by this?

I decided to read the full chapter to get a better context and understand the Lord’s voice through His words. Much to my surprise, it was different than what I had expected.

Psalm 46:1 begins with “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in our trouble.”

My original impression of “Be still” was to rest in the presence of God and just pray, but there was more to this than expected. Unlike the other verses in Psalms, this one was in the context of the time of trouble and battle.

Psalm 46:1 begins right off with, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” We can see directly that the writer of Psalms is in much trouble and in need of God to be the “refuge” and “strength.” He is seeking the Lord’s help. Because God himself is the “refuge” and “strength” the writer is relieved and will not fear.

Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling. (Psalm 46:2-3)

Help and His assurance are in the Lord. In verses 5-7 tells us that in the midst of a storm in our lives, the fights, and the battles are in the Lord’s hands:

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

God understands the fights you are going through and it is God who will overcome the battles and the fights that are raging in our minds and hearts. That’s why God says in verse 9 “He makes war cease to the end of the earth; he brakes the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.” Then it says “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations” (Psalm 46:10).

I finally understood. God was not asking us to be silent but He was telling us that when we stop fighting or cease or let down” then God will fight on our behalf. It’s like if the Lord is telling two people to stop fighting and drop their weapons so God can move the mountains. For a long time, we have been trying to win the battles on our own.

Wow!

I got it! Stop! Stop the fight that is going on in our mind, in our body, in our hearts, and in our soul! To still simply mean for us to “ stop the battle or the fight we know that we cannot win .”

Stop the fight and “be still” and know that He is the living “God who is in the midst” and He will be the one who fights the battle. So, this is why God makes it clear that once we become still or cease to fight, then “know that I am God.”

We simply need to stop fighting and “acknowledge or be aware” (“know”) that He is God who is sovereign and in control. So, the full meaning of “be still and know that I am God” would mean for us to stop the fight and look to the Lord (acknowledge) for His help. Once we are aware of God’s working, then we need to:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6)

That’s why God makes it clear for us to always, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). So I realized that we need to stop the fight that’s been going on between our mind and heart. We need to “be still” or “cease” our battles between ourselves and with others.

The more we fight the less battle God will do on our behalf and the less we fight the more battles God will give as a victory.

Psalm 46:10 continues

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! ”

Every time Israel was in trouble, they always looked to other powerful nations for help or they aligned themselves to become stronger to defeat its enemies. But, God’s people were always different than others. At the beginning coming out of Egypt, they have always looked to God and sought after His help and guidance and the Lord responded with many victories. All they had to do was to “be still” and wait upon the Lord’s direction and victory was always present.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).

So when we are “still” and “trust” in the Lord, even when the earth gives way, and the mountains fall (verse 2), or that the nations go into an uproar and the kingdoms fall (verse 6), God will be exalted on earth. From his beginning of creation to the end of time, God will fulfill His plan and we just need to “be still and know that He is God” who is living and active.

So, when your life gets busy and overwhelming and the stress of life starts to affect you in many different ways, remember Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Run to Him, lay down your weapons, and fall into His arms. Acknowledge that He is God and that He is exalted in the earth. Be still and know that He is God.

So Heavenly Father I pray that we will cease our battles and acknowledge you and trust in you. Let us surrender our personal desires and my thoughts to you. Help me Lord so you can move the mountains and for me to “be still” and know that you are God. Direct my heart towards your way and allow my soul to hear your voice. Thank you, God, and even if I do not hear anything from you, I will still trust in you and believe that you do have all things in control. So God helps me to fight my battles in you. Help me to run to you and fall into your arms. May we acknowledge you daily and give thanks, no matter what the outcome or result may be. May we give you the honor, glory, and praise. In Jesus Name. Amen and Amen.

Easter Resurrection Service: "Do Not Live on Saturday"

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 14:16:37 GMT

On March 28, 2021, was Palm Sunday in which we celebrated Jesus entering Jerusalem in triumph. There were hope and expectations among the people and for Jesus to fulfill what they had hoped.

This was also the Passover Celebration in which the people celebrated the freedom from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. This week was also called “Passion Week” because Jesus “passionately” pursued the Cross knowing that tremendous pain and suffering was in wait. Many also called this week a “Holy Week.” The word “Holy” means to be set apart and God is asking His people to be set apart from this world. So, each week was “Holy Monday,” “Holy Tuesday” and so forth. But, for Friday, it had a different name.

Friday had a unique name being called “Good Friday.” Why was it called “Good Friday” when Jesus died with pain and suffering. It was good because Jesus intentionally suffered for our sins to give us freedom from sin. The Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers planned the murder but God had a better plan and the outcome and result is what we receive today.

Romans 5:7-9

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

But then on Saturday or Holy Saturday , something happened!

(Before Palm Sunday) Jesus said to His disciples that he will return in 3 days. This was already spoken to them on multiple occasions but it was not yet fully understood by the disciples.
The teachers of the law remembered what was spoken, so on Saturday, they asked Pontious Pilot the Roman governor of Judea, if they could put a guard in Jesus’ tomb because they wanted to do everything to prevent Jesus from coming out or His disciples removing His body.

What were the disciples doing on Saturday?

The disciples spent the first Holy Saturday hiding because they didn’t want to get arrested. O n Thursday after Jesus got arrested, Bible says the “ disciples deserted Him and fled ” (Mark 14:50).
There is a lot going on emotionally . On Thursday evening you have one of your teammates betray Jesus , Judas (their friend). Your mentor, your teacher, your leader, gets arrested and all the disciples flee the scene . Even Peter denied Jesus 3 times.
Then on Friday, you have the Disciples tried to understand the murder of Jesus , the betrayal of Judas , and their hopes of a better Israel is fading away. Basically there hope for Israel and the Jewish state becoming a powerful nation came crashing down. All the expectations on Jesus just went out the window and all of this was on Saturday .

But was this wrong for the disciples to think this way and to have the emotions go strained? Was it wrong for them to be angry at God and wondering what went wrong?

