True Servant of Christ Galatians 1:8-10, NIV “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Introduction 50 years ago I started a church in Bul-guang Dong and I served as pastor during those years. Our first service was attended by five people and I have heard that Myung-sung Presbyterian Church began with the same humble beginnings. At that time I had just graduated from a theological seminary and was a fresh pastor. I neither knew how to prepare a sermon nor serve other people. I preached with all my might but even my 5 attendants were not attentive and struggled to keep awake. I was desperate! Then one day my life changed. I visited a shanty town and knocked on a door of a house. A woman answered. I said, “Lady, repent and believe in Jesus Christ. You will go to heaven.” She was a refugee from Ham-gyeong-buk-do, Buk-Chung of North Korea. Her husband’s name was Yoo of Ju-Wha area. He was a drunkard, a total alcoholic for more than ten years. They had ten boys, and they were all on the street shining shoes and robbing others. Their life was miserable. I said to her, “Come to Jesus! You will go to heaven.” Suddenly her eyes bugged out as she glared at me. She was very angry. She said, “What? I’m not going to heaven.” I said, “If you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, you are going to go to hell.” “Hell? What kind of hell do you mean? We are living in hell right now. I’m not afraid of going to hell.” “Please, come on!” “What did I say? Christians are all hypocrites! If heaven is so good then why don’t you give me a bit of heaven right now? Show me heaven and then tell me to go to heaven. You pastors keep talking about heaven but I neither see it nor feel it. How am I supposed to believe whether heaven exists at all? We are poor living in misery. We are living in hell. We are already in it right now. I don’t care about hell. If you come to us preaching about heaven why don’t you give us a bit of food, clothes or shelter when you invite us to heaven? You talk good but I will not follow you nor go to heaven.” I was dumbfounded. She was right. I went out to the street to preach but rather I received her message. “Right! If heaven is so beautiful why do we not share it? Why do we just talk to people to come without showing it.” I went back to our tent church and knelt down on a straw rug to pray. “God! Please share your kingdom with me. I felt my own neediness when I listened to her. Give me some of your heavenly kingdom. I am just fresh out of seminary. Look at me. I am myself in a pitiful state in this tent church. I have hardly eaten a full meal in two days. I am going in and out of heaven. Lord! Give me some heaven. Today I preached but I could not answer the woman when she rejected me and raised a question.” I fell down and prayed. Suddenly the Holy Spirit beautifully opened my heart. “Do what the Lord has done!” “What the Lord has done?” Lord said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come!” He drove out demons, healed the sick. He told us to give something to eat to the poor, to clothe the naked, to comfort the sufferer and to proclaim repentance saying “the Kingdom of heaven is near!” Jesus did not just talk. When he proclaimed the heavenly kingdom he met people’s need. He fulfilled their hopes. “You should do as Jesus did.” “How can I do such things? I learned only theories in the seminary. How can I do this?” “If you do not do as I did you will remain where you are ? in a tent church on a worn straw carpet for the rest of the days of your life.” At that time I prayed a lot and received a renewed heart. I started to read the bible anew. I read from Matthew to Acts with new perspective. In Scripture I found testimony that it wasn’t only Jesus but his disciples, and even Philip who did wonders. When they preached the kingdom of heaven, evil spirits, with shrieks, came out of many people, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city! “Even a deacon went out and knocked over the enemy. Why cannot a pastor do it?” So I made up my mind. “I will copy the Lord.” I was not a senior pastor therefore I did not need to care about my reputation. “I will do it.” I went to her home again. Her name was Cho-hee Lee. “Is anybody home?” She flew open the door and said, “You, Pastor, again?” “Listen sister! I will not preach to you about heaven and hell today. I have real Good News for you.” “Good News?” “I know someone who can give Good News to you. He will help you if you meet him. Your husband is going to be delivered from alcohol. He is going to become a new person if he meets Him. Your ten children are going to become educated. Come and see Him.” She stood up, put on her sandals and came out of the house. When I told her about a superficial heaven she did not listen to me but when I talked about a real heaven she came out. I thought to myself, “This is good. I should share good news and lead all to heaven.” We walked along the ridges and passed shanty town. We came to my old American military tent which had a capacity to hold 24 people and I said, “Lady, this is my church.” “Where is He?” she asked. “He is inside of this tent.” She looked at the tent for a long time and raised the door cloth to see into it. She laughed and looked straight into my eyes. She said, “You are no better off than I am!” I lost my words. “Sister, your words are true. I also need the Good News. In this tent church, on a shabby rug, I too am in great need of help from God; so why don’t we believe in this good God together? Let us have worship service. Come on. Our destiny will be changed.” This lady began to disregard her desperate situation and regularly attended Sunday worship because I shared Good News with her. We prayed for her husband, Ha-moon Yoo, whom many of his countrymen knew as a drunkard, a total alcoholic for over ten years. We