Pray for North Korea. Attend a Concert

Eight people from JOY are leaving for NK this afternoon: Carrie Choi, Jacob Chung, Julie Chung, John Hwang, Jeanie Kwon, Mihae Song, Soo Bae and Jason Suh. They will minister at an orphanage in PyongYang and also do some medical missions. As of now, John Hwang does not have his visa, so please pray for that.

On the other hand, there is a free concert at Manhattan School of Music (corner of Broadway and Claremont Ave., north of Columbia University) by a North Korean defector pianist. The concert is at 7:30pm. He was a son of a high official but fled for freedom. Now he teaches at a university in S. Korea and travels in the US and Korea, raising the awareness of the plight of NK defectors living in S. Korea and USA. If you cannot go to NK with the team, you may want to come out to the concert and learn about NK.

Frog in a Kettle

You may have heard about the frog experiment. A frog, if thrown into boiling water, will immediately jump out and incur no harm, but placed inside a kettle with small fire underneath will be cooked to its own death, while feeling no pain. This experiment is a lesson on the slow decline of a person, or a community: If shocked into sharp decline, one saves oneself, but decline done slowly will kill anyone.

How's your heart? Is it aflame with the passion for Christ as it did before? Do you feel the love for people? Is your compassion for the spiritually lost or the poor all over the world growing?

Our hearts easily grow lukewarm. The questions above are good evaluators of our hearts' conditions.

If our hearts grow lukewarm, what causes the decline? One is sin. Sin usually begin small: a little compromise with our hearts in lust, a permitted gaze that stays a little too long, or a little drunkenness or financial compromise. Our mind is powerful, and we can rationalize just about anything. Then, the sin grows, and as sin grows, our hearts decline. Another is distractions. Shopping, entertainments, TV. The space in our heart is limited: once it gets filled with matters of no consequence, we lose the fervor of our hearts, and eventually our life itself becomes of no consequence.

Here are three things we can do to restore our hearts' passion and keep it burning until the Lord's return: 1. Cut off sin. There is no other way. Leave no room for even the smallest sin. Even the smallest can kill us eventually. 2. Fast. Develop a lifestyle of fasting. Fast things that you enjoy, even if they are not bad, if it distracts you and makes you less. 3. Feed. Feast on the things that inflame your heart. Read Christian literature. Listen to messages or watch movies that feed your soul.

Guard you heart, above all, for it is the wellspring of life. (Prov. 4:23) Let us guard, cleanse and seek to burn in our hearts, for eternity.

Gray and Toward the Grave

My hair began to turn gray. First one here and one there, and my kids loved to pull them out. It was a great pastime. Then, gray began to come out in multitudes. I had to tell them, "Sorry to stop your fun, but you have to stop pulling them out, or your dad will turn bald."

A few weeks ago, my gray hair began to bother me. I think I am going through my midlife crisis. It bugged me to the point that I wanted to dye it. I did not understand it before, but I realize that midlife crisis is encounter with your own mortality. We all know that we will die, but we don't KNOW, that is, it does not grab us emotionally and shake us so that we have to face it squarely, until something, or some things begin to happen. In my case, that something is my gray hair.

Honestly, it is aggravating, to have to face this undeniable reminder that I am moving closer to the grave. But there is a great benefit: I get to live each day more fully, for I know that the clock is ticking, and it has always been ticking. I spend less time on frivolous activities. I focus more. I make my day count. I live more fully.

Remember: New Levels, New Devils!

We are living in an exciting time. The testimonies we hear on Sundays are astounding--healing from emotional wounds of many years, liberation from suicidal spirit to giddy joy, prophetic words that breaks open closed hearts, etc. And these things are happening regularly now. We are almost living the Book of Acts. We are grateful.

At the same time, great challenges have come upon several. Near experiences. Violent clashes with parents, and a house being robbed. How often do these things happen in the life of a church. And all these have happened in just this past 2 months! We are living in an unusual time.

Remember: New Levels, New Devils. With the spiritual upgrading, so do the challenges. BUT DO NOT BE AFRAID. God is still in control. God does not allow anything apart from our benefit. The challenges will expose the hidden in our soul and if we would respond with faith, make us more whole. Trials pass, and if we respond right, character remains. If not, we fall away. A month ago I spoke about the time of shaking that is upon us. It is. It is no time to fear. It is rather the time to press on even more into Christ. The devil will not have the last word. He will be vanquished by the faithful with the help of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray. Be on guard, and always respond forward into Christ.