This happens to all people of all ages. No matter what race or culture. This is the nature of man, and in our human nature, we run and flee from conflicts in life. We naturally want to run away and avoid conflicts in life. This is the human and fallen nature of man.
Interesting how Jesus intentionally runs towards conflict .

Remember on Good Friday, Jesus got murdered. The disciples were an alibi with Jesus or they were associated with Jesus . They were followers of Jesus . Now they have to run away for fear of being associated with Jesus.
So, now you have the Jewish police looking for them.
Now other emotional issues arise, and it's fear . So, you have the disciples living in fear and in hiding on Holy Saturday.

John 20:19

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews , . . .

Listen, I understand the disciples. It is human nature to live in fear when conflicts arise.

When the disciples were with Jesus for three years and they witnessed all the supernatural works and seen out of their own eyes the miracles of Christ. Remember, they themselves did healing and cast out the demons, but when conflicts arose, they locked the door, they went into hiding, and they lived in fear.
Even with all the great supernatural works they seen and done, the fear of man was greater than fear of God. For three years, they were with Jesus but yet now with fear, they dropped and put aside all the power of God’s supernatural work.

Listen, most people don’t know how to deal with conflicts , they don’t know how to face issues in their lives and they don’t know how to deal with fear or uncertainties , so it was natural to “lock” their doors and hide inside and live in fear.
I see this with many people in relationships, they don’t know how to deal with conflicts.

So, what would happen if Jesus never rose from the dead?

You would have the same disciples, the same people, still running away from conflicts, or avoid conflicts.
You have the same disciples locking their doors.
You will have the same people living in fear.
There would be no hope. Hopelessness would live forever. Every day you will be hopeless.

This is what Saturday will be like every day if Jesus never rose from the dead.

Monday would be Saturday, Tuesday will be Saturday, Wednesday will be Saturday. Every day will feel like Saturday.

But thank you Jesus for Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead

Thank you Jesus for Resurrection Sunday.
Thank you Jesus for Holy Sunday.

I thank God that He rose from the dead.

I thank God that He conquered death .
Because now the same God who overcame death and is dwelling in the believers fight the conflicts in our lives and fight the fear that lives in us and we don’t need to lock the door’s of our heart because we have hope in Jesus being alive to help us and guide us.

1 Corinthians 15:14-17

14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain . 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God , because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins .

I thank God, Jesus rose from the dead because now He turns:

Your conflicts into answers , solutions, and resolutions
With Jesus' resurrection, he turns fear into bold faith and confidence.
With Jesus being alive, He gives you hope when things around you become hopeless.
If Jesus stayed dead your faith would be in vain , but the Risen Lord gave your faith a purpose in life. Your faith has purpose and meaning now.

But let me tell you the big reason for Jesus’ resurrection:

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins .

Christ died for our sins. Jesus has risen from the grave so that our sins can be forgiven for those who seek His salvation.

“Christ has conquered over death”
“We have victory over death”

But what does this mean? Christ has conquered over death?

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death , but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Listen our human nature is to sin. We naturally rebel against God. Without Jesus being alive for us, we will continue to rebel against God, because this is our human nature. There were many times, we turned away from God and did things we wanted to do, out of our flesh. And our conscious kicked in telling our heart, mind, and soul, that this wasn't right. All of us have a conscious and our consciousness knows God and reveals things to us. So, either we can receive it and repent back to God or turn away and move with our flesh.

Jesus has no sin; then the devil has no power over Jesus .
The only way the devil can have power over you is if we have sinned.

How do we break this sin?

How do we conquer over sin?

How do we have victory over death and sin?

Jesus has no sin, so, He voluntarily offered his body as sin to be a sacrifice. You have to remember that during the Passover celebration, the Jews were offering their animals in replace of their sin so that God will forgive us for our sin. This was the animal atonement in biblical times. A sacrifice of an animal in return for the salvation of our sins. But, this all changed when Jesus went from death to life.

This means that you don’t need to sacrifice an animal for your sins
Jesus has already done this on our behalf.

So, this means that when we accepted Jesus we gave up our fight to try and win and beat sin . We don’t need to try and conquer over sin. I just repent before Him and surrender my heart to Him and walk in obedience to God's truth that will set us free from sin.

We don’t need to try and have victory over our sins , because Jesus did that for us. “Help me Lord to forgive others because I can’t do this by myself. I need your power to forgive this person.” This is how the risen Lord can help us fight this sin, His power to help us forgive so that we can obtain peace in our hearts instead of vengeance in our soul.
This is the good news. This is the gospel and that’s what 1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins .

Romans 6:15-17

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

Let’s rejoice! Jesus has risen to give us hope!

1 Peter 3:18

For Christ also suffered once for sins , the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God , being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Follower’s of Christ, let’s celebrate for Christ has risen , and we are fellow conquerors with Him, we “have passed from death to life”

Romans 8:37

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

We can now deal with conflicts in our lives through Jesus
We can tackle fear through Jesus.
We don’t need to lock the doors of our hearts, because Jesus is alive in our hearts to help us open.
Through Jesus, we can have hope and live another day.

That same great power that raised Christ from the dead now works in us who believe.

Because Jesus has risen

Jesus is the Lord of New Beginnings, a new day, and a new life

Listen, my friends, let’s not live on Saturday but believe and walk on Sunday’s Resurrection of our savior. Amen and Amen.

Why is it called "Good Friday"?

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 15:13:11 GMT

The events of Jesus’ intentional path on “Good Friday.”

Matthew 26:1-2

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Jesus knew He was to face a painful death and his intentional and sovereign plan will be fulfilled.

Judas one of the disciples betrays Jesus and is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. “So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him” (John 18:12).

The Trials of Jesus

Trial’s of Jesus: The “First Trial” of Jesus begins with Annas, the father-in-law of Caiphas the high priest. The preliminary examination of Jesus begins, “The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching” (John 18:19).

Peter, a disciple of Jesus, denies Him the first time (John 18:17).
“Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest” (John 18:24).
Peter denies Jesus the second and third time and “at once a rooster crowed” (John 18:27).