prayed for him for three months. One day he got drunk as usual but visited our church which was unusual. “From the day you began to pray for me, alcohol has become tastier to me. Pray continually.” I got so discouraged! Satan is always behind disappointment. I was tempted to give up but I resolved to continue to pray. After three months, on one rainy day, one of this man’s sons came running to me with a note scribbled by his mother: “My husband is dying. He is in a coma. Please come as soon as possible…” I hurriedly dressed and ran to their house. I found him snoring loudly. He was in a coma. “Mr. Yoo! Mr.Yoo” I loudly called his name but he was too deep in his coma to hear anything. I thought, “This is Satan’s last attempt.” I prayed in the name of Jesus. “You devil of drunkard, go away!” I told her that he will be okay and went back home. Next day this man woke up completely delivered from alcohol; and thereafter never touched alcohol again. This news spread and his friends gave him a job. He began to bring money home. His wife brought a bag of rice to the church. When she gave her first tithe she cried many tears because she gave it with hesitation. I heard later that she had changed her mind many times before actually giving her tithe. She battled, “Oh, dear God! Please understand me. For ten years we have not even been able to look at such money. But what will happen if I do not give a tithe? God will cancel his blessing. Okay I’ll give a tithe.” She offered her tithe and served the Lord continually. Her testimony spread and people began to start coming to our church. Most of the people were poor. Alcoholics and outcasts came to us. “Hey, we can have a new life if we believe in Jesus!” On the hillside of our shanty town there was a motto. “Believe in Jesus. You will never be the same!” “If you want change come to the tent church.” And it was so! Every person who came to the tent church changed. One day at 12 midnight I went to the church to pray. There were many gangsters at that time. We were poor and there were many bullies. A leader of one gang, called “Jong-sun, Park” eventually became a famous pastor! His church is in Ui-jeong-bu City now. He had others follow him. At night these gangsters would sleep in our tent church because they didn’t have anywhere else to go. I came to church to pray and they prayed loudly with me. That night I noticed a little beggar boy around 15, 16 years old who was paralyzed from the waist down. I saw that he was praying. I asked him, “Who are you? Why are you here?” He had been at Pusan Station in Pusan, begging for money. One guy told him, “I heard sick people will be healed if they go to the tent church in Bul-guang-dong, Seoul. Maybe you also can be healed.” The boy heard this news, took a train and came to Seoul. He asked people where Bul-guang-dong was and crawled all the way to our church, arriving at midnight. He then asked the gangsters where the pastor was. I prayed for him. His legs were like sticks. I thought that even God could not heal them! But what could I do? He was there. Together we put up our hands and prayed, but no faith rose in me. So I told him, “Stay here! I need to get more faith from God.” So I went to the pulpit and prayed “Why God! Why did you send such people to me? You make me embarrassed. What shall I do now?” I heard a voice deep inside of me. “God wants you pray for them and He will heal them. He dared to come here all the way from Pusan. Heal him.” So I and all the gangsters put our hands on his shoulders and prayed in Jesus’ name. “Lord! In the Bible you said, ‘And these signs will accompany those who believe, they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.’ I will do just as you told us. I cannot do it by my power. Heal him!” While these gangster men were praying, and holding this boy’s shoulders; I began to push his knee joints. I was scared. The boy began to scream, “Ouch! Oh my! Father! Mother! This pastor is going to kill me.” He must have felt much pain. I heard the sound of cracking, and said, “In the name of Jesus, be healed! In the name of Jesus, get well!” I held up his legs and continued pushing them. I closed my eyes because I didn’t want to see what was happening. Suddenly all the men stood up and loudly cheered. This boy stood up and began to run all over the tent. I saw him leaping and jumping with his two legs. He ran all over the tent church. After I saw him healed I thought, “It works!” “The Bible is right!” “We just did not believe it. But if we believe, it will come to pass! It shall happen.” The gangsters who prayed with me became pastors and each gave the testimony that it was his prayer of healing that God answered. It doesn’t matter who prayed, it was God who healed that boy. Seoul was thrown into an uproar after they heard of this boy’s healing. He said, “I was healed in that tent church! Look at me! Look at the stick on which I was leaning on!” Thereafter I could not find time to even have a meal because sick people came to our church in droves. There were so many sick people. I am certain 6 out of every 10 people were sick. I am certain there are sick people here today. And then one day another breakthrough happened. A woman came to our tent church. She was the wife of a doctor who worked in the Red Cross Hospital of Seoul. For 10 years she had been paralyzed on one side of her body. She would drag her body as she walked. She had heard about our tent church and visited us. I prayed for her but suddenly she rebuked me “You scumbag! Move your hand. Go away!” “How could a lady talk like that?” I asked. “A lady? What a laugh! I have lived in this house for more than 10 years. Who are you? How dare you try to force me out?” So I asked “Who is talking?” “This is a devil. Now what are you going to do?” I realized that what was written in the bible was right. A person will be healed as soon as a devil leaves from a man. Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. “A devil must be oppressing her.” We persevered in prayer for 8 hours and then God completely healed her! The next Sunday the doctor and his wife came to the church together and gave testimony. “I’m a medical doctor. My wife got sick and suffered from an unknown disease. We tried all kinds of medicine. She went through many treatments without any results. I don’t know what happened to her in this tent church. But here she was healed. I admit God is real. I believe in Him.” Sick, poor, hungry, lonely people crowded into our church at that time. The poor, the sick, and the suffering came together and they all changed. Each diligently believed the Lord, and God gave each health and allowed all things to go well with them and their souls. And so embedded upon my heart is that scripture verse in 3 John 1:2 which says: "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well." Yes, this is the word. No one taught us this in the theological seminary. I realized that there is whole salvation. Salvation is not only for my soul but also for my life and health. We receive whole salvation when we reply completely on the grace of God. We can find such grace of God in the Psalms. Psalm 103:1-5 says, "Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." God saves our soul and also He can save our daily life and health. The fall of Adam and Eve implicated not only the fall of the soul. Their bodies were condemned to die as soon as their souls fell into temptation. After soon as Adam and Eve committed sin against God, they both were deprived of their paradise, the Garden of Eden. God cursed the earth they had to live on, and to their grief, the fruit of their labor produced thorns and thistles. We will not be able to reach happiness until we seek salvation from the Lord. We can have the wealth of the world and still not be happy. We can have physical health and still not be happy. We can be saved only when Jesus comes to our heart. We cannot be happy without salvation in the very center of our being. Our life will become wholly healthy when our soul becomes well. This truth has been etched into the very deep of my heart, and I have boldly preached that you will live a life in full when you believe in Jesus because He will restore your soul, your life and health. Jesus said, “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). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). The bible is not a record of old folklore. It is a love letter to us today. All things will continue to be done according to God’s word. There was no room for compromise around God’s word for me. I just believed it and preached it. And day by day people came. Membership reached 500 in three years. The poverty of Korea on the hillsides of shantytown was beyond description. Korea’s GNP at that time was $69.00, which was around 1,200 Korean won. We were so poor. We were the poorest country in the world. But by the power of God’s grace, love and blessing, the membership of our church continued to skyrocket day by day. We moved to Seo-dae-Moon. Many people argued, “Pastor Cho. This is not a good choice. Look! The Jung-Dong church is there, as are the Dok-rip-Moon Church and the Young-rak church also there. They are all big churches. You may not survive there.” I answered them, “This may be so from a human’s perspective, but I am not alone. I am with Jesus. Everyone needs Jesus, the sinful, the sick, the poor, the hungry all need Jesus. We are with the One who meets all needs, who satisfies all hearts, and changes all lives. Those who need Jesus will come.” We prayed to God a lot. “Oh, God. Please help us because we are in difficult circumstances.” Then unexpectedly we heard that the Metropolis of Seoul was going to develop Yoido. We reasoned that nobody wanted to go to Yoido, that “The Metropolis of Seoul was doing a foolish thing. Yoido Island was undeveloped without any infrastructure - no electricity, no water supply, no heating. Nobody could live there. Who was going to go to Yoido?” People laughed at the city plan. Hyeon-ok Kim was the mayor of Seoul City at that time. His plan got him into much difficulty. Simultaneous with the mayor’s plan to develop Yoido, we began to quickly outgrow our Seo-dae-Moon Church; and needed to build a new church but could not find any vacant land. The mayor called me offering us land to purchase in Yoido. He was overjoyed when he heard that we were actually looking for land and he generously offered me 82 acres. I was surprised. I didn’t think that I could manage even 8.2 acres, 10% of what he offered. Actually I only wanted 2.4 acres. “What can you do with 2.4 acres? Take 82 acres.” Nothing is wrong with the bible. It says, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” God wanted to fill but I opened my mouth only a little. Even now we are standing before God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Expect God’s wonderful promise. He will accomplish His plan through you. Let us all pray! Our living heavenly Father! Thank you for your grace for establishing the Myung-sung Presbyterian Church. It could not be done by might nor by power. Only by the Holy Spirit we can do this work. Father God, You chose Pastor Sam-hwan Kim. You anointed him and allowed him to do your work. Continually anoint him. Grant him your power. Let there be your grace. Bless every person who goes into and comes out of this church. Let them find pasture here. Help them to enjoy good health both in body and soul and let all go well with them, even as their souls are getting along well. Let them live a positive and active life with a creative attitude. Fulfill their lives with God’s glory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 1