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The man of faith who pleases God

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb 11:6)

I. God works to help us grow in the midst of hardships

My key verse for 2010 was “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). My mission work requires more of me than I can offer as a self-supporting missionary, so I grasped on to this key verse and hoped to become a man of faith who can move mountains. But it’s always easier said than done. Amid this situation, God worked through some of our programs and 1:1 Bible studies.

1. God’s work through conferences and Christmas

(a) Summer Bible Conference: From May 14-16, 2010, we had our SBC at the Ratchaburi. The total number of participants was 27. This is the largest number of attendees we’ve ever had at a SBC so far. Overall, the level of the conference was better than last year. Main Lecture 1, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34), was delivered by M. Banseok. Main Lecture 2, “Make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:18-20), was delivered by Dr. Mongkol. Even though there were many participants, the work of the Holy Spirit was minimal. I think it was due to a lack of prayer meetings. Therefore, for the work of Holy Spirit, we need to have prayer meetings absolutely. Even though we have to sacrifice in order to attend the meetings, in this new year we will have prayer meetings for the conference.

(b) Disciples’ Conference: The Disciples’ Conference was held for 2 days near Bangkok. We prayed to learn Jesus’ servant leadership through the study of John 13. The total number of attendees was 20. After this conference, Luke, who has no clear direction, accepted my suggestion to become a member of Thailand UBF.

(c) Christmas Worship Service: There was a CWS on Dec. 19. Last year (2009), I thought that the attendance would be small, so I encouraged everyone to invite everyone and anyone. But this year, I decided that we should focus on students. To have 30 attendees would have been good, but a total of 36 attended so we were very happy. I could feel the work of the Holy Spirit in Thailand. Dr. Mongkol delivered the Christmas message using powerpoint so that new comers could understand the meaning of Jesus’ coming to the world. We prepared the same drama that we did in 2009. I have no idea how I wrote that drama, but God blessed our drama, and from next year, I hope we will be able to have individual microphones. From 2011, may we also have prayer meetings in the evening to pray and prepare a Christmas chorus.

2. The struggle for attendance at our Sunday worship service (SWS)

After serving Thailand mission for a long time, I learned that the success or failure of this mission depends on the SWS struggle. Unless I help our members to keep the SWS absolutely, it is impossible to raise disciples of Jesus. It is hard to teach faithfulness and absoluteness to Thai Bible students who are not used to spiritual training.

Last March, a civil war broke out in the center of Bangkok. Our center is located within Bangkok, so sometimes it was very dangerous to attend the SWS. One short-term missionary who worked in Pataya called me and said his boss advised him not to go to Bangkok on the weekends. But I persuaded him, saying that there were no problems at all in Bangkok. God accepted my shepherd heart and Bible students attended the SWS continually. May 14-16 was when the battle in the city was very fierce. Therefore, we had our SWS in a conference hall outside of Bangkok so that we did not miss the SWS. I was so happy to see God’s work in opening the way. Praise the Lord!

But Satan’s attack to obstruct the SWS does not stop. One day, due to a power outage, I had to rent a hotel dinning room for the worship service and provide lunch, paying much money. And then there was another attack by Satan that I never expected. Dr. Mongkol’s family and his two sisters traveled to Japan for 1 week, including Sunday. And one week before traveling, due to his grandma’s birthday Dr. Mongkol’s sisters and their children did not attend the SWS. My heart sank and I despaired. But God gave me a good idea. During October, we began having Bible academies and raised life testimony sharers. Then God blessed our SWS so that we did not decrease in number.

3. The work of raising disciples

First, Dr. Mongkol and Joe Rebecah tried to take care of God’s flock. Through their good influence, Pauline, who just came from London UBF as a short-term student, did outreach and taught group Bible study faithfully. Therefore, we received much comfort through her struggles. Through her struggle of faith, Tam and Tanamet continue to study the Bible.

Ton Timothy graduated and got a job that paid a small salary. He has vision to become a shepherd for God’s flock as a professor. He quit his job to become an assistant professor. He is humble and is growing well, taking care of one faithful Bible student.

Tam Paul and Luke are the fruits of our group Bible study at the Univ of Kasetsart after more than 5 years. Even though their growth looks slow, they are growing continually. Tam Paul is growing as an intern in the church and has a gift in serving others. At the end of this past year, his family went on a vacation, but he decided not to join them because he didn’t want to miss a Sunday. But I encouraged him to join the Sunday worship service in Singapore II because M. Peter’s family came from Singapore II and M. Andy’s family needed some comfort. So we prepared some gifts and sent him to attend their Sunday worship service with a prepared offering. May God bless his obedience and faith, and I pray that he may marry by faith in this new year.

4. My self-supporting ministry and co-working with the Korean Missionary Association in Thailand

My self-supporting ministry was better than the year before, but there were some headaches. For example, there were ECU defects and many competitors offering lower prices. I needed God’s grace and help absolutely. This year I hope there will be no defects and I hope the total sale volume triples.

When I arrived in Thailand, many Korean missionaries’ opinions of UBF were not so good. They looked at me with suspicious eyes. But I had no reason to quarrel with them and just tried to be a good co-worker to enlarge God’s kingdom in this country. Ten years ago, I served the Korean Missionary Association in Thailand as a general manager; 3 years ago, I served as a clerk; 2 years ago, I served as vice-president; and this year, I will be serving as the president for 1 year. In fact, even though our mission organization is small, we’re famous and we send out many missionaries. I contribute some money to this organization under the name of UBF every year. When I arrived in Thailand, the number of Korean missionaries was not more than 100. But nowadays, there are more than 500 missionaries. I believe our organization also shares good information with others and is a good influence.

5. The work of translating the Daily Bread into Thai

God accepted our translator’s struggle and blessed the Daily Bread to be printed from last year in Thai. There are only a few people who have the ability to translate, so it was not easy to publish the book. May God mold Thai Bible students to be a holy people who love God’s word. May God bless us to be faithful to Daily Bread so that we may build our life on God’s word and become an obedient people.

II. Let me please God with faith in 2011

At the end of last year, I struggled in prayer so severely, but nothing happened at all. Through this event, I was very disappointed, so I did not pray in the early morning. But God gave me one direction – I should be a man of faith first. God listens to the prayer of a man of faith. I admitted that my faith is so weak. My attitude toward God is not right. Especially, I hope to be a man of faith who can please God.

Until now, the work of raising disciples in an idol worshiping country like Thailand looked impossible. But God is molding me to become a man of faith and encounter many hard situations. I came to understand St. Paul’s words of faith, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Php 4:13). I am a weak man who sees all things difficultly and lets his wife do the difficult things. But God is working in my mission life and is molding me into a man of faith little by little. With this key verse, I pray to grow as a man of faith who pleases God.

This year will be busier than other years since I will be serving the Korean Missionary Association as president. But I pray that the busier I am, the more deeply I may dig out God’s word and train leaders so that 6 leaders may grow as wonderful Bible teachers in this generation.

* Special Prayer Topics: 1. 40 Sunday worship attendees, 2. Six disciples to grow as real shepherds, 3. Be successful in self-support and sell good items, 4. Messages and Bible studies on Luke and Acts