² Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. ³ So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

This chapter highlights Judas and Peter.  Both relationships were special to Jesus…they were with him for three years. Both were disappointments in this chapter. They betrayed Jesus. They failed Jesus. 

Judas knowing intimate knowledge about where Jesus meet with the disciples brought the soldiers to Mount of Olive. In the other gospel it says he kissed Jesus in betrayal.  He identify to the soldiers who Jesus was with a kiss.

I would have been really upset. I would have let Judas have it.  I would have told the Father that I am fine with rescuing the world but not people like Judas.  At least I would have slapped Judas silly right there. But thank God Jesus is not like me….you see to me the gospel seems to say Jesus was dying for people even like Judas.

In my faith journey, I have come to realized that I am not that far removed from Judas or Peter.  I fail. I betray Christ’s trust.  I am weak.  I am prone to wonder. But Jesus died for a sinner like me. Thank you Jesus!!!

As most of you know GCC wants to start a healthy spiritual habit of feasting and fasting into the New Year.   It is simple we will read a chapter a day for 21 days and then we will fast the last week of the 21 days. 

Why are we doing this?
1.  It is a great way as GCC family to say Lord this New Year belongs to you.
2.  It is a great way for you to personally kick start your spiritual life for the New Year.
3.  We believe in the spiritual discipline of fasting.  It is one of the means of grace where we declare that Jesus is more important than whatever we are giving up.  The Staff is doing juice only fast and as we are hungry for food we are saying Lord our food is to seek you!!!
4.  We believe that one chapter a day is very practical even if you have your own reading program. We are also encouraging people to post on facebook…a verse they liked from that chapter…and maybe even make comments.  We are reading through the gospel of John.

John 17
⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to  

It is easy to live for my dream, my reputation, my kingdom, my comfort….Lord give me the grace and strength to break my selfishness and live for your glory and to finish your work.  This is my personal prayer that I may finish my part of advancing God’s kingdom for His glory. This is my pastoral prayer that GCC will be a church that is used by God to advance His kingdom for His glory!!!

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”

Jesus seem to be saying there is more to be said but not all can be said because of our capacity… interesting… I wonder if it is some what like my youngest son asking me about something he overheard between Annette and I.  I know that for the time being it is not useful or helpful  for him to know any more about that topic.  I will either tell him he does not have to worry about what he heard or I will tell him we will talk later about it.  We don’t like being treated like little kids but what if we are.  I think Jesus was particularly  talking about his death to come and his resurrection from the dead. There was a lot going on at the end of His ministry.

I wonder how the discussion would have gone if he shared everything…if he went into the personalities of the disciples, what it meant for Jesus to take on the sins of the world, how exactly his death will defeat the enemy…what it was going to do to his relationship with the Father…etc….It would have been a long long teaching session and I wonder if they would have understood it all.  I know that even now we are trying to understand about the incarnation, the teaching, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Maybe the brightest and best of us are still a child in the Father’s eye. Could it be that we are suppose to trust Him like Isaiah trusts me (at least for now)…when I ask him to trust me.  I don’t have perfect timing or wisdom but Jesus does.  It may sound too simple but at times we need to just trust and obey.

Prayer Request:
The staff will be fasting this week.  We are praying that this fast will not be just staying away from food but really feasting in Jesus. It is our belief that if the staff is hungry for Jesus…. this hunger can spread to others.  This is what we are praying. Join us!!!

¹ “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God^[a]; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

My Prayer:
Lord Jesus I cannot wait until I get home!!! Come Jesus come!!! Come soon…

Thoughts:
 ² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;

I have meditated on the relationship between Judas and Jesus before.  All I can say is it must have hurt…really hurt. How can someone so close to Jesus misunderstand Jesus like this? How can someone who saw the glory and goodness of Christ betray Jesus like this?  Is he out of his mind? It is clear that the enemy had blinded Judas. In this text it says that “the devil had already prompted Judas”….Judas was being the instrument of the enemy.  He was in the camp of Jesus but he was being the instrument of the enemy.

It also is clear that Jesus knew this was happening. It is clear that all things were under Jesus. He could have yelled at Judas….hey what is wrong with you!!!….are you dumb!!!????…do you not see???  But even in the moment of betray, Jesus showed compassion. He saw through the eyes of His Father’s sovereign plan.

For me this account and this relationship tells me that Jesus was real. This is real life. Even in the greatest discipleship group ever…there were messy situations and even betrayal. Jesus once again demonstrated who he is about. He showed everlasting grace. Yet he warned Judas…he pocked him time to time…I am sure he tried to reach out to him.  But Judas was blinded by the enemy.  Beware  we can be blinded too.

Prayer:

Lord give me compassion like yours for people.  Let not disappointments make my so discouraged….I don’t want to have a jaded heart…I don’t want a wounded heart…I don’t want skeptical heart….I want a heart like yours.  I want to love the unlovable.  I want to do the Father’s will no matter what the immediate results look like.  Give me compassion for people!!!

 John 12:27-30 NIV84
““Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.”

Living for the glory of God was the top priority for Jesus. This meant he would lay down his life in obedience.

Jesus declares Father glorify your name. He does not only declares it he lives for it and dies for it. I want this to be true in my life.

I want to live and die for the glory of Jesus. But here lies the battle. My heart is sincere and wishful but my life lags far behind. I want to live for my comfort, peace, happiness, my sucess….so sad. It is a true battle for me.

Oh Lord teach me, mold me, break me….to live for your glory. Give me the courage and the strength to obey!!!

