Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25 - "Repenting of the Gospel"

KNU International English Church
January 27, 2008

Read Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25.

Jesus traveled around Galilee “announcing the gospel” (4:23). “From then on Jesus began to preach” (4:17). The word “preach” here means to proclaim, to deliver the message of a king, to announce the king’s “good news” or “gospel.”

“Gospel” is a very important word for us Christians. We talk about explaining the gospel, preaching the gospel, living the gospel, bringing the gospel, even giving our lives for the gospel. This “gospel” is definitely a big deal for us Christians. But maybe we have misunderstood the gospel.

I remember a time during my first year here. I was preaching about the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross. I drew the Bridge Illustration on a white board, and I talked about how our sins separate us from God and how Jesus’ cross makes a bridge for us to return to God and to experience God’s life.

After the sermon, one of the people came up to me, shook my hand with both of his hands, and said, “You preached the true, pure gospel today!” At the time, I felt like that was a great compliment. But now I’m not so sure.

One of my favorite writers is Brian McClaren. He is helping me and lots of other people better understand the gospel. Almost 20 years ago, someone did the same thing for him. McClaren was having lunch with a friend, and his friend leaned across the table and said, “You know Brian, most evangelicals don't really know what the gospel is."

Brian, an evangelical, just stared into his soup and tried to avoid the implied question. His friend pushed on, “For example, what do you think the gospel is?” No getting out of it this time. He’d have to answer.

Brian pulled out all of the heavy theological words that evangelicals like to use: “justification … by grace through faith … not by works … the atoning work of Christ on the cross.” If you didn’t get all of that, don’t worry. He was stating the standard position described in that “bridge illustration”: the gospel is that God forgives our sins through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Brian’s friend said, “Well that's exactly what most evangelicals think.”

Brian turned the question around: “Well, what do you say the gospel is?”

And this is where the change started coming for Brian McClaren. His friend replied, “Shouldn't we let Jesus define the gospel for us? For Jesus, the gospel is ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand.’”
Hmmm … that’s from our passage today: “From then on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 4:17). Jesus traveled around “announcing the Good News (the gospel) about the Kingdom” (4:23).

Brian McClaren says that he distinctly remembers thinking that his friend was “probably a heretic.” But he never could get away from that conversation. For years and years, he went back to that simple conversation. He kept thinking about it: “For Jesus, the gospel is that the kingdom of God is at hand.”[1] What does that mean?

When we read this text, we need to ask some basic questions. What did Jesus preach? What was his message? Did he preach what most Christians today preach? Did he say, “Come get your sins forgiven? My death will pay the price for your sins so that you can be forgiven and be close to God and live happily ever after in heaven?” Was that the “gospel” Jesus talked about?

Jesus actually preached very little about the forgiveness of sins. And when he did preach about forgiving sins, he was usually talking about people forgiving each other. If Jesus hardly ever talked about forgiveness of sins, then that can’t be the summary of the “gospel of Jesus Christ.” We have to look for something more, something closer to what Jesus did actually preach and teach.

What did Jesus preach? What was the focus of his message? Matthew gives us a one sentence summary of all of Jesus’ teaching: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (4:17). Let’s take some time to think about each part of this basic message.

What does “repent” mean? Matthew says that in Jesus a light has shined us people who live in darkness. Brian McClaren says that repentance is a “profound rethinking … It means looking at every facet of your life again in this new light – from the way you think about God to the way you treat your spouse, from your political affiliations to your spending habits, from what makes you angry to what makes you happy. It doesn’t mean everything changes all at once, but it means you open up the possibility that everything may change over time. It involves a deep sense that you may be wrong, wrong about so much, along with the sincere desire to realign around what is good and true.”[2]

We need to repent of our old understanding of the gospel. We don’t need to abandon it or leave it behind, but we need to rethink it. We need to enlarge it. We need to admit that the way we have understood the gospel is too small. We need to put that old understanding of being “saved by grace through faith” within the larger picture of the gospel that Jesus preached: “the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

OK, then, what does “the Kingdom of Heaven” mean? Well, for starters, “the Kingdom of Heaven” and “the Kingdom of God” are the same thing. “The Kingdom of Heaven” is just Matthew’s conservative Jewish way of saying “the Kingdom of God.”

So what is this “Kingdom of God” that is so central to Jesus’ teaching? Matthew quotes Isaiah 9 as a background for Jesus’ preaching on the Kingdom of God, so let’s read that now.

Read Isaiah 9:1-7.

I just can’t read this without thinking of Handel’s Messiah: “And He shall be call-ed: Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And the government shall rest upon his shoulders!”

This passage from Isaiah 9 tells us a few things about the Kingdom of God which are important for us.

First, the Kingdom of God shines a light. This light is for people who are “walking in darkness.” The light shines and shows the right path. It shows us where and how to walk.

Second, this light shines among the “Gentiles.” In both Hebrew and Greek the word for “Gentiles” means “outsiders” or “those who are different from us.” It’s amazing to me that the light will shine among people who are living among outsiders or “others.” Maybe the Kingdom of God is seen best when we establish community with people who are different from us.

Next, there is great joy in the Kingdom of God. “They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder” (Isaiah 9:3). Some people say that one modern way to translate “the Kingdom of God” is “the party of God.” Jesus seems to agree. He said the Kingdom of God is like a huge wedding party, where lots of different people are invited.