Trial’s of Jesus: Before the Sanhedrin (assembly, council). A formal session before the entire Sanhedrin examined Jesus and to make way for his death. At this assembly, the decision was made to turn Jesus over to Roman authorities. Jesus is condemned and misused.

Trial’s of Jesus : Jesus is tried before Pontius Pilate, the fifth governor of the Roman province, Judea. “Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters” (John 18:28).

Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world, If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:35-36).

Trial’s of Jesus : Jesus is sent to Herod Antipater, ruler of Galilee and is also known as King Herod, “Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle” (Luke 23:8).

“And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate” (Luke 23:11).

Trial’s of Jesus: Jesus is sent back to Pontius. Pilate could not find any fault in Jesus. This was the Passover festival and the custom was to release a prisoner to the people.

Jesus is inflicted with severe torture and pain.
Pilate allows the crowd to choose between Jesus and a convicted criminal named Barabbas. The crowd chooses Barabbas.
And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” (Mark 15:12-13).
Crown of thorns is placed upon Jesus’ head "and they put on him a purple robe," (John 19:2).
Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, “saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.” Later, “Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:3;5)
“So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified” (Mark 15:15).

The Scourge of Jesus

Before the crucifixion, traditionally a prisoner was tied to a pillar and flogged with heavy sticks and a special whip. This type of whip had iron balls tied a few inches towards the end and other whips had sharp sheep bones that are tied near the end. This was to bring the most severe bruising or cut into the skin and cause the most damage. With just a few lashes in the beginning the cuts would reach deep into the muscle tissue and more was to come.

Jesus' crucifixion began in the morning at Golgotha, a skull-shaped hill outside the city walls. “It was nine in the morning when they crucified him” (Mark 15:25).

Luke 23:44-46 The Death of Jesus

44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Why is it called “Good Friday?”

What the Jewish authorities and Roman soldiers did to Jesus was not good, but the outcome of Christ’s death was very good for mankind.

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (Romans 5:7-9)

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (1 Peter 3:18).

Jesus’ death became the final and complete sacrifice for our sins. By ourselves we couldn’t have erased our sins nor by our strength reconcile to God. Without the death of Jesus on the cross, our hands would have been stained with every single sin for a lifetime. Jesus on the cross broke the bonds of death and sin. Praise the Lord for His mighty deed is forever remembered!

For the non-believer, this is an opportunity for you to know why Jesus died on our behalf and this knowledge can be yours as a gift from God, to be set free in your heart. Repent before Jesus and the Holy Spirit will make you whole and set you free from the sins of this world and into His loving arms. You can begin by reading the book of Romans chapter 10.

May you be blessed in Jesus' Mighty Name. Amen and Amen.

What is “Maundy” Thursday?

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 21:03:54 GMT

Events of Jesus on Holy Thursday:

Peter and John were sent to make preparation for the Passover meal
Jesus has the Last Supper with the disciples
Jesus washes the disciple's feet
Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” ( Matthew 26:39 ).
Betrayal by Judas and arrested by the Sanhedrin.
Peter denies his close friend Jesus three times

“Maundy Thursday” or “Holy Thursday” is the fifth day from Palm Sunday and one day before “Good Friday.”

As we draw near Jesus’ death two key note-worthy happenings took place on “Maundy Thursday”: Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, also known as the “Last Supper” ( Luke 22:19-20 ) and Jesus washed the disciples’ feet ( John 13:3-17 ).

The word “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word “ mandatum " meaning “command” or the “washing of feet” and refers to the “command” Jesus gave to His disciples to love ( John 13:34 ) and serve one another. In the traditional past, “Maundy” is typically associated with a ceremony of washing the feet of the poor and/or giving of alms (money) for the needy. In John 13:14-17 , Jesus sets an example of His loving humility in washing the disciple’s feet.

This is also where some churches throughout the world have “communion” services on a Thursday to remember Jesus’ Last Supper. In 1 Corinthians 10:21 , the “Lord’s Supper” is also called “the Lord’s table.” In the early church it was also called the “eucharist,” or the giving of thanks, “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,” ( Matthew 26:27 ). Moreover, in many of the Catholic churches, “mass” is held in remembrance of the Last Supper.

Going back to 1 Corinthians 10:21 , it is interesting that Jesus doesn’t want us to participate with demons and drink from the Lord’s table, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”

Many times, I have taken the communion and then later drink from “the cup of the demons.” I have angered the Lord and “provoke the Lord to jealousy” ( 1 Cor. 10:22 ). Many times, my pride got in the way and my desire to finish the outcome my way interfered and took over my soul. Whether it be in relationships, ministry, or work, my pride interfered with my heart of worship and taken the communion in vain. I became greater than God in many ways. The verse continues, “Are we stronger than he?”

John 3:30 reminds us, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Today for “Holy Thursday” and moving forward in our journey and walk with God, I want to encourage you to take communion at the “Lord’s table” with a full heart and allow the Holy Spirit to increase so that our flesh can decrease. Let’s not take communion in vain or as a religious ritual but taking a solid step towards building a stronger relationship with the one who will be the lamp unto our feet. When we allow God to be greater, the Holy Spirit will guide us one step at a time to be healed of any strongholds. "Holy Thursday" can be a good starting point towards a new life.

If you desire for a new life and be a new person through Jesus you can read and pray through Romans 10:8-10 :

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

The Bible reminds us, “and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:24). For us today as we take communion, this is not just a “remembrance” but a tangible and visible reminder of Jesus’ love on the cross.

On this Holy Thursday, this is an opportunity to bring ourselves before the Lord and partake in the life He has given us through His death and resurrection.

May you be encouraged on this Holy Thursday

What is "Spy Wednesday"?

hello@nbcchurch.org (PASTOR JOSEPH CHOI) — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 19:23:21 GMT

This is the fourth day of the Holy Week or Passion Week after Palm Sunday.