Answers to Questions about Assurance of Salvation

A few weeks ago I spoke on "False Assurance of Salvation." Since then I asked people to send me questions about the sermon and I would respond. Two questions came. First was about clarification of the necessity to bear spiritual fruit: "Unless your life bears spiritual fruit, you are probably not saved." Answer: The statement was made to address false assurance of salvation. In short, "just saying the prayer" does not make you saved as though the prayer is an incantation. Rather, if the prayer was genuine, it would be followed with a life of pursuit after God and His righteousness, which will naturally bear spiritual fruit like love, joy, peace, kindness, etc. Salvation is an organic process; if the salvation is genuine, it will show in life. The statement was not made to turn salvation into salvation of works--that we have to prove it. Rather, if the salvation is genuine, its effect will show. The questioner suggested, would it not be more helpful to say, "you can not be sure of salvation unless there is fruit, so please reexamine your life and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior?" I completely concur.

Second question concerned "people who accepted Christ right before they die (e.g., at a hospital). Are those people saved?" Of course, they can be. The criminal who died next to Jesus on the cross entered Paradise! There is no time to examine whether that person's confession of faith was genuine. We can only hope.

At the end, we must examine our lives. Are we saved? When we received Christ, did we really mean to follow Christ as our Lord? Are we following Christ now? Did we in any way fall away from Christ and need to repent and get back to Him? Paul told the Corinthian believers to "examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith" (2 Cor. 13:5). He was saying it to those who went to church! We must examine ourselves.

New Levels, New Devils

There is an increase of activities of the Holy Spirit at JOY. At the same time some people have mentioned how they have experienced increased level of spiritual attacks, whether in the forms of direct attack such as "physical" oppression (choking sensation with a clear presence of a demon/s) or through people's criticism or opposition. When such attacks come, those who are inexperienced can get discouraged: "I am seeking God hard. Why are these things happening to me?" These attacks, however, are signs of encouragement. They show that you have caught the devils' attention. They consider you a threat, so they come against you. The Bible promises that if you resist the devil, he will flee from you (James 4:7). So that's another encouragement. In other words, the attacks will not last forever. After a season, the devil has to flee.

When I experienced an increased level of attack one or two years ago, Bob Hartley mentioned, "New Levels, New Devils." That is easy to understand, isn't it? You move up the level spiritually, and your opponents will be stronger too. However, be encouraged instead of being discouraged, for that is how we grow. God strengthens us further so that we overcome the new devils, and we move up and up and up.

God's call for us all is that we be fully mature and make differences for His Kingdom. The increase of attacks? These are good news. Let's continue to pray.

Man Hit by Lightening Survives, Power of God

Scott Jough was hit by lightening last week during vacation in Mass. He survived. Fortunately, the lightening was not a direct hit. It hit the ground, traveled and hit Scott near his shoulder, went through his organs and went out of his leg. Scott remembers nothing. He was instantaneously knocked unconscious. He suffered no organ damage and will be released within a day or two. The family is thankful to God. Had Scott been a few feet from where he was, or had it struck his son, Peter, whom somehow Scott covered, the story would have turned out differently. The family is thankful to God's protection.

In the mean time, God is demonstrating His power at JOY in different ways. Regular people are being filled with the Holy Spirit and used by God to heal one another, cast out demons and speak prophetically to one another unto inner healing and encouragement. This has been happening for four weeks now. At the Alpha retreat two weekends ago, I am told, everyone was touched by God through these people. I am very excited because this is exactly what happened in the Book of Acts--God using average people supernaturally.

I am reminded about St. Paul's statement: "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power (1 Cor. 2:4, 5). Also, 1 Cor. 4:20, "the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." Christian faith is not about arguing better, but about the demonstration of the power of God, and that is what's happening. We cannot be more thankful.

For next few Thu. nights, we will gather to learn more about the Holy Spirit and the ministry through spiritual gifts, and to answer any questions. We welcome all who is interested in what is happening.