Then, Isaiah explains that the people are so joyful because they are finally experiencing justice and peace. “For you will break the yoke of slavery and lift the heaven burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod … The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned” (9:5). In the Kingdom of God, people don’t use and abuse each other. In the Kingdom of God people are set free to live in peace with each other.

Finally, this Kingdom will never end. “His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice … for all eternity” (9:6). Sometimes our experience of God seems so temporary – here one minute and gone the next. But Isaiah reminds us that the Kingdom of God lasts forever because the King will rule forever.

So what is the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is basically the experience of God as King. It is a return to God’s dreams for the world. It is the reinvasion of God’s grace, peace, and justice into our world. It is a revolution of love. It is a grassroots movement of mercy.

Since I’m in the singing mood, let me summarize it like this. When Jesus says “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand,” he is basically calling out like Aladdin in the Disney classic:

I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid …
I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways and under …
A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view …
Unbelievable sights
Indescribable feeling …

A whole new world …[3]

OK, so maybe Jesus wasn’t that cheesy. But this is exactly what Jesus was saying, “Hey, there’s a whole new world out there, right here. It’s way different from the way you’re living. It will turn your mind upside down, sideways, under. It’s life ruled by the grace and peace of God. I know – it’s almost unbelievable, indescribable really, but I can take you there if you dare to follow me. You can have it right now if you will just live like me.”

Last question: What does “at hand” or “near” mean? The Kingdom of God is at hand. To explain this let me tell you a little story.

Last week, on Thursday night I went to bed about 3 am. The next morning I was tired and grumpy, and I had a headache. I’m not a very nice Daddy when I’m tired.

I asked Emma to get ready while I was taking a shower. She didn’t.

I went into her room and picked out some clothes for her, and I asked her to get dressed while I was getting dressed. She didn’t. I was frustrated and grumpy. I said, “Emma put on these clothes right now!”

Emma immediately started crying, “I don’t want to wear these clothes! I want to pick out my own clothes!”

“Fine! Pick out your own clothes. Just get dressed.”

“But I don’t want to wear these clothes! I want to pick out my own clothes!”

“Emma, I said you don’t have to wear these clothes. Pick out whatever you want to wear, and get dressed!”

“But I don’t want to wear these clothes! I want to pick out my own clothes!”

At that point, something in me broke and my grumpiness turned into meanness. I picked up the clothes off the bed, and I threw them in her wardrobe and slammed the door, and I said, “See, those clothes are gone! Wear whatever you want! Just get dressed!”

As I walked out of the room, Emma said, “You’re making me even more sadder!”

OK, I know, I was a big meanie! I was sleep deprived! Try to get past my meanness to see the point here. Emma’s clothes were “at hand.” She could wear whatever she wanted. She could reach in her closet and pick out anything she wanted to wear. They were “at hand.” She spent her morning crying about wanting something that was already “at hand.”

Jesus is saying, “Look people, the Kingdom of God is at hand! God’s revolutionary way of life - filled with joy, unity, peace, justice, freedom, compassion – this life that we all want is right here right now. All we have to do is reach out and take it. Start living it right here, right now. Quit complaining about the world not being good or loving or just, and make it fair and loving and just in your own actions. The Kingdom of God is here, available to all of us. We just have to start living it.”

This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is at hand. The Kingdom of God is here at our fingertips. God’s grace, God’s love, God’s peace, God’s justice are right here for anyone who is willing to live them. This is the gospel. This is the good news. May God help us to live the gospel of Jesus Christ!

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[1] Eric Hurtgen, “The Secret Message of Jesus,” Relevant Magazine, http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7108, downloaded on 1.24.08.

[2] Brian McClaren, The Secret Message of Jesus, (W Publishing: Nashville, 2006), 105.

[3] “A Whole New World,” from the 1992 Disney movie Aladdin, lyrics by Tim Rice.

Mr. and Mrs. Clause

So on Christmas Eve, Sarah and I somehow ended up playing Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause (or Santa's helper) at a neighborhood English kindergarten. It was actually pretty fun. The school had it all worked out where the parents had sent each of the kids with a secret present and a message from Santa. So I ended up telling lots of kids to eat their vegetables and study hard. I also told lots of kids that their parents loved them very much.


I'm just now catching up with my emails, so here are a few pictures of Santa (AKA: Abbominal Snowman) and crew.

Best Movie #73 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

In our latest installment of movies from the American Film Institute's best 100 movies of all time, Sarah and I watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid last night (thus making me late for pool night). This one weighed in at #73. (We're watching them on an availability basis.)
I was a little disappointed. I mean, it was a good movie, but definitely not among the best I've ever seen.
Probably the most notable point of the movie was the striking lack of dialog. The opening scene has Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) quietly walking around looking at something. As the scene develops, the audience begins to understand that he's looking at a bank and that he's scouting it for a robbery, but he there are no words for a good minute or two. This is kind of thing is repeated several times throughout the movie.
Most of the movie is taken up with Butch and Sundance's robbing of banks or trains and subsequent escapes from the law. It ends predictably in a bloody shoot out, unpredictably in Bolivia (apparently true to life).
One one level, it's just a simple crime-doesn't-pay movie that half glorifies crime and half shows how stupid it is. On another level, it shows the personality of Butch and Sundance as real people with real relationship and real feelings. There is a pretty cool scene with Butch playing around on a bicycle, having tender moments oddly enough with Sundance's girlfriend.
I guess the beauty of it is in its simplicity. It is slow moving and straight forward. It just tells a story, or almost lets the story tell itself. The dialog is often sparse (partly because of Sundance's reticence, which reminded me often of Sarah's dad), and the humor is wry. I often had the sense that these were just two guys doing an ordinary day's work, enjoying a genuine friendship. The robbing seemed almost incidental to their friendship.
Over all, I'll give the movie the josh rating of: jjj. (I would give it 3 1/2, but that doesn't really work so well.)

