There are many ways to be reminded of our age. Well, here is one of them: The other day, when Santy and I were at our daughter’s home, one of our grandsons said to me, “Kung Kung, let me read to you.” Apparently, it was not a request but an order, because he just took my hand, sat me down, and started reading to me—cover to cover. And his brother also did the same thing to Santy—he read to her! Just several years ago it was we who read to them but now it’s they who read to us. I can only guess, it is because they see us so old that we cannot read anymore and need them to read to us.
Time certainly flies; what I did not know was that it flies so fast! The other day I spoke with a minister-friend of mine. I still remember the first church that he pastored decades ago, but now he’s talking about retirement. Time flies, but we do not have to fly along with time at that fast speed. We can still savor and live each minute. We who take the time and do not rush are often used by God to do His will and to reflect the glory of His Son Jesus, as shown by this story.
Because their meeting ran late, five out-of-town salesmen rushed to the station to catch a train home. Inadvertently one of them kicked over a table on which was a basket of apples; it belonged to a blind boy who was selling apples. These salesmen climbed up to the train except one, who out of compassion, decided to help the boy collect his apples. He told his colleagues to call his wife and tell her that he would come home late. Finding that some of the apples were split, he took twenty dollars out of his wallet and gave it to the boy to pay for those apples. The boy took the money; while the salesman was walking away, the boy called after him and asked, “Are you Jesus?”
It is when we walk and not run that we can become more like Jesus and be used by Him. You see, Jesus never ran; He always walked.
Pastor Paul
Last Friday we celebrated our adoptive country’s 249th anniversary as an independent nation. On July 4, 1776, in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, fifty-six men put their signatures on a piece of document that altered the direction of this country: Independence! But by putting down their signatures they also risked their lives to be hung on the gallows by the British government. Napoleon Hill, an inspirational self-help and leadership book’s author makes an astute comment about this momentous time in US history, “The value of decisions depends on the courage required to render them.” Their courage under fire was not in vain; God has blessed America.
The Book of Deuteronomy contains the farewell speech of Moses. Toward the end of his speech, he warned the nation of Israel to be faithful to the Lord God and not to turn to other gods and idols. In his words, “Make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison” (29:18). That root that produces bitter poison is none other than gradual shift to other gods and idols. Sadly, Israel failed; throughout the times of the Judges and the Kings, this bitter poison took root and flourished, requiring God to punish them.
Root that produces bitter poison is present not only outside of our home; it is also in our home, isn’t it? It is not only in spiritual form, but also in mental and emotional form. We might think that we are giving our children medicine and supplements to make them strong but judging from their mental anguish, we are giving them poison. Consequently, they grow up feeling bitter and defeated, but what is worse is that they end up growing roots that produce bitter poison.
So, take heed. Make sure that we do not plant roots that produce bitter poison. Instead, plant roots that produce “fruit in its season.” We may not see the fruit yet but in its season, it will bear fruit.
Pastor Paul
Last Wednesday in our Bible Study Fellowship we learned about Nicodemus, about his big heart and humility. It’s that character that enabled him to come to Jesus and to hear what He had to say to him. Based on that we concluded that spiritual growth cannot be separated from mental and emotional growth. In other words, our knowledge of God depends on how pure and how big our heart it. The bigger and the purer the heart is, the more accurate and the deeper our knowledge of God is, which will have a direct effect on how effective our ministry will be. The opposite is of course true.
In his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Pastor Peter Scazsero shares his observation about those in ministry and concludes, “work for God that is not nourished by a deep interior life WITH God will eventually be contaminated by other things such as ego, power . . . . When we work for God because of these things, our experience of the Gospel often falls off the center. We become ‘human doings’ not ‘human beings.’ Our experiential sense of worth and validation gradually shifts from God’s unconditional love for us in Christ to our works and performance.” Sadly, his analysis is true, not only for ministry but also for other areas, such as work and relationships.
Our insecurity does not only affect our ministry—trusting others— but also relationships—letting others be. Our ego does not only affect our ministry—demanding recognition from others—but also relationships—putting our needs over and above those of others. In the end our concept of God and His work is also skewed. We limit it and make rules that have nothing to do with God’s will. In the case of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the high priests in Jesus’ time, to make Him gone, they killed Him. So, let’s heed the warning, “We must first clean the inside of the cup and dish” (Matthew 23:26).
Pastor Paul
St. Francis Medical Center, in Lynwood, is of course named after St. Francis of Assisi, whose primary calling and mission was to serve the poor. In keeping with the purpose, St. Francis Medical Center has faithfully served the poor Angelinos, not only the model citizens but also the troubled ones. One such man who was admitted for gun-shot wound was Cesar Galan, who’s recently featured in LA Times.
Cesar grew up in Artesia, got involved in gang life, but something happened twenty-four years ago: he and his brother were shot by a man who was just released from prison. He survived the gunshot, but his brother didn’t. As a result of the gunshot, he is paralyzed from the chest down. It was while he was in the hospital, he met Chaplain Hirbe who ministered to him. After he was released, Hirbe continued to visit him, and later enrolled him in a chaplain’s trainee program at St. Francis. Cesar began attending Mass and reading the Bible, and in the end, felt called to be a priest. Seven years later, he was ordained a priest, and his assignment was St. Francis Hospital.