Today, Wednesday marks a day in which the chief priest and the elders of the people gathered together and plotted to arrest Jesus by stealth and to kill him. (Matthew 26:3-4)

Furthermore, this is called “Spy Wednesday” or “Holy Wednesday” since it is traditionally considered as the day in which Judas Iscariot conspired or “spied” against Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Judas was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus and upon receiving the thirty pieces of silver, “he sought an opportunity to betray him” (Matthew 26:16).

Today, Wednesday was also the day in which Jesus was anointed with “spikenard” or “pure nard” during a meal by Mary (Matthew 26:6-13, John 12:1-8).

What is “spikenard”?
Why was this “spikenard” placed upon Jesus’ head?

The word “spikenard” is not found in many translations but in the King James Version. Most other bible translations call it “pure nard.”

Why call it “spikenard”?

Spikenard is a strong distinctive aroma or fragrance and is similar to an essential oil that holds fast and embraces the skin and hair. The “spikenard” is the root of an Indian plant (Nardostachys jatamansi), of the family of Valeriance which grows in the Himalaya mountains. The reason why it is called “spikenard” is because of its hairy spikes shooting out from the root.

When Jesus was at the “house of Simon the leper” and brought with her “an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head” (Matthew 26:6-7), in John 12:3 tells us, “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

The ointment prepared was not only highly valued, but it was difficult to obtain (Himalaya mountains), thus the reason being “very expensive.” In the ancient near east, the “spikenard” symbolizes the very best, and to give the best meant that she gave away what was most precious to her, more than life itself. Many criminals would steal and kill to take it, yet she freely gave away what was most valuable to Mary, and that was Jesus.

We know biblically the “spikenard” was in preparation for Jesus’ burial (Matthew 26:12), but to this woman, she gave from her heart a pleasing aroma offering to the Lord, and a complete surrender of giving. This was true love, and unlike the relationships of this world, her offering of the best is the fragrance and presence of its aroma that will last through the centuries. In her memory, the Bible says, “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13).

I am wondering when Jesus felt the lash of the whip on his body and the blood pouring out if the fragrance of the “spikenard” was greater than the smell of blood.

I am wondering when Jesus was carrying the heavy wooden cross in the heat of the day, the fragrance covered over his sweat and the stench of the mob that wanted his death.

I am wondering if the smell of the “spikenard” encouraged Jesus who had no sleep, walking in pain, blood gushing out, and the mob spewing hate.

I am wondering when the nails pierced his hands and feet, the aroma which clung to His skin will be the fragrance in which Jesus will inhale.

I am wondering if Mary knew that her valuable gift would help Jesus remember why He did what He had to do for the sake of our souls.

I am wondering if Mary knew that she was the first to anoint the Son of God with a fragrance and a pleasing aroma to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins of the world.

A challenge to all of us to consider and pray on this "Holy Wednesday":

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you gave your best offering to Jesus?

What is the most valuable to you and would you be open to give this precious gift to Christ and allow it to be a pleasing aroma to Him?

Prayer: Holy Spirit, I pray that you will show us, give us clarity, and confirmation on what we can give to you as a pleasing aroma. Convict our hearts Lord and give us a clear understanding so that our decisions will be a fragrance that will fill your house. Lord, please strengthen us to give it away in peace so that we have no attachment to this world. Lord, I pray that we will be the spikenard that will be the love being poured out to you. In Jesus mighty name. Amen and Amen.

A Beautiful Love Story: "God is a Promise Keeper"

Sun, 14 Feb 2021 15:58:38 GMT

As a police officer, his responsibility was to save and protect his community and state. He loved his wife and they gave birth to three beautiful girls. Then one day, in a chase to capture a communist North Korean agent, he was shot and died soon after. The third child was just born and life for Esther Min has now become a hurricane.

In the 1970s, North Korea remained one of the most isolated and inaccessible countries in the world and still to this day. Travel was restricted in and out of the country. Press was controlled by the state and Kim Il-Sung was the supreme leader and a “god” like figure to the masses. Their allegiance and allies were to China and the Soviet Union while maintaining a hostile attitude toward the United States. Because war can break out at any moment between the two different ideologies of the North and South, people’s lives on both sides of the aisle were uncertain with anxiety to the millions.

After World War II, Korean War, and then the Vietnam War, many South Koreans wanted to live a free and successful life but political unrest kept the government and its people in an unstable economy. Due to election frauds and riots, Park Chung-Hee and his men staged a military coup and took over the government until his assassination in 1979. A month after the assassination, Chun Doo-Hwan staged his own coup and ruled the country till 1987. Welcome to South Korea in the 1970s with the political crisis before the 1988 summer Olympics. When the political system is uncertain, the economy and the burdens of life become uncertain. From the late 1960s to the early ’70s the base pay to the average South Korean was around $1.60 per day.

Life was a struggle for average Koreans, though by the 1970s economy was growing with disposable income and middle class spreading throughout South Korea in the late ’70s and ’80s, many people still lived in a harsh economic environment. The Korean war had ended but people still remembered much of the trauma from the Japanese occupation and the separation of families in the Korean War. Many like my father never saw their own family when North and South divided, but people moved on to look for better opportunities in life and education. It was in this environment that a young woman named Esther Min (US citizenship name) was married and bore three girls.

[Jackie, second oldest out of three. Jackie’s perspective]

Esther Min, arrived in America in 1976 in preparation for immigrating the family to America, and to look for work. Her children stayed behind in Korea until my mom worked odd jobs to support the immigration process for her three daughters. While she was in Korea there were many challenges because in the Korean tradition a home without a father meant that she was a second-class citizen. Moreover, as a single mother in Korea, life was even harsher than those with fathers. However, God by His sovereign plan allowed her easy entry to America. Needless to say, the struggles and challenges were just as hard and just as real in America as it was back in Korea. She didn’t speak English and she came without any support nor did she expect to find support in the new land. No English, no help, no work; this dark valley became the fertile ground for God to intervene. She was desperate to know that God would hear her cries and hope exists in a foreign land. By God’s grace, she got connected to a community of Christian Korean immigrants and through the support of this community, she found hope and began the journey of building a new life for herself and her young children. At the age of 10, 9, and 8, the three girls arrive in the United States in 1979.