Matthew 4:1-11: "Tempting God"

KNU International English Church

Josh Broward

January 20, 2008

Read Matthew 4:1-11.

This text brings up a lot of questions. Why would the Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted? If Jesus really was God, how could he be tempted to sin? Isn’t sin impossible for God? If Jesus could really sin, then he must not have been God? If he couldn’t really sin, then he must not have really been tempted? What was so bad about the things the devil asked Jesus to do? Making some bread isn’t that bad is it? And one of my biggest questions: if Satan was just going to leave when Jesus told him to go, why didn’t Jesus just tell Satan to get away in the first place?!

Let’s just walk through this story together and see if we find some answers or maybe even some new questions.

The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness as a time of testing to prepare Jesus for his ministry. In fact, the Greek word used here can mean either test or tempt. The forty days are parallel with Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness: “Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands” (Deuteronomy 8:2). Out in the raw, rugged desert, people learn to rely on God.

This was the case for Jesus. Out in the wilderness, all alone with the Spirit and Satan, Jesus faces the deep questions of his life and ministry. How will he use the power of God? What kind of Messiah will he be?

Jesus was very human. These were very real temptations. I believe a big part of Jesus actually wanted to say “YES!” to the devil’s suggestions.

He had not eaten for 40 days, and in classic understatement the Bible says, he was “very hungry.” Ya think!?! He was starving, literally! A little fast food probably sounded like a great idea.

He has this mission to be Israel’s Messiah. He’s got to get their attention somehow. Now, you have to understand that the Temple was on the edge of a great cliff. It was 450 feet or 140 meters to the bottom. Josephus, a Jewish historian, said it made you dizzy just to look down that far. There’s Satan and Jesus on top of the Temple, looking down, getting dizzy, and Jesus is thinking, “I can see it now. I’d get a running start and jump way out there, and I’d just free fall like a cliff diver almost to the ground. Everyone would be looking at me. Then, at the last second, I’d kick in my super-Spirit jets, and the angels would shout out, ‘Here he comes to save the day! It’s Super-Messiah! That could work! And it would be so much easier than that slow, tedious plan the Father suggested.”

And as for “the kingdoms of the world and all their glory,” well that’s a big part of why Jesus came. He was Israel’s Messiah, to be sure, but he was also the King of the Universe. The plan was to gather all peoples together under one king. Why not take a little short cut? What’s one little compromise to save all that time?”

Part of Jesus wanted to do it. Part of Jesus wanted to give in. Part of Jesus wanted to sin. It’s true. It has to be true, or it wouldn’t be temptation.

So what happened? If Jesus wanted to do it, why didn’t he? Even though part of him wanted to say “Yes” to Satan (and to himself), a bigger, deeper part of him wanted to say “Yes” to God the Father. This was the test really. Was Jesus more committed to God or to himself?

This is the beautiful thing about Jesus’ temptation. He was really tempted. Part of him actually wanted to sin. He knows how it feels to want to sin. He “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He held his ground. He held on to God. “Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested” (Hebrews 2:18). That’s the beautiful part of this story.

But there’s an ugly part to this story, too. I think the Jewish people would have actually encouraged Jesus to give in to Satan’s temptations.

They needed bread. They were struggling to feed their families because of the heavy Roman taxes. Turning rocks into bread would guarantee there would never be another hungry night. There were lots of rocks!

And it would have been really cool to see Jesus jump from the Temple roof, right?! I mean who wouldn’t want to see that? In fact, one would-be Messiah named Simon Magus tried this very thing. (It didn’t work out so well for him Simon, though.)[1]

The Jews were thoroughly convinced of the Messianic prophecies that promised that all of the kingdoms of the world would come and bow down before the Messiah. The glory of the world would stream to Jerusalem, and they would become the princes of the universe. Take the deal Jesus!

In fact, we know that the Jews wanted Jesus to do this kind of thing because they actually asked for it later on. After Jesus did a miracle with bread and fish to feed 5,000 people, the people said, “Hey, this is great! Give us this bread every day!” (John 6:34) At a different time, “the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority” (Matthew 16:1). Amazing, they came to “test” or to “tempt” Jesus by asking for a miracle. And at one point the people were even ready to force Jesus to be their king (John 6:14-15).

We might think this was all easy for Jesus to deal with, but it wasn’t. Jesus seems to have been tempted all along the way. When Jesus got a clear picture of the cross that was coming for him, taking over as the powerful Messiah must have seemed better and better to him. At one point, Jesus is trying to get his disciples ready for the fact that he’s going to die on the cross. But Peter takes him aside and reminds Jesus of the powerful Messiah story: “Dude, Jesus! You forgot how this goes! One of these days, you’re going to stand up and take over the world in a blaze of glory!”

The strength of Jesus’ response shows us how strong this temptation was for him. Jesus said to Peter – to Peter, the lead disciple, the future leader of the church, one Jesus’ closest friends – “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (Matthew 16:23).