That’s what Christian ministry should be. It’s not just saving the soul but also saving mind and body. It is not only caring about whether one will go to heaven but also caring about whether one will be able to go to school or to work or to get the help they need. It’s through Chaplain Hirbe that Cesar became the man that he is. It’s from him that Cesar learned about the grace of God, the lesson that he now shares with those he serves, “The only sin that can’t be forgiven is a sin that you’re not sorry for.” Grace always comes to a sorry heart.
On his wheelchair Father Cesar visits patients who upon seeing his condition tend to open to him. He understands, not only because he was once there in the same ICU, but also because he was once there, lying in his own blood, but later cleansed by Jesus’ blood.
Pastor Paul
It is not always easy to admit to our mistakes; our natural tendency is to explain away our mistakes and shift the blame to something or someone else. But it is almost equally difficult to be gracefully right. When we are right, we usually demand that others acknowledge it and if they don’t, we get angry and resort to forceful ways to make them see that we are right, and hopefully, admit to their wrongs.
Dallas Willard shares his wisdom about how hard it is to be right, “Being right is actually a very hard burden to be able to carry gracefully and humbly. That’s why nobody likes to sit next to the kid in class who’s right all the time. One of the hardest things in the world is to be right and not hurt other people with it.” Yes, we hurt people by being wrong, but we also hurt them by being right. It is not easy to be right, graceful and humble at the same time. As fathers, the burden is even heavier. We’re the authority figures, so we want to make sure that we’re right all the time. Hence, we do not take it kindly when we are pushed to the corner to admit the wrong that we have done. And when we think we are right, we do not take it gracefully when our wives or children refuse to admit the mistakes they have made. We want them to acknowledge that we are right; our authority is on the line, and we want to preserve it.
So, here is what we must do: When we are wrong, be humble; when we are right, be graceful. When we are wrong, be humble to admit and to apologize; when we are right, be graceful to forgive and to let go. It is enough to show what is right; there is no need to show what and who is wrong. In fact, there is no need to make them feel bad and apologize to us. What our children need more than seeing us, their fathers, right is seeing their fathers graceful and humble. It gives them room to be human and teaches them to also be graceful.
Pastor Paul
Today is the Day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter, the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus. Two thousand years ago today marked the beginning of a new era, a new way of God’s guiding His people to live in His will. His Holy Spirit is now in us to illuminate us and empower us, and when it is needed, to convict us of our sins. We know God is with us through His Spirit.
We often hear people say, “The Spirit works in a mysterious way.” The word, “mysterious,” simply means that we do not always know what the Holy Spirit does and how He accomplishes something. It is shielded from us not out of malicious intent but because it is not the time for us to know or because we are not ready to accept what is in the will of God for us right there and then. We will know it later.
One such man that did not know what the Holy Spirit was doing and what He purposed to accomplish was Inigo of Spain. He had no plan to be useful in the Kingdom of God, let alone be called to ministry. His chief goal in life was to be famous; that’s all. Consequently, he’s obsessed with his appearance. All that was abruptly upended when he was wounded in a battle, causing him to limp for the rest of his life. It was when he was recovering in Loyola that God called him.
In 1534 along with some friends he founded Companio de Jesus, or the Society of Jesus, known today as the Jesuits, whose mission is to find God in all things. Inigo changed his name to Ignatius, Ignatius of Loyola that is. Glenn Packiam, in The Resilient Pastor, summed it well: He spread a spirituality that does not seek a monastery apart from the world but sees the world as a monastery.” Amen to that!
The Holy Spirit is at work, not only in us, not only in the church, but also in the world. That makes the world in a way, like a big church. In His mysterious ways He calls, He changes, and He uses people.
Pastor Paul
Our Lord was “taken up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19). It was then that the disciples began to worship Him, as recorded by Mathew and Luke. Resurrection was enough to make them believe that Jesus, their so-called rabbi, was divine, but Ascension made them convinced that Jesus was truly God. He was among them but not of them; He’s God-incarnate in human flesh. Not only did He deserve, but He was also rightly to be worshipped.
In his book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth E. Bailey relates a story about worship. Near the end of the Civil War, when the city of Richmond, Virginia fell to the northern army, Abraham Lincoln insisted on visiting the still burning southern capital. Out of the blue a former slave who felt immense gratitude to the president for abolishing slavery, ran toward him, fell on his knees, and kissed his feet. Surprised and embarrassed, President Lincoln told him, “That’s not right. You must kneel to God only and thank Him for liberty.” Even though Lincoln had a big part in abolishing slavery, he knew that it was God who made liberty possible. He’s just a tool in God’s hand. Hence, he did not deserve to be worshipped, God did.
