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BECAUSE YOU SAY SO

“Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets’” (Lk 5:5).

In the present season, I am like a winter tree and Arlington UBF ministry is like a winter garden. So I do not have many exciting things to talk about. But God has sustained Arlington coworkers and me, and he has enabled us to keep participating in gospel work here in USA and throughout the world. So I will report what has been done in our midst during 2014 with a spiritual direction for 2015.

1. 2014 Annual Review

My 2014 key verses were Matthew 6:9-10: “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’” I took this verse desiring to learn prayer. I especially desired to learn how to pray with essential prayer topics given in the Lord’s Prayer.

Looking back the last one year, I can’t say that my prayer life improved much or that Arlington ministry has made any noticeable progress. But God enabled me to keep praying for the honor of God’s name, the coming of his kingdom and the fulfillment of his will, and my prayer deepened in some way.

In 2014, we studied Matthew from chapter 6 to chapter 20. We thus moved into the second part of Matthew, where the disciples of Jesus were learning the way of the cross. It has been a great blessing to study the Gospel, yet I need to learn how to communicate the gospel message to today’s young people more effectively.

During the Easter, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus by memorizing KVs and sharing testimonies on them. Each member chose his/her own KVs and shared what he/she learned from these verses. Mildred Palagan shared a moving testimony, reflecting Simon Peter’s struggle to follow Jesus. She accepted Jesus’ prayer for Simon Peter personally and began to pray with Jesus that her faith and our faith may not fail. Then Msn. Augustine Hong delivered an Easter message on the Resurrection of Jesus.

In the summer, we attempted to read Christian classics and inspiring stories and share testimonies over them for mutual encouragement. Yet this had limited success. But we’ll keep attempting.

During the summer, the staff conference was a blessing to me. I felt that covering the entire book of Galatians through a series of group Bible studies was a meaningful program. Among the different study groups I attended, I especially liked the group led by Bill Potenger, as he let the participants discuss what was in their hearts freely.

Whenever I attend staff conferences, I see missionary coworkers agonizing over their gospel work that does not show much progress. During this conference, in particular, one missionary said that something must be wrong if one’s ministry doesn’t grow. But it seems that there are changes of seasons in gospel history. If a fall season comes, we can’t expect that things should keep growing or stay green. Historically, there were real low times before great awakenings. So we shouldn’t be overly disappointed over slow gospel work in the present season, while we do our best to serve it.

Concerning the change of season, I learned of one remarkable view of church history in recent years. It is that there is a parallel development between the life of Jesus and the history of the church. That is, the history of the church is following the pattern of the life of Jesus, and the present season corresponds to the last week of Jesus, even the last hour of his trial and suffering and death that preceded his resurrection. So it seems to me that the present season is a time for us to persevere in hope.

In the fall, Msn. Gloria, Sarah and I made a long road trip from Arlington, TX, to Toledo, OH, to visit Justin and Mary Spencer’s family and see Little Elijah. On the way we visited Joshua H and Grace Choo’s family and saw Little David. It was a great blessing for me to see my two grandsons and see Joshua’s family and Justin’s family fighting a good fight of faith. I am also thankful that Sarah Choo has become a good gospel coworker.

Msn. Gloria and I were also blessed to have a spiritual fellowship with Prof. Paul Hong and Msn. Sarah Hong, and with Pastor Russell and Ruth Kille. Pastor Kille asked me what my prayer topic was, and I said that I pray that we may survive and that our faith may not fail. And he prayed for us that we may thrive as well as survive.

In the Christmas season, we had two Christmas worships among Arlington coworkers, which were done in regular Sunday worship format with a few special programs. At this point we have several young people studying the Bible and/or attending Sunday worship: Mildred Palangan, Saigo Hiroko, Myriah Ratcliff, David Szymczak, Brandon Witte. And we have Grisel Canas, Precious Ogbonna and Carolina as new Bible students.

We also had the Christmas fellowship for all Texas region coworkers and their children. Msn. John Jay Yoon and his three children (Mary M. Yoon had to work), Dr. Paul and Mary Kim and their three children, Dr. Samuel and Hannah Yoo and their two children. And we had Sh. Jonas and Msn. Rebekah Chen and their three children as special guests. We first had a group Bible study fellowship led by Msn. Augustine Hong and we had dinner and funs afterward. I was amazed to see so many children bustling around. And I felt obligated to pray for them all.

Personally, I revised the book Man’s Nature and Destiny and completed its sequel Saints’ Long Journey. This was done to sum up what I’ve learned so far and clarify fundamental issues in Bible history and church history. I’ve learned much in this process, and I’ve had my horizon of Christian worldview enlarged significantly in this process. I pray and hope that these writings may help gospel coworkers do the same.

1. 2015 Vision and Strategy

My 2015 key verse is Luke 5:5: “Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’” I took this verse desiring to learn anew how to hear and obey the word of the Lord in the new year.

At this point I feel like Simon Peter who worked hard all night in vain. But I want to learn anew how to hear and obey the word of the Lord from the heart. I want to put out into deep water of divine grace and power and let down the nets for a catch. I believe that the Lord is watching over us all and preparing a new season of blessing, which may well be unprecedented in its magnitude and scope.

Now we’ll resume the study of  Matthew, covering its last part (chapters 21 to 28), which tells of what Jesus said and did during his last week on earth, from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem to his sufferings and crucifixion to his resurrection. This is the deepest water of divine grace and power for believers, and I want to put out into this deepest water and do gospel work with the Lord and gospel coworkers to the best of my understanding.

Prayer Topics:

1. Fruitful study of the last part of Matthew (chapters 21 to 28)

2. Prayer and effective communication of the gospel

3. Msn. Gloria Choo’s health and fruitful 1:1

4. Msn. Monica Hong’s family and children’s education

5. House church for Sarah P. Choo, David Szymczak