Life wasn’t easy without a husband but somehow she managed like every other family who had immigrated to the area. For her, God played a major role in her life. My mom was very focused on raising her children in faith and following the word of God. “Seek Ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). What I remembered of my mom was that she lived those words out to the tee. She wanted to give everything to her daughters like any other parents, but it was obvious that it was not possible under the circumstances. Because she lacked the husband's support, being so vulnerable, she had no choice but to rely on a Jesus.

I can’t say she knew God but what I remembered about her is that nothing mattered to her more than introducing to her daughters about Jesus and to live out his kingdom on earth as it was in heaven. Forget academics, forget educating them in extracurricular activities, forget ivy league colleges, forget about living it up and climbing the social, and corporate ladders. For her, it was all about living in faith and walking out of the kingdom of God as it was taught in the Bible. It was either do or die kind of faith; the kind that many people called overly zealous. I remembered she prayed a lot. She would work 6 days a week and pretty much worked 12 to 14 hours a day. That is about 80 hours a week. Even when she was very tired from work, when her kids complained of nightmares, she would pray through the night to comfort us to sleep. When one would complain of sickness, she would stay up and pray through the night comforting her children and then go to work early in the morning. Whenever something came up which was of concern, she would just pray and pray and pray some more until she received the answers to her prayers. Those prayers gave her sanity. Her prayers gave her strength to live on and her prayers gave hope to live another day.

[Joseph, husband to Jackie]

When I met my mother-in-law, I remember her as a woman that loves God and loves her children. She loved her daughters so much to the point that if she didn’t see the man-loving God more than her daughters, then he is not a good man to her eyes. I knew she didn’t have a husband but I wanted to show my respect to Mrs. Min by asking for her permission to court Jackie for future marriage. She turned me down! She said, “I like you, Mr. Choi, you have your own business and is willing to take care of my daughter, but you have to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. If you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit then you can court my daughter towards marriage.” “What in the world is she talking about! I got to have the Holy Spirit before I marry her? Are you kidding me!” was in my mind. I thought, “Where am I going to go get the Holy Spirit? Should I just go to a nearby grocery store and grab a bottle of olive oil?” A lot of crazy thoughts were in my mind and I didn’t know how to tell her that I can go get an olive oil to get baptized if she wanted.

I wasn’t a mature Christian back then. I accepted Christ when I was seventeen and was on a rocky road with Jesus finding my role with Him. I prayed a little, but I read the Bible every day and went to church on Sundays. I thought this should be enough for her daughter, was what I thought, but to my mother-in-law, having God consuming us with the baptism of the Holy Spirit meant everything. The spiritual problem was that I didn’t know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit was. So, I told her, “I got baptized when I was young, like three times and in three different denominations.” I got excited thinking that I”m giving her the right answer and in my thought, “Now she will say yes to my answer.” Her response, “No! That is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Until you figure it out and until you receive it, you will not marry my daughter.”

I wanted to cry. I wanted to get upset and I was confused at the same time about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. All the different emotions were going through my mind. But what I eventually realized was that my mother-in-law loved her daughter so much and wanted the man to be in the right relationship with a God, so he would in return love her daughter like Christ loves the church. Wow! What an amazing woman! Even after marriage, she would ask if I’m praying every morning and at night. She even tells me to make sure that I pray about two to three hours a day. In essence, she is wanting the man to love her daughter through prayer because only God can give true love.

Eventually, I did receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I told no one except my own mother about me courting Jackie, and she promised not to tell anyone. My mother would go into prayer for hours every day to confirm if she would be the right daughter-in-law for me. Two great moms praying and seeking the Lord and interceding on behalf of me and Jackie. What a privilege, we have in Jesus! Right after meeting my mother-in-law in Maryland, I went to work the next day in Colorado. My pastor at that time asked if I would be interested in doing a one on one Bible study. I was doing my own business at that time and I was very busy, but this is what he said that stunned me, “I would like to do a one on one Bible study so you can receive the Holy Spirit.” “What!” I shouted. I wasn’t sure what he said so I asked him again and he repeated, “I would like to help you learn more about the Bible and we’ll do a one on one Bible study, so you can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” In my mind, I’m thinking, “This is crazy. God is so real.” This was the seed that was planted in my heart for God’s ministry.

So, I asked the pastor if my mother had spoken to him and he said, “Why would your mother be telling me to do this. This is something that has been in my mind for some time, but I felt this was the right timing to meet up with you personally and start the Bible study.” Wow! What an amazing timing of God. God’s timing is so perfect and His time works in ways that lead us to be more obedient to Him every day. So I jumped at it and started the Bible study every Wednesday morning at 6 am for an hour. I fell asleep a lot, but I kept my agreement. I’m thankful that my pastor was so understanding. When I first heard about this from my pastor, I called up my mother-in-law and told her, “Guess what mother-in-law, I’m going to get the Holy Spirit!” She was stunned but not shocked by how God has been moving in her life.

My mother-in-law was right and she had the right heart and relationship with Jesus as her heavenly Father, because her earthly husband has passed away, she needed the heavenly Father to be the protector and comforter in her life. She is constantly being reminded through the love of God’s words and the guidance by the Holy Spirit’s comfort over her life and that God will never leave her nor forsake her.

Deuteronomy 31:6-8

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you .”

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “ Be strong and courageous , for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you . He will be with you ; he will not leave you or forsake you . Do not fear or be dismayed .”

What an amazing encouragement we have from His Words and His Words are life-giving and life-changing. Throughout the Bible, it tells us “to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). God has truly kept His promise for her as a widow and never did leave her nor forsaken her. God kept His promise by sending many believers and strangers to bless her journey and arrive in times of desperate need. Our heavenly Father will always keep His promise and bless those who walk in His faith. Even when life seems uncertain, God is always certain.

