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You Give Them Something to Eat

"But he answered, 'You give them something to eat.'" (Mk 6:37)

Hello! I am very happy to be here.

Today I will try to speak in Korean but I don't know if you will be able to understand it. I am so thankful that Dr. John Jun came to America and can give his messages in fluent English. Let's pray. Heavenly Father! Thank you for your mercy upon sinners and for sending your son Jesus. Thank you for entrusting the precious gospel of forgiveness of sins to us. You promised to give us the Holy Spirit if we ask. Today may the Holy Spirit work in our midst. Please bless my stiff lips and stubborn tongue and enable me to deliver your words. I pray in Jesus' name Amen.

Today I want to think with you about God's word. When I was praying about what message I should deliver for this beautiful center dedication worship service, I was reminded of one word of God, Mark 6:37: "You give them something to eat." This verse is well known to UBF people. It was God's word which we held on to at the beginning of Kwangju UBF.

In Mark's gospel Jesus sent his disciples out for a short evangelical mission trip to preach the gospel and drive out demons. They healed the sick and drove out many demons from demon-possessed people. Many people received God's grace and wanted to meet Jesus. The disciples were tired and hungry after the mission trip, so Jesus invited them to go a quiet place to get some rest. So they went away in a boat to a solitary place. However, the people wanted to meet Jesus so much that they ran to this quiet place ahead of Jesus. So many people came that it was no longer a quiet place; rather it became quite a noisy place. But Jesus was not upset. He had compassion for them and took care of them like sheep without a shepherd and He began to teach them many things. He taught them with the word of God.

When it was late in the day, the disciples were very tired and hungry and came up with a very good idea. They came to Jesus and asked him 'Why don't we send the people away so they can buy themselves something to eat?횂징횂짹They seemed to be thinking about the poor hungry sheep. But Jesus was also thinking. Jesus answered, 'You give them something to eat.' The disciples must have been puzzled. Isn't it too expensive to feed all these people? Jesus told them to go and see how many loaves they had. They went and searched diligently and reported back, Five--and two fish. Jesus told them to bring what they had to him and they did. Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down. They all sat down and waited expectantly for Jesus to do something. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and gave thanks, looking up to heaven. It was his thanksgiving prayer to God. Then he gave loaves and fish to his disciples and the disciples distributed them to people. Five thousand men ate and were satisfied. And the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of left over pieces of bread and fish.

This event is written in all four gospels and teaches many things to us. But in it we can find the secret to carrying out world mission. Through this event, Jesus planted faith. He taught the life of giving and life of sacrificing. When we began the UBF ministry in Kwangju we had only empty hands. It was after the Korean War and the students were wandering. Some students considered going to the North and some wondered how they were going to survive and some were looking for a way to leave Korea. At that time Dr. Samuel Lee had compassion for them and saw them like sheep without shepherd. We asked each other, 'What can we give them? Food?' If we gave them food, they would only get hungry again. We decided to give them God's words. All we had was God's words, so we began to teach them the words of God. Dr. John Jun was in the 2nd year of his medical school at that time. He accepted Jesus and offered his five loaves and two fish to Jesus. His loaves and fish were visiting his Bible students and taking them around with him. We began the pioneering work with God's words and prayer and a shepherd's heart.

In the Bible it says, 'It is better to give than to receive.' At that time, Korea was so poor that the people didn't believe this. They thought that receiving is better than giving, but they learned from Dr. Lee that this is not true. So we wanted to teach them a life of giving. The Bible teaches us to do world mission. How is this possible? The Koreans all thought, 'It is possible for rich Americans or Canadians, but not for poor Korean students'. So we prayed a lot and sent a graduate Miss Han Ok Kim to Jeju island as the first overseas missionary. We prayed about how to support her. We believed God would bless us if we offer what we had to Jesus. So we obeyed his words. Some did shoe shine jobs, some offered their tuition, some offered their bus-fare and walked, some offered their money for the their new clothes or new books and got used ones. What happened? We supported our missionary on Jeju Island. There was lot left over. We sent one another graduate to Junju, another to Daejun and we even prayed for Seoul. We learned that surely God's word is true. We learned that a life of giving is much better than a life of receiving and we also learned that if only we offer our five loaves and two fish God would do world mission himself.

Today I saw this new center and was moved by how big and beautiful it s. God established this beautiful house by accepting your sacrificial five loaves and two fish. How precious is each person here who dedicates this house to God in this worship service. I believe that God will use this house greatly if we dedicate this house to God. I pray that from now on, this center may raise many more people who will dedicate their lives for world mission and raise students to be missionaries dedicated to God.

The UBF ministry is still the work of five loaves and two fish. Nowadays there are many house churches. Many UBF ministries began with a house church. God often blesses just a few peoples' five loaves and two fish and begins his great work

In the German pioneering work, a few nurse missionaries gathered in their dormitory, read the Bible and prayed for other nurses with a broken heart. Then later many great missionaries - Pastor Abraham & Sarah Lee, Dr. Peter & Sarah Chang, M. Kaleb & Sarah Hong and many others came and established a great work of God. All of them gave their five loaves and two fish. God's good work in Kiev began with Dr. Peter and Sarah Kim. What could they do there? God blessed them as they offered their five loaves and two fish. They not only pioneered Kiev but also raised missionaries, and sent them to Kharkov and M. Point's family in Turkey.

There are many missionaries in New Jersey. As they began to pioneer, they needed to buy a center but they only had 100 dollars. The seller asked, 'How can you buy a big house with 100 dollars?' M. John Park answered, 'My father is very rich' Then he said, 'Is that so? Then OK. 'Perhaps he thought that M. John was a son of a millionaire. In this way, the world mission work has grown through the five loaves and two fish of pioneering missionaries.

From Chicago UBF, we sent one Filipino medical student to the Philippines. Though his faith was not that great, he prayed and shared God's word with one or two students. God's work began in the Philippines and God himself worked there. Now they have sent 15 missionaries and are pioneering many universities even though there has never been a Korean missionary in that ministry. Even though the medical student left our ministry, the fruit remained. God is the one who works. Though we cannot do anything, when we offer what we have to God, He works everything out.

There are many house churches in this center. One by one, each house church may go and see what they have and offer it to Jesus. Then surely God will bless this ministry. This time we came here to pray for Kwangju ministry. Before we began Kwangju ministry with faith offering five loaves and two fish. Now I pray that you may begin new and better things at this beautiful center. This building cannot go out to preach. People need go out and do the work. Even if there is a beautiful house, people need to move. So please go and see what you have and offer it to Jesus. Then God will bless this house and use it greatly.

Prayer: Heavenly Father! I truly thank God who blessed Kwangju UBF greatly. I believe that God accepted what Shepherd Samuel Lee, John & Sunji Jun, Moses Kim, Joseph & Esther Chung, Joshua and Yun Ok Lee and few others offered to the Lord and blessed it. Now bless Shepherd Baranbas & Misook Kim and all shepherds to go and see what they can offer to Jesus and help them offer it to the Lord. Thank You God for helping us to come to this center dedication service. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.