Throughout Jesus’ life, his own people, his own disciples, even his own family (John 7:2-5) – these people become the ones who tempt Jesus. They are the ones who try to steer Jesus away from God’s will toward selfish living. The people didn’t actually want the religion that Jesus was preaching. Who wants to love your enemies and die on a cross and all that? The people just wanted to use the Messiah religion to make their lives better. The people wanted the stuff: “Show me the bread!” The people wanted the spectacular manipulation of God’s power: “Do that cool miracle thing again.” The people wanted the power of politics and might: “Be our King and take over the world!”

Jesus’ own people take the role of Satan in his life, so much so that Jesus even says one of the best became a living embodiment of Satan. Jesus had to deal with temptation out in the wilderness when he was all alone because his people were going to bring him temptation left and right. Jesus’ people were an almost constant source of temptation for him.

Is anyone starting to feel a little uncomfortable here? We are Jesus’ disciples and Jesus’ people, too. As we read through the gospels, it’s pretty safe to picture ourselves doing whatever it is that the disciples do. We are still Jesus’ people, and we pretty much respond to Jesus like people have always responded to Jesus.

Wait a minute. If Jesus’ own people were the ones who tempted Jesus … if Jesus’ own disciples took the role of Satan in Jesus’ life … if we are Jesus’ disciples and Jesus’ people too … if we live pretty much like they did … then that means that we are in the place of Satan in this story. We are the ones who tempt Jesus today. We are the ones who don’t want the religion Jesus is preaching. We are the ones want to use the Messiah’s religion to make our lives better: “Show me the money! Give me that cool feeling again! Give us a sign! Help us take back our country for Christ! Give us a godly president (who will help the economy and won’t raise our taxes and will crush all those other people we don’t like)! Receive my 10% offering so that I won’t feel guilty for spending the other 90% on totally selfish things!”

Just like the disciples, and just like the ancient Israelites in the wilderness, we are still putting the Lord our God to the test (Matthew 4:7). We are still tempting God. We are still asking God to do things for our own selfish reasons. We are still sitting in the place of Satan, fighting for the wrong team, going in the wrong direction, working against God. We are still using the religion of the Messiah to accomplish our own ends.

We don’t actually want Jesus’ religion. We want a religion that will build us up, not one that will break us down. We want a religion that will give to us, not one that will give us. We want a religion that will give us something to be proud of, not one that will teach us to be humble.

What’s going on here? How is it that Jesus’ people still don’t want Jesus’ religion? Why are we still tempting God? Why are we still failing God’s test? After all these years, how are we still missing it?

The sad truth is that we are bent in upon ourselves. We are basically selfish. Sin has messed us up. We are like a plastic cup that got too close to the fire. We are bent and misshapen. Our basic tendency is to live for ourselves by ourselves.

When Jesus calls us to a new kind of life, we don’t know what to do. When Jesus tells us that we will gain true life by dying with him, we don’t know how to understand that. When Jesus tells us when get the most when we give the most away, that just doesn’t make sense to us. We Jesus tells us to love until it hurts, it might sound good, but most of the time we just can’t actually do it. When we read the gospel’s call to unselfishness and sacrifice, it seems so difficult that we just turn the page and read something else that sounds easier to follow.

That’s the ugly part of this story. 2,000 years later, we are still living on Satan’s team, more than we want to admit.

So what are we to do? How do we get out of this mess? Is there any hope here? Is there any hope for us and for the church?

The good news here is that Jesus really was human. -- Huh? I thought we already covered that? -- We did. When Jesus went out into the wilderness to be tested, he was 100% human, and he passed the test. He had two dynamic resources that gave him the strength to stand up against Satan’s temptations and to stand strong on God’s side with unselfish obedience.

He had two not-so-secret weapons: the Spirit and the Word. The Spirit “settled on” Jesus. God’s Holy Spirit became a permanent part of Jesus’ life. Throughout Jesus’ life, he spent time cultivating his relationship with the Spirit. He pulled away from the crowd and spent time with God. This is the only way he gained the strength to be unselfish when he was surrounded by people asking him to be selfish. Most important of all, Jesus always obeyed the Spirit. He followed the Spirit’s leading. He built a strong connection with the Spirit because he always did what God asked him to do.

Second, Jesus had the Word. If Jesus was like most Jewish boys, by the age of 12, he would have memorized the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) – every word by heart. Then, if he did a good job with that, he would have gone on to middle school where he would memorize the rest of the Old Testament – all 34 other books – by heart, every word, by the age of 15![2] When Jesus was tempted, he responded to that temptation by letting the Word of God guide his life. He lived by the Word. He shaped his life by the Word.

The good news for us – the wonderful news for us – is that the same two resources are available to us. God has not given up on us yet.

God’s Spirit is still at work in the world. God’s Spirit is still out here correcting our wrongs and giving us the strength to be right. God’s Spirit is still at work in the Church and in us “leading us into all truth” again and again and again (John 16:13). If we will submit ourselves to the Spirit, he will teach us how to live and give us the power to actually do it.

And “the word of God is [still] alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joints and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4:12). If we will submit ourselves to the word, God’s Spirit will use this sword to cut deep into our hearts to cut out our cancer, to mend our broken spirits, and to purify our hearts and our churches to become like Jesus.

And we still have Jesus “who was tempted in every way just as we are” and “is able to help us when we are being tested.” He has not given up on us. He is still with us.

So then, let’s submit ourselves to the Spirit. Let’s open our hearts and lives to his correction. Let’s submit ourselves to the Word. Let’s dig into the Bible again and rediscover who Jesus really is, promising to follow the Jesus we find there. And as we do this, “let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16). And that time – the time when we need help most, my friends – that time is now.