Jesus deserves to be worshipped because He is the Son of God in human flesh. His dwelling on earth was temporary; His dwelling in heaven is permanent. His rightful place is at the right hand of God not at the right hand of men, but to fulfill His Father’s holy mission He willingly placed Himself next to men, even next to criminals. So, worship Him. Every time we walk in and sit on this pew, remember that we are in the presence of God Almighty. When we sing songs to Christ and hear the message from the Bible, worship Him. And when we pray both for us and others in need, worship Him. Like the former slave, we, too, are freed slaves, set free by the Blood.
Pastor Paul
In his devotional book, Victorious Living, E. Stanley Jones, former US missionary to India, has seen hundreds of missionaries come out to India to serve the Lord there. He observes that after serving for a year or longer, some become more self-giving, but some become more self-centered and even develop bad tempers and pride. He describes them as spiritual blurs; they are “serving Christ but not living like Him.” Unfortunately, there are too many spiritual blurs. They may wear the cross, but sadly, they are void of the cross.
Corrie ten Boom shares that one of the hardest times of her life was the night after her sister Betsie passed away while they both were in Nazi’s concentration camp. That night she could not sleep, she kept thinking about her beloved sister. It was then she saw a gaunt and thin woman walking down the aisle between the beds looking for a place to sleep. She recognized her as Russian, and Russians were not well-received in the prison camp’ that’s the reason she had no place to sleep. Because Betsie’s bed was empty, Corrie then motioned to the woman to sleep in Betsie’s bed, which she did.
They both then lay down facing each other, sharing the same pillow. Corrie wanted to talk to her but couldn't because she did not speak Russian, so in the end, she gently asked her, “Jesoes Christoes?” The moment she heard the Name, she exclaimed, “Oh!” She then made the sign of the cross, threw her arms around Corrie and kissed her. That night, in her deep sorrow after losing a sister, God brought a “sister” to Corrie. And the Russian woman in her deep sorrow not only for being in prison but also for being shunned by the others, found a sister in Corrie. Both found each other because both had Jesus of the cross in their hearts. No matter what the situation is, it doesn’t matter where we are, so long as we have Jesus of the cross, we will be all right. We will serve Christ, live like Him, be led by Him.
Pastor Paul
Last week we celebrated Mother’s Day, the day when we show our love and appreciation to not only our mothers but also all mothers. They who bore us and carried us around for nine months, they who raised us and took care of us, and they who’ve never stopped loving us no matter how undeserving we can be, deserve our appreciation, not only a day in a year but every day of the year. Thank you, Mom.
In my years of ministry, rarely have I met mothers who do not love their children; almost all love their children. So, what I have found to be the problem is not whether they love their children but rather how they love their children—the right way or the wrong way. It’s not that they love their children too much; I am inclined to believe that in general mothers love their children much. The problem is some do not love their children in ways that make their children grow up to be responsible and mature adults. It’s the wrong way.
In Luke 2 we can read the story of Jesus who, at age 12, went with His parents to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. We do not know the detail of what happened but when Mary and Joseph left the city, they left Jesus behind. Even though they had traveled a day’s journey, the moment they realized that that their son was missing, they headed back to Jerusalem. They looked everywhere for three days; we can only imagine how anxious they must be. In the end they decided to look for Him in the Temple; there they found Him, “sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions” (2:46). Naturally Mary asked Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” To which, Jesus replied, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” That is the right way to love our children: To raise them up to be the men and women God wants them to be, not we want them to be.
Pastor Paul
Today we rejoice with our Catholic brothers and sisters because God has appointed a new Pope to replace the beloved Pope Francis. Pope Leo XIV, born and raised in Chicago as Robert Francis Prevost has been elected to sit in the chair of Peter the apostle, as the 267th Pope. Our faith is bult upon facts, not fables. Just like Jesus, Peter existed in history; he was one of the disciples of Jesus. But unlike Jesus whose tomb was empty, Peter’s tomb was not. His bones are still there, underneath the main altar of St. Peter Basilica in Vatican City. Emperor Nero only killed the body of Peter, he could not kill the spirit of Peter, who remains alive and well to this very day.
When I think of Rome, I cannot help but be amazed by the work of God. Who would have thought that the government that executed Jesus ended up becoming the bastion of Christendom? Who would have thought that the kingdom that, under Nero, persecuted and killed Christians, including Peter and Paul, became the protector of Christianity? No one would have thought that, but God did. As He called Paul to be an emissary of the Gospel, He called Rome to be the steward of His body—the Church. The amazing work of God!
The amazing work of God begins with the amazing work He does to the men and women He calls. Compared to Pope Leo XIV who was known to be a brilliant student, Peter was a fisherman. The only so-called formal education he received was perhaps the three years he sat at the tutelage of Jesus. Like all the disciples of Jesus, Peter was chosen not because of what he could bring to Jesus, but because of what Jesus could bring to Peter. Jesus knew He could transform this fisherman to be a fisher of men. Peter had a teachable quality and to Jesus, that’s enough. He knew that He could do amazing work in this simple man and that He could entrust him with “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” God’s amazing work begins and ends with us.
Pastor Paul