My mother-in-law has three grown daughters and God went beyond His promise to bless her daughters with husbands who love God. Furthermore, all three men have become pastors. What a beautiful love story of God never leaving those whose faith in the Lord endures and receives the blessings from our heavenly Father . From the harsh environment and painful struggles in Korea to a life filled with uncertain challenges in America, God kept watching over her to fulfill a plan greater than her own desires. I write this article to you because I love my wife and greatly appreciate my mother-in-law's prayer for her daughter. It is my mother-in-law's faithfulness in Christ and prayer that has laid a good foundation for our ministry. If it wasn’t for Jackie, my ministry would not grow. I give credit to Jackie and my mother-in-law. I truly appreciate her unwavering love to God, her faithful walk in prayer, and her obedience to His Words. She is greatly appreciated by me and our children.

Single Korean moms in those days either committed suicide or gave up their children for adoption, but she didn’t and relied heavily upon the Lord’s provisions for all her needs. She is truly a remarkable woman and so is many of you. You devoted your life to Christ in prayer and in His Word. You placed your dependence upon the Lord greater than your own personal and satisfactory needs. You are a great woman of God and I truly thank you. Your faith in Christ never gave up on your children, even when your children have run away from you and God. You stood steadfast in your prayer and broke through the storms guided by the Holy Spirit. Most importantly, God loves you, and your prayers are a pleasing aroma to Him. This is truly a beautiful love story between God and You. Our heavenly Father truly has you in His mind and will never leave you nor forsake you. May our Lord continue to cover you and bless your footsteps and may the baptism of the Holy Spirit empower you in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen and Amen.

Happy Valentines Day

Something to Consider: Was Jesus a Socialist?

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 16:29:03 GMT

Was Jesus’ teachings about caring for one another, feeding the five thousand, and others demonstrate that Jesus taught socialist principles? Is this a “Social Gospel” for today?

I was with a group of spiritual leaders doing Bible study and one of them stated that the “Bible endorses socialism and Jesus was a socialist” and he further quoted many passages from the Bible to prove His point.

At first, I was struck by what he said and wanted to respond immediately, but decided not to respond and just pray upon the Lord’s timing to reply. I was contemplating “when” I should respond, and then I saw a pastor post up his thought on social media that those who are racist should be thrown out of the church. Though I agree with the pastor that racism is a sin, if you're going to throw out a racist, then he should be willing to throw out other church members who had sex before marriage, adultery, getting a divorce without biblical principles, lying, stealing, and so forth. So, if “social justice gospel” means kicking someone out because of sin, then it should be equal to all who have sinned. Isn’t this socialism, making it equal for all things and for the common good? Another pastor, started a “Christian social justice” book reading for his young adult groups through an author teaching on how Christians can respond to social injustice. Because there is so much misinformation about Jesus and the Bible, I decided that this should be the time for me to respond.

If we say, we are followers of Jesus Christ and the Bible, then let’s begin from there. We need to clarify God’s words and confirm if the Bible and Jesus are for socialism or principles of it. As we journey through to understand the relationship between the Bible and socialism, it's important to set aside our feelings and emotions. We need the wisdom of God to be greater than what we know about our personal feelings, emotions and self ideologies. We shouldn’t adapt to the culture, but let the culture of Christ be the shining light in the darkness. For God’s truth has never changed nor will ever change in the future.

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!” (Revelations 4:8)

Let’s first begin with an understanding of what socialism is:

We can confidently say that a larger movement of socialism exploded with the 1789 French Revolution. Furthermore, the widespread of socialism was written with “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848 and spread throughout Russia and Europe. And during the latter part of the 19th century, social democratic parties started in Europe with main ideas from Marxism. We now see these same ideologies and movements happening in our current times in the United States and throughout the world.

So, if Jesus was a socialist, then Jesus’ ideas and His movement started over 2,000 years ago. The principles of Jesus’ teaching must have activated the ideas into the minds of the 1789 French revolutionists and gave grounds for “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848. If all these were true, then what happened to the socialist ideas and the movement after Jesus before the French Revolution? Shouldn’t socialism be the dominant principle as martyr or willingness to die for a cause before 1789? Understanding the foundation of socialism will give us an insight into the past, present, and future.

What exactly is socialism?

Socialism is summarized as various economic and political actions for collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods. Socialism does not hold to the ideas and concepts of private property and believes in the means of production and ownership to be controlled by the state.

Basically, whoever is in charge of distribution, production, and exchange is owned or regulated by the state and not by individuals.

What happens to the socialists who are given the power and authority deciding the distribution but don’t believe in God?

Will compassion and mercy be as same in giving to the poor and vulnerable without God?

Will the state give with fairness and equal distribution among the people that have a differing ideologies?

Summary of Socialism in History

We see what happens throughout history when socialism takes root in Russia, Eastern Europe (before the fall of the Soviet Union), Africa, China, Venezuela, Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea, and others. Estimated killings over 65 million and still counting to expand the ideas of socialism continues to grow and divide nations, states, and communities. The human cost of new social order and political program efforts to overthrow capitalism, eliminate markets, and private property has cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars of businesses destroyed and stolen. it is a common practice in China for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to tear down homes at will to make new apartment buildings and sell them for profit to give to the government. In regards to religion, socialism’s goal is to eliminate all religions and faith of all kinds and place the ideology of the ruling state to be in total control. We see perfect examples of this in Venezuela, China, and North Korea where religion of any type is suppressed and condemned and the ruling party becomes dominant rulers and kings.

When a person or state does NOT believe in God, then someone or government will eventually become a god and determine the course and lives of the people. We see this clearly in North Korea and what is now happening with the common people. Kim Jong-un of North Korea is called the “Supreme Leader” since 2011 and is the leader of the Workers’ Party. He is revered as a “god” and their practices or religion is built around idolizing the Kim dynasty. Looking at socialist movements across history, this is not uncommon but common for the one who has the power and authority to determine who receives the distribution of wealth. And, “god” like power and authority arises and takes control. Socialism becomes the means, tools, methods, and ideology to be used as instruments for control.

Wasn’t Jesus’ teaching similar to socialism?