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[1] William Barclay, The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, vol 1. (Louisville: John Knox, 2001), 79.

[2] “To Be a Talmid,” http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2072.

100 Greatest Movies

So Sarah and I have gotten on an old movie kick. We watched Casablanca on YouTube, and we both thought it was great! That got us to thinking about other great movies, so we searched for the best movies of all time. We found this list by the American Film Institute. Unfortunately, it doesn't include international films, but we thought it would be a good start to take in some of the movies that are considered great by the "experts." We've heard of most of these, but also haven't seen about half.
I've set a goal to eventually watch all 100 of these movies. Probably by the time we're finished, there will be a new set of the new 100 best movies, but oh well, it will be a fun journey.
Here's what we've seen so far (at least recently).
3. Casablanca - great!
11. City Lights - a Charlie Chaplain silent film - I was a little sick, so I fell asleep on this one. Sarah said it was interesting, but not great.
20. It's a Wonderful Life - watched it for a Christmas event at church - still great; almost cried again!
100. Ben-Hur - very good, a bit cheesy at times, surprisingly religious, great story - really shows the tension (between Rome and God) for Jews of Jesus' day.

Nana and Grandpa Arrive

My parents arrived in Korea late Friday night, and they got into Cheonan in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I had some nice quiet reading and coffee drinking time waiting for them after Sarah konked out. (She's been getting over the flu. She always seems to be going through or getting over something this winter.)
Anyway they arrived without too much adieu. KNU practically delivered them to my doorstep, since they and another English Camp teacher were arriving late, after the buses stopped. So this time, I only had to walk across the street to pick them up instead of riding a bus for 3 hours each way. Much, much better!
They are now settled into our friends Joe and Elena Willey's apartment. (The Willeys are on vacation to the USA for almost exactly the same time frame that my parents are here in Korea.) That is a great set up for them, much better than the dorm or the single prof housing. Thanks Joe and Elena!
Saturday and Sunday we experienced the great gift deluge that always accompanies any visit to or by my Mom. She is the bargain shopper extraordinaire, and she has the gift of giving, so we always get lots of whatever it was that she could find. Of course, Emma is the main target of her shopping adventures, but Sarah and I also get in on the action some. Emma got lots of clothes, toys, shoes, and books. Sarah and I each got some nice clothes. We also got lots of desert mixes. Mom really hit the bullseye for me with her standard gifts of beef jerky and dried cranberries. I can't really get those here, and I really miss them. I ate a whole pack of beef jerky on Saturday. I've since slowed down. I've got to make all of this bounty last until the next visit or care package!
Emma was delighted to see her Nana and Grandpa, and she has pretty much remained in this euphoric state. She even went to get some of her neighbor friends to come to our house to meet them. This is probably the best Emma has ever received them. In the past, she has sometimes been unusually shy or standoffish. We aren't really sure what was going on there - maybe she felt threatened because Sarah and I were giving them our attention. Anyway, now, at the ripe old age of 4, Emma is delighted to have them, and we are delighted that she's so delighted.
Dad has graciously agreed to teach the adult Sunday School class while they are here. They have done this several times now, and some of the people are the same. Everyone looks forward to it. I'll have to talk to him about time management, though. Yesterday, he taught until 20-30 minutes into the service! He said, "Well, they just kept asking questions." They are both teachers at heart! I'm delighted to have their help. Matt and I have been filling in as the Adult Sunday School teachers ever since Stan Martin left in the summer. It's a little difficult to preach and teach in the same day, so I'm happy for the relief.
I'm really happy my parents can come. Sarah and I were talking about this a few days ago. We are really blessed to have these English camps. Thanks to them, my parents can basically live next door to us two months a year.

Matthew 3:13-17 - Different

KNU International English Church
Josh Broward
January 13, 2008

Different
Matthew 3:13-17

Today, I want to tell you four stories of surprise.

Our first story is from the movie, Guess Who. A young woman is bringing her new boyfriend home to meet the family. Everyone is excited because he is a stock broker. There’s just one problem…. He’s white.

[You can view this clip at YouTube: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2857021581637431225. Start with the time 3:40.]

I love that: “But he’s white!”

Sometimes the person we get is different from the person we expected.

Eventually, Bernie Mac gets over the shock of Ashton being white. Near the end of the movie, he learns to look past Ashton’s white-ness to see a young man who will make a great husband for his daughter.

That happens again in this story from one of the best chick-flicks ever: Anne of Green Gables. Matthew and Merilla Cuthbert are getting older, and they decide to get an orphan boy to help them do chores on their farm. There’s just one problem. He’s a she.

[You can view this clip at YouTube: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-189426764983465038&q=anne+of+green+gables&total=481&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0. Start at the beginning, and watch until 6:30 (or 7:30 if you have time).]

Sometimes the person we get is different from the person we expected.

Matthew Cuthbert quickly overcomes the fact that their “boy” was a girl. It takes Merilla a little more time, but eventually Anne (with an “E”) wins her heart, too. Near the end of the movie, Matthew and Merilla are overjoyed that someone sent them Anne.

Sometimes the person we get is different from the person we expected. That happened long ago in the story of John the Baptist. John was a fiery preacher, as I tried to show last week. (I’ve always wanted to yell like that!) John was preparing the way for God’s new King to come and redeem Israel.

Like most Israelites, John probably thought of the Messiah in terms of Psalm 2.

