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WE HAVE THIS TREASURE IN JARS OF CLAY

2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

I. 2014 Annual Review

Thank God who blessed our ministry with many thanksgiving topics for the last year. We started the past 2014 with a small clear direction “be faithful with a few simple things!” I realize that God led us according to this direction and fulfilled His will upon us. Actually God was faithful to us undeserved servants and He Himself bore the fruit. I’d like to review the work of God in Ottawa briefly.

As I decided to be faithful with a few of the important things, I tried to be faithful in a small thing, one on one Bible study with several students at Carleton University. Whenever God sent me a sheep I just did one to one Bible study and shared with them what I learned from the passage through personal applications of reflections. There were not many Bible teachers in our ministry and we did not have a big capacity to come up with many programs. So, we just did one to one Bible study with some students who came to us.

Brother Eduardo was faithful to study the Bible for the last three years and he also completed a doctoral program at Carleton University and got a Ph.D. in computer science. Then, he got a post-doc position from McGill University in Montreal. He had studied the book of Genesis and Romans with me. We also enjoyed good conversations in our common interest about Big Data and Analytics on the cloud which is one of the popular topics in computer industry. I pray that he may continue to study the Bible in Montreal and grow to be a disciple of Jesus. I was very much encouraged by one faithful student, Michael, a handsome first year student, studying computer science at Carleton University. He was always quiet in our Bible study; he did not respond at all but just listened to my preaching. But when I was interested in his school study of computer science he opened mouth a little and said, “difficult”. So, I thought he would stop Bible study soon but he appeared on time every week and listened to my one way preaching. First of all, I thank God for Brother Emmanuel, 2nd year-Law, Carleton University, who wants to be a lawyer. He completed the book of Genesis last year. He was faithful to one on one last year. Rebecca had one on one Bible study with several students: Louisa, Marlyn, Steven, Alex, and Thomas. Lydia attended the West UBF SBC and was inspired by messages. Thank God that Lydia was loved by Vancouver coworkers. James attended GTA SBC and I believe the word of truth was proclaimed in his heart.

We studied the book of Matthew and Proverbs for Sunday service. Personally I studied Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Titus, and 1 Peter with coworkers online. Thank God for the Bible study fellowship with coworkers by any means.

II. 2015 Vision and Strategy

When I prayed for direction for 2015, God inspired me through 2 Corinthians chapters 4 and 5. Gospel workers are jars of clay. Jars of clay are fragile, weak, and not beautiful, but when they have the treasure, the gospel of Jesus, they are strong, expensive, valuable, and victorious. My human situation in 2015 is like a jar of clay. I am weak, and hard pressed on every side in pressure and perplexing difficulties. However, as long as I hold on to the gospel of Jesus, my treasure, I believe that God's power will work through me in Ottawa ministry and even create a new history. For this, I newly decided to meditate on the word of God deeply using the inductive Bible study method and write a weekly testimony absolutely with practical applications. So far, I have enough head knowledge of the Bible. Now it is time for me to repent of my lack of love and put what I’ve learned into practice. Then I believe that God's all-surpassing power will be revealed. Pray that by faith I may challenge students who have studied the Bible in discipleship programs by the guidance of the Holy Spirit; brother Emmanuel who is a president of our Bible study club at Carleton University may participate in evangelizing at campus. We will continue the group Bible study once a week on Wednesday. We may grow together in divine nature. This is my vision and strategy for 2015.

Samuel Dongho Lee, Ottawa UBF