Let’s begin with Luke 12:13-14, “Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

We can say it in few other ways, “Who gave me the right to settle arguments between you and your brother?” or "Friend, who gave me the right to judge or to divide the property between you two?” We see clearly that Jesus’ priority is not on dividing or distributing anyone’s possessions, even when he has given the power and authority to do so, Jesus does not give or divide for the sake of “equality” and to benefit all. Jesus’ has and will always be his goal of saving the lost soul, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they are? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21). In God’s goal, reaching the lost souls and building His kingdom takes first priority before equality and distribution of wealth.

Even Jesus made it clear in regards to the famous story of the Roman coin. The Pharisees wanted to trap Jesus saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Matthew 22:15-16). Caesar was the ruler, and paying taxes to Rome was the “social justice” because they get to decide and distribute who gets the money and what it will be used for. Historically, Romans like some of our current social countries determine the tax rate, whether you agree with it or not and you have no say in it (forced social justice). In any society, whoever has the authority or power, gets to decide the distribution of wealth. This is the kingdom of man, but God’s not about this kingdom world for he said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). This is the reason why Jesus responded back, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s , and to God the things that are God’s ” (Matthew 22:20-21). Again, God’s priority is about expanding His kingdom and the spiritual things of man to be given to God. Though the Jews hated the Romans and paying high taxes, in Jesus’ view the money was to be given to Caesar and Rome. Jesus himself separated Christ’s kingdom and state kingdom.

Why did Jesus clear the Temple of Money Changers? Was Jesus against capitalism?

I hear this passage quite a bit from Christians who bring up the Bible passage in Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-46, and John 2:13-17. Jesus and his disciples were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. You have to remember that this city during the Passover had people from all over the Roman empire speaking in many different languages. Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world entered God’s Holy temple with money changers, along with merchants selling animals for sacrifice. Many of these coins had images of Roman emperors and some with Greek gods, which the Temple priests considered as idolatrous, but they still exchanged money in the Holy Temple courts. Jesus was filled with anger because of such unholy practices in the temple courts and he took some cords and used them as whips to drive out the animals and turning over tables of the money changers. We can all assume that many of the money changers, those selling animals, and other religious items all had some type of small business for-profit and most likely earned a good portion of livelihood for their families and community. So, was Jesus against capitalism?

Did Jesus turn the tables at the grocery market or any market?

Did Jesus get angry at the tax collectors office or the banks and turn their tables upside down?

No!

It was the location . Jesus didn’t like the fact that the world’s business was inside God’s house, especially His Holy Temple. This is what you would expect to see in the world and in the markets but not in the Lord’s house of worship. Jesus responded, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers” (Matthew 21:13). Jesus is not about destroying small businesses, but it’s about God’s house and His Temple being tarnished, spiritual uncleanliness, and unholy.

Jesus is not against capitalism or individuals working hard to gain wealth. In fact, Jesus himself was a carpenter before going off into full-time ministry. “Is not this the carpenter , the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?” (Mark 6:3). The word carpenter could also bean a builder or laborer, but either way, Jesus worked as a carpenter and this was how he worked for a living. Typically in those days, whatever your father did, the trade would go down to his children and so it could be a good possibility that Jesus' father had a small business.

One thing we do know for certain that helped many people out of poverty was capitalism. We see a great example of this in South Korea and how capitalism brought many Koreans out of poverty from multiple wars to become one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Korea is now the second-largest missionary-sending country after the United States. Because of the wealth of the country, many Christians were called into ministry and evangelism throughout the world. We also see a perfect example of what happens when ideas of socialism and communism take root in North Korea. A government that is not under God becomes a god to determine who gets the food, services, distribution, and even hair cut style. Without "The God," someone or the state will always become a "god."

Finally, what about fair wages or equal pay?

The book of Matthews 20:1-16 records a story about a master paying the laborers equally, but those who worked in the vineyard did NOT think the wages were fairly paid nor equal.

Matthew 20:1-5

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.

The Bible continues on that the master found more workers. Then the master called the foreman to pay the laborers their fees from last to the first. When the first hired received their money, they received just as the same as the last hired and they thought they would receive more but each received “one” denarius. They grumbled to the master of the house saying, “ These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. ” But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong, Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you ” (Matthew 20:12-14).

First, the vineyard was private property by the master and the state did not own it. Verse 1 makes it clear that the master hired “laborers for his vineyard .”

The second is supply and demand , the basic principles of capitalism or business. If the vineyard needs more workers, then the company can hire as needed. The workers “volunteer” to work as agreed upon.

Third, this was a voluntary agreement. In verse 2 it states that the laborers were in agreement to work a day for “one” denarius. If this was a union hired, then those who worked much longer and experience should have the right or demand the right to receive more pay. In fact, they did grumble for not getting paid more, but all received equal pay. This would be more of God’s grace that those who worked last still get paid equally as agreed upon.

Fourth, the master never forced anyone to work in his vineyard. Just like the gospel message, Jesus never forced anyone to go to heaven. God has given us free choice to either receive God as a free gift or reject his offers. The laborers freely accepted the offer from the master and received what was agreed upon. The master himself gave fairly to all who accepted the work.

“I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you”: I believe this statement clearly explains the whole concept of giving and equal distribution of His wealth. God himself determines the distribution of His wealth and to whoever is willing to receive it. In fact, God gives so much that He is willing to sacrifice His own son to die on the cross so that ALL can receive the free gift of life for those who accept it and have eternal life (John 3:16).

What about the good Samaritan, the feeding of five thousand people, and many others, do those not count as socialism?

We can on through the entire bible and illustrate the purpose of every story of God’s reasons but bottom line is that everything Jesus has said and did was towards His kingdom purpose. Thus the reason for all His believers to have the great commission or mission beyond socialism of any kind.

Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It’s clear that Jesus was not a socialist and nor does the Bible indicate any support for socialism. If the ideas of socialism were true, it would have started 2,000 years ago and not during the French Revolution or in Russia, but in Jerusalem. Jesus’ ministry has always emphasized the importance of helping others, healing the sick, and provide masses for the people. God has tremendous compassion for the poor, the sick, and the widows. That’s why He sends someone like Mother Teresa to the poorest of the poor, the sick and dying to come along, and help with their needs and bring lost souls to Christ. This is why God chose many to be His instruments, to be His hands and feet across the globe to bring the "good news" and making disciples of nations. This is why such organizations like Red Cross, Salvation Army, Compassion International, World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Children’s Hunger Relief Fund, and many others started because God himself is love and His compassion reaches the vulnerable and the weak through Christ-followers.

Historically, we have not seen socialism in any part of the world to be the benefit for the masses, the common people, and especially the weakest and the poor. “Joyfulness” has not been a common language who have lived through or are living in socialist countries. Historically, through socialism, we have seen the few and the elites gain power, authority, and control over the masses and the common people. Historically, we’ve seen socialism kill and destroy the weakest and the poor. Spiritually, we do see how Satan implants an idea and uses it to kill, steal and destroy millions of people and their livelihood. This is Satan’s world and is the opposite of God’s kingdom.

This is the reason, why Jesus’ first message to the world was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2) because God knows the heart of mankind. Jesus didn’t preach about social justice nor the social gospel, but preached the “Kingdom of God” and is telling all who would hear to “repent” for God desires to bring all who would receive Him to be with Him in paradise.

Since there are many social needs of our time, God is calling you to be His hands and feet but allow God to be the justice and His righteousness. Let God be God and for us to do His instruments and Love the Lord first, then love our neighbors. Let’s bring back the “good news” to the masses, for the common people, and help the vulnerable and the weak and the poor feel the love of Christ through your hands and feet.

Something To Consider is a thought process through the lens of the Bible helping believers process our current issues and cultures of our time.

Citizen Vote

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 13:13:00 GMT

Before you vote for President Trump or Former Vice-President Joe Biden, let’s consider . .

As a citizen of the United States, you have the right to vote and vote you should, for a PRIVILEGE of this magnitude can change the course of our nation. If you're born in United States and automatically received U.S. citizenship, then you are privileged to vote.

I am an immigrant and my family and I had to earn our citizenship. My mother at her old age studied English and practiced how to write and speak in English. She even learned who the 16th president of the United States was. After receiving her citizenship, she went straight to vote. I asked her why? Her response, “Why not! I am a U.S. citizen and now I have the right to vote and my vote counts!” “But mom, you don’t even know the names on the ballot,” I said. Then, she reminded me, “What is the oath you took for your citizenship?” I answered, “Support and defend the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the United States against its enemies.” “Then support your new country by voting, for this is now your new privilege as an American,” my mother said with a firm statement. Sarah Choi (citizenship new name) lived through the Japanese occupation, World War II, the Korean War, and the South Korean dictator Park, Chung-hee and she understands how important this new citizenship means and the freedom and the privilege to vote. Now she has one more fight in the nursing home battling the Chinese Communist Party Virus (CCP Virus or Covid-19).

My mother has prayed for every president since she became a Christian in the late 1970s. I asked her, “Why do you pray for every president of America?” “What does the Bible say?” she asked. At that time, I was in my twenties and far from God and far from reading the Bible, so I took a Sunday school guess, “Because God says to pray for our leaders.” Later in my journey reading the Bible, I found in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

As a Christian, God is not asking us, whether we need to consider or ponder or contemplate but simply submit to Him and obey His words. James 1:22 reminds us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” There is a reason why God wants us to take prayer into action and pray for our leaders because they can affect the conditions we live in and have an impact on our families, our churches, our workplaces, our cities, and our countries. As a citizen of God’s kingdom, Jesus has given us the privilege to pray and seek His wisdom for all things, even politics.

However, on a deeper note, we need to pray for our leaders because God has a larger plan than our debate for 4 or 8 years of someone’s presidency. Throughout the history of mankind, God has allowed Pharaohs, Caesars, Emperors, Dictators, Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers, and Presidents to be in position for the things to come. God is a sovereign God, who has planned since the beginning of time for the ultimate ruler to take His rightful place leading up to the 2nd Coming of our Lord Jesus and take His reign forever as the King of kings.

God is not a sovereign God of only 4 or 8 years, but time and history itself and every soul in it. God is the creator of time and every individual is known and unknown plays a role to fulfill God’s time. God’s promises since the beginning of time are being filled and His prophecy will be fulfilled. Jesus is the sovereign God “I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the LORD God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelations 1:8). The Bible reminds us, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you . . .” (Jeremiah 1:5). If God knew you individually in the history of the time before you were born, then God, knows the past, present, and future for everyone.

Every person plays a key role in the promises of God and the histories of events. Without Pharaoh, what will the story of a young slave becoming the ruler of Egypt be like, saving an entire nation. James chapter 2 shares the story of a great faith leader Abraham in the same chapter with Rahab the prostitute (v. 25), whose name is in the genealogy line of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). Let’s think about this one individual Rahab who was a prostitute in the line of the most powerful name in the universe and the creator of time. She wasn’t even a Jew, but a Canaanite whose country hated Israel. Her most notable and exemplary work was to tell a lie (Read the full story of Rahab in Joshua 2; 6). Yet, Rahab’s name is written in the book of life, because she feared the Lord and her decision placed her name in the genealogy of Christ.

Like Rahab, are we willing to make the right decisions for our country? Just as important, as followers of Jesus Christ, can we make the right decision’s with our vote to honor the Lord. And, as Christians, can we pray for our leaders in obedience to His words? Before you consider President Trump or Former Vice-president Joe Biden, I would encourage the believers to “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else . . .” (Matthew 6:33a) and let’s let God do what He needs to do and for us to apply the privileges given. If you are not voting or unable to, as followers of Jesus, let’s pray for this nation and leaders and continue to seek the Lord for His wisdom in all things.

May God’s kingdom expand and the citizen’s of Christ nation be empowered to fight the good spiritual fight. May you be blessed and enlarge His light as “children of light” (John 12:36) to pierce all darkness. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen and Amen.

Revelation 4:8

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

Your Soul Matters

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 20:16:59 GMT

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