1-6 Why the big noise, nations? Why the mean plots, peoples?
Earth-leaders push for position,
Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers:
"Let's get free of God!
Cast loose from Messiah!"
Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing.
At first he's amused at their presumption;
Then he gets good and angry.
Furiously, he shuts them up:
"Don't you know there's a King in Zion? A coronation banquet
Is spread for him on the holy summit."

7-9 Let me tell you what God said next.
He said, "You're my son,
And today is your birthday.
What do you want? Name it:
Nations as a present? Continents as a prize?
You can command them all to dance for you,
Or throw them out with tomorrow's trash."

10-12 So, rebel-kings, use your heads;
Upstart-judges, learn your lesson:
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Celebrate in trembling awe. Kiss Messiah!
Your very lives are in danger, you know;
His anger is about to explode,
But if you make a run for God—you won't regret it! (The Message)

Most Jews expected the Messiah to come like this: exploding with anger and crushing the rebel nations. From all we can tell, John was part of this tradition. He was calling everyone to repent to get ready for this kind of Messiah. John the Baptist didn’t care if you were a priest or a king. If you were wrong and needed to change, he’d tell you.

When the religious leaders came out to the Jordan River to see what all of this baptizing was about, John called them a bunch of snakes and fakes.

When Herod Antipas, the king of Galilee, married his brother’s ex-wife, John shouted in the streets: “The King is a sinner! God’s law says you can’t wife swap like that!”

John was trying to get the people ready for the Messiah, and no one was going to stand in his way.

Listen to the story in Matthew 3:13-17.

13-14 Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, "I'm the one who needs to be baptized, not you!"

15 But Jesus insisted. "Do it. God's work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism." So John did it.

16-17 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life."

Did you catch that? John even argued with the Messiah. John had spent years living in the wilderness, eating bugs and honey, wearing itchy clothes, acting like a crazy man. For what? To prepare people for the Messiah.

And when John met the Messiah, what was the first thing he said, “You’re wrong!” Well, that sounds a lot like John. Remember, he’d stand up to anyone. John wasn’t going to let anyone get in the way of the Messiah coming, not even the Messiah.

Maybe we can just imagine what was going through John’s mind:

Baptizing Jesus is pointless. It’s worse than pointless. It’s wrong. It would give people the wrong idea of who Jesus is. People would think he is a sinner! People would think he is less than me. People would think he is just another guy coming to me to get ready for the Messiah, not the Messiah himself. If I’m not good enough to wash the dirt off Jesus’ shoes, I’m certainly not good enough to baptize him! It’s just plain wrong, and I won’t do it!

So John told the Messiah, “Um, sorry Mr. Messiah, but you’re wrong. You’ve got this backwards, you need to baptize me. Then everyone will understand who you are. Then, everyone will see you’re not like all of us other losers. Come on over here, and dunk me in the water and prove that you are someone special.”

But Jesus said, “Well, John, I hate to break this to you, but for once, you’re the one who’s wrong. We need to do this because this act of humility will fulfill a major part of God’s work of making everything right again.”

John may not have understood, but he obeyed. John tipped Jesus back and dunked him under the water just like he would a sinner.

And then all heaven broke loose! The sky opened up!

The Holy Spirit came down and landed on Jesus. The Spirit didn’t come with lightening or fire or an earthquake or a blinding light – you know lightning connecting to Jesus’ fingertips or something, like on Bruce Almighty: “I’ve got the power!” No, it was nothing as powerful and dramatic as John would have liked. The Spirit came down in the form of a simple, gentle bird: a dove.

Then God spoke from heaven! For 400 years, heaven was silent. Now the skies ripped open and God spoke. I get the feeling that maybe John was disappointed in what God said. I think John would have expected God to say something like this: “Hey, you idiots! Get your act together! This guy is the Messiah King! He’ll burn you up with fire from his mouth if you don’t step in line and kiss his feet!”

But God just said two little lines that were basically quotes from the Old Testament. “This is my Son.” That’s from Psalm 2, remember with the picture of the angry, crushing Messiah King (Psalm 2:7). Good so far. John must have been happy to get that reference in.

Then God went on to quote Isaiah 42, “He is my chosen one, who pleases me.” That’s OK, but listen the rest of Isaiah 42:

1 “Look at my servant, whom I strengthen.
He is my chosen one, who pleases me.
I have put my Spirit upon him.
He will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout
or raise his voice in public.
3 He will not crush the weakest reed
or put out a flickering candle.
He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.
4 He will not falter or lose heart
until justice prevails throughout the earth.
Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.”

He won’t shout? He won’t raise his voice? He won’t crush the weakest reed? Who is this guy? Is he strong or not? Is he King or not? How can someone like that help anyone? How can someone like that come after John?

This all gets even harder to understand when we remember Isaiah’s other descriptions of God’s “servant,” the “chosen one”.

The servant says: “I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). What kind of Messiah is that?

The servant “was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). What kind of King is that?

So Jesus climbed out of the river and followed the Spirit out to begin his mission of being God’s Messiah.

But John was still standing there in the river wondering what just happened. One minute John was looking into the face of the King of the Universe. The next minute the King had submitted himself to John’s puny little baptism for sinners, and God said the Roaring Messiah King would also be the beaten down, suffering servant Messiah. Huh? Who is this guy? Who is Jesus? What kind of Messiah is he?

Sometimes the person we get is different from the person we expected.