I am pumped up for another year of ministry.  But once again this weekend is going to be crazy busy.  I have to preach for GCC wide prayer meeting.  I have two messages for the GCC leadership summit and the Sunday Message.  I love it but it can be a lot of pressure.  I would appreciate prayer.  It is something I want to do and love to do.  But it is still pressure at least for me.

Also, there are so many thoughts in my mind about GCC and its future.  I need to saturate it in much prayer.  I love GCC but I find myself crying out to the Lord and saying….I absolutely need your power, love, wisdom and grace to lead this church!!!  Jesus help GCC.  We need the fire of the Holy Spirit.  We need the outpouring of your grace.  We need You!!!

Pray for:
1. Preaching for GCC wide prayer meeting.
2. Preaching for GCC leadership Summit.
3. Sunday Message
4. Fasting and Feasting campaign. We are reading John and will be fasting Jan. 16-20.  The staff will be fasting from food but drinking some form of juice. We call it juice fast.  Pray for us!!! Join us!!!

 
5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

It is clear Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus but why did he wait?  It is seems like a contradiction. He loves them so he waits two days until Lazarus dies. He makes sure that Lazarus dies and is buried before he moves to help.  Again our thoughts are not His thoughts…and our ways are not His ways….we want quick solutions to problems.  We want our timing. We want Jesus to do it our way.  But Jesus moves in God’s timing and for the Father’s glory.  This is the problem.  At least this is my problem.  I don’t think about God enough.  My life is about my comfort not God’s glory.  Of course, I want to live for God’s glory but practically this is where the battle lies.  Will I live for God’s glory even when it cost me comfort? Will I humbly wait for God’s timing because he is totally trustworthy?

Those extra two days do not make sense when we look through our perspective.  But for God’s glory it was those two days that will point to a resurrection from the dead.  God knows what he is doing.  His timing is the best timing. His ways are the best and wisest way.  He is in control.  I believe this but I want to live this!!!

Scripture Reading:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10 NIV84)

We know Jesus came to give us life…life to the full. But we keep going to the theif. Why? Because the theif promises get rich quick schemes…get pleasure quick scheme…feel good for now and pay big later schemes. Ask Jesus to help us to see Biblical reality. We are being robbed unless we are following Jesus!!!

Report on last weekend:

Last weekend I had the privilege to speak at Pilgrim EM retreat and Catalyst Sunday Service in NJ.  It was a great blessing for many reasons.

1. I got to spend time with some wonderful people at Pilgrim Church.  They were so receptive to the message and the prayer time.  Praise God!!! I also got to know P. Joe who I have never met before but he was like an old friend.  It was fun hanging out with P. Joe. Thanks for all the good Korean food!!!

2. I got to connect with Rev. Paul Yang (senior pastor of the Korean side) who was my old youth group leader.  It was a blessing to see him and briefly talk about how we were doing. Again I had not seen him in 20 years.

3. I got to spend some precious time with Daniel. I know this sounds corny but it was great spending extra time with my son.  It was a great blessing for me to have him there praying for me.  I was blessed by my son’s prayers before  I went up to speak. Thanks Daniel!!!

4. I was so thankful for God’s presence at the Pilgrim Church retreat. Thank you Jesus.  This is my prayer that the Lord produce much fruit through the weekend ministry at Pilgrim.

5. I got to spend some quality time with Pastor Sam and Catalyst.  I am so excited about what God is doing at Catalyst. Press on Pastor Sam!!! I really enjoyed preaching there because I get to make fun of him while I am preaching.

Passage: John 6

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

   ⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

 ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

 ⁷⁰ Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹ (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

Thoughts on Passage:

Jesus said, did and taught things that seem to thin the crowd. In this text we see this happen. Many left but the twelve was hanging on.  However, in v. 70, Jesus states that even among the twelve there will be a betrayer.  Jesus was the greatest teacher and disciple. He changed lives and raised the dead.  He is God. Yet even in his team there was division and a betrayer. Why does this comfort me?  I am not sure but it does. It comforts me that ministry is not easy. It is impossible. Again and again I remind myself that changing lives is God’s business all I can do is be faithful, be an example, and pray!!! Things don’t turn out as you exactly want but even in the imperfection there can be redemption.  Jesus has a way of making a way where there is no way.

I have always looked for that perfect team to work with.  At GCC and in other parts of my life, God gracious gave me some great people to work with.  But I have never seen a perfect team.  A team without headache and hurts.  I am on the team so how can it be perfect.  But even if there is division and a betrayer God’s work cannot be stopped.  Jesus will accomplish his redemption.  I praise God for Jesus!!! 

Blessing time:

I am  still at the Pilgrim Church retreat.  I am speaking for their English ministry.  It has been a blessing in many accounts to do this retreat.  They put us up in a nice hotel suite.  Daniel and I are having a great time.  I got to share and pray with him this morning.  I asked people to break up and pray with one another after my message. My partner was Daniel.  I was blessed to pray with my son.

Today after lunch I got to visit my old youth director.  Rev. Yang use to be the youth director at my home church when I was 16 years old.  He was used by God with others to bring me to Christ.  They were God’s instrument to change the direction of my life.  After I met Jesus I was never the same again.  His family also baby sat me when I first immigrated to America.  I have not seen him in for about 25 years.  It was great meeting him and spending some time.   He is the senior pastor now of a huge Korean church (The Pilgrim Church) in NJ.  It was a blessing to talk and go down memory lane.  Here is Rev. Yang my old youth director…back than he was a chemical engineer and newly married.  God is faithful.