The last story I want to tell you is our story. In a way, we are all standing there in the water with John. We have our own set of expectations about Jesus. We want a Messiah who will help us feel better, someone who will help us make it through another day, another week. We want someone who will teach us how to be successful in our jobs, how to have a good family, how to fulfill our dreams. We want someone who will make our churches grow so that everyone will look at us and respect us for being part of such a wonderful church.

We want that kind of Messiah. But instead, we get someone who sometimes makes us feel worse, not better. We get someone who says that maybe we’re dreaming about the wrong things or working for the wrong things. We get someone who says it’s better to be friends with sinners than to look good. We get someone who says it’s better to help the poor than to build a church building.

Who is this Jesus? Who is this Messiah? What does he want from us? What does it mean to follow him?

Sometimes the person we get is different from the person we expected.

What will you do with this Messiah?

Coming Soon: Matthew 3:13-17

This week I'll be preaching on Jesus' baptism. You can read the text here.
So my basic questions this week are:
1. Why did Jesus even need to be baptized? What's up with that cryptic comment in v. 15?
2. What does Jesus' baptism mean? What is the significance of all of this?
3. How does this connect with our every day life?
4. What about John the Baptist? Maybe there's a connection here with us not really understanding what exactly God is up to, but going ahead and obeying anyway.
5. I get the Trinity images of v. 16-17 (Jesus, Spirit, Father). I understand why the Trinity is an extremely important concept, but how do these verses in particular impinge on our life? What difference does all of this make? One possible point here is that Jesus was empowered for his mission by being filled with the Spirit (sound like Pentecost?) and that Jesus was affirmed as a beloved child of God (sound like Paul's writings and God's love for us?). Maybe part of the point here is that we also get to participate in the life and love and mission of the Trinity.

What are your thoughts out there?

Matthew 3:1-12 --- Change Your Life!

This week, I will do something I have never done before. (If you are from our church, and you're going to be here on Sunday, please keep the secret.) I am actually going to be John the Baptist. I will either dress in Biblical style clothes, complete with a leather belt and a staff, or I will do a modern version, with blue jeans, t-shirt, cowboy boots, and a ball cap. Then, instead of preaching the sermon, it will be more of a drama, with me trying to act as much like John the Baptist as possible. I intend to shout until I'm hoarse, climb up on chairs, and generally act a little crazy.
If you're reading this before Sunday, please pray for me (and for our church)! Honestly, this is all a little scary. I'm sure that this will be uncomfortable for lots of people, especially new people. Pray that God will use this unusual method to make his word come to life in our hearts and to move us to obey his word more faithfully in our lives! Please pray that God will really help this message to get into my heart and mind. With something as dramatic as this, it will obviously be best if I can do this with as few notes as possible.
John the Baptist was trying to get people ready for the Messiah. I'm trying to get our people ready for our study of Matthew in which we relearn who the Messiah was and is.

The structure of the "Word" segment of the service will also be different. Our Scripture reader will read aloud from the book of Malachi, the last of Israel's prophets for 400 years. Then, we will have 400 seconds of silence (or near silence), in commemoration of those 400 years. During this time, a PowerPoint slide show review some of the prophetic texts to which the people turned for solace during the 400 years of silence. As the 400 seconds draws to a close, the slide show will introduce John the Baptist as a new prophet who is the "Elijah" who was predicted in Malachi.
The first words the people hear spoken after 400 seconds (almost 7 minutes) of silence will be me shouting from the back of the room in the voice of John the Baptist: "Change your life! God's Kingdom is here." Hopefully, that will help the people experience the sense of shock that Israel must have felt as they listened to John after 400 years of prophetic silence.

Here's the way it will all break down in more detail.

[To be read by today’s Scripture reader.]

For hundreds of years, the prophets spoke of the Messiah. For hundreds of years, the prophets encouraged God’s people with words of the Messiah.

The last prophet was Malachi. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the last prophet in Israel for almost 400 years. His last words of prophecy were:

1 ”Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

2 But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. 4 Then once more the Lord will accept the offerings brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as he did in the past. (Malachi 3:1-4)

1 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.

2 “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. …

5 “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. 6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers… (Malachi 4:1-6)

[To be displayed silently on the PowerPoint.]

Then there was silence.

There were no new words from God.

There were no prophets in the land.

Heaven was closed.

For 400 years.

Today, we will remember the 400 years of prophetic silence for Israel by taking 400 seconds of silence here.

400 seconds may feel like a long time.

Imagine how long 400 years must have felt!

For 400 years, the people of Israel had no new prophets.

So they read the words of the old prophets … again … and again … and again.

Joel 2

28 “Then, after doing all those things,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants—men and women alike.

Zephaniah 2

1 Gather together—yes, gather together,
you shameless nation.
2 Gather before judgment begins,
before your time to repent is blown away like chaff.
Act now, before the fierce fury of the Lord falls
and the terrible day of the Lord’s anger begins.
3 Seek the Lord, all who are humble,
and follow his commands.
Seek to do what is right
and to live humbly.
Perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you—
protect you from his anger on that day of destruction.

Psalm 85

8 I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying,
for he speaks peace to his faithful people.
But let them not return to their foolish ways.
9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
so our land will be filled with his glory.

10 Unfailing love and truth have met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed!
11 Truth springs up from the earth,
and righteousness smiles down from heaven.
12 Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings.
Our land will yield its bountiful harvest.
13 Righteousness goes as a herald before him,
preparing the way for his steps.

Ezekiel 36

25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

Isaiah 40

3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
for our God!
4 Fill in the valleys,
and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
and smooth out the rough places.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
The Lord has spoken!” …

9 O Zion, messenger of good news,
shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.
Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
“Your God is coming!”

The people of Israel longed for a new prophet.

They prayed for a new prophet.

They cried for a new prophet.

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness” (Isaiah 40:3).

They were looking for prophet from the wilderness.

Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. … Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah… (Malachi 3:1, 5:5)

Elijah wore “clothes that were made out of hair. He had a leather belt around his waist." (2 Kings 1:8)

They were looking for a prophet like Elijah.

400 years of silence ...

and then …

A PROPHET!

------- quiet music starts here ------

Matthew 3

1 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. …

3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
Clear the road for him!’”

4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

This was his message:

-------- music stops ----------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [At this point, Josh will enter and speak John’s message.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 "Change your life. God's kingdom is here."

7-10 Bunch of snakes! What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It's your life that must change, not your skin! And don't think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire.

11-12 I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I'm a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He's going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned.

(Matthew 3:2, 7-12, The Message)

REPENT!! REPENT!!

Change your life! Think Again! Start over!

The Kingdom of God is at hand!

You’re not as right as you think you are! You’re not as good as you think you are! You’ve got to change the way you think. You’ve got to change the way you feel. You’ve got to change the way you act. You’ve got to change your whole life.

The Kingdom of God is knocking on your door. The Kingdom of God – what we’ve all been waiting for - is here waiting for us. Repent, and open the door.

The Kingdom of God is arriving at your station. Stop blocking the path. Get your sins out of God’s way. Get your selfish living off the road of God’s Kingdom. Do you want God’s peace? Do you want God’s love to overflow in your life? Do you want that deep joy that can only come from God? Then get your selfish butt out of God’s way!

God has already told you what he wants: Do what is right. Develop a passion for showing mercy to others. Walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Do that, and God’s Kingdom will take shape in your life. Do that, and you’ll have a clear path for the Messiah to show up in your life. Do that, and you’ll see God like you’ve never seen him before.

Change your life! God’s Kingdom is here! God’s Kingdom is here. Open the door by changing your life.

It’s not enough to be religious. It’s not enough to be in the religious system. That very system might be flawed. It’s not enough be born into the family of God’s people. God can make rocks into people in his family. It’s not enough just to do what your preachers and teachers tell you. Maybe they’ve got it all wrong. Maybe they are just working within the same old flawed system that was handed down to them.

It’s not enough just to go on living in the same old systems, the same old economic systems, the same old religious systems, the same old social systems. Go to work. Care for your family. Think about God sometimes. Try to be a nice person. Go to the worship service. Do you think it matters where you your butt one day a week? That’s just your butt, not your heart! That system is broken!

We have to think about everything again. We have to go back to the basics. Love God. Love people. What does that mean? Love mercy. Do justice. Walk humbly. What does that mean? Answer these questions. Really answer them. Don’t just give the same old tired answers that you learned in your Bible studies. What does it really mean to obey God now, today, here in this place? Answer that question. THEN DO IT!

You people say you want God to come. You say you want God to show up among us. You say you want the Messiah to be real here. But do you obey what God has already told you? Give me a break!

We have to be fruit-full. We are God’s garden. We are God’s orchard. We are his plants, his trees. God has business to do, work to accomplish. He is in the business of producing fruit. He wants to bless the world. He wants to spread his love, mercy, justice, and peace. God won’t allow parasite plants. Produce God’s fruit, or get out.

It’s check up time. God is walking through the garden now, and he’s got his ax in hand. Every branch that doesn’t produce good fruit is as good as dead. It’s a selfish branch – all intake, no output. It lives off God’s soil, God’s rain, God’s air, but it doesn’t give anything back. It doesn’t add anything to God’s mission. That won’t do – no parasites in God’s garden. Off they go! Down comes the ax! Dead branches into the fire! Make room for more of the branches that are actually doing some good in the world.

Don’t be a dead branch! You’ve got to live out what God teaches you. You’ve got to give out what God gives you. Produce fruit, or get the ax!

Listen people, I can baptize you with water as a sign that you are starting all over, turning in your old life for a new life. I can help you with that.

But what you really need is the Messiah. He’s so big - and I’m so little - that I’m not good enough to even clean his shoes.

I baptize you water, but the Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He will clean you up from the inside out. He will put breath in your lungs and fire in your heart! He will give you the power to obey God like you’ve never obeyed him before. The Kingdom of God is at hand, and the Messiah will make it start within your own heart and life.

But first you have to REPENT! Change your life! Change your way of thinking and doing!

You have to consider the possibility that everything you’ve ever known about following God has been wrong – or at least partly wrong, misshapen, warped, disordered. You have to consider the possibility that following the Messiah might mean something completely different from what you think it means right now. You have to consider the possibility that the system your preachers have been preaching is wrong or flawed. You have to consider that God might want something very different from his people. God might want something different from you, something deeper.

The Messiah is about to break out among us. The Kingdom of God is here among us, knocking at our door. The Messiah we’ve been waiting for is waiting for us.

But before we open the lid on this can of worms, before we try to learn to follow the Messiah, we all need to repent. We need to break down. We need to come at this like little children, with everything to learn.

Most of all, we need to decide right now that we are going to obey. Whatever it is that we discover about what it means for us to follow the Messiah, we’re going to obey.

We need to start obeying today. We can’t wait until vacation or until we get that new job or until we are less busy. That time may never come. The time is now.

REPENT! Change your life! Change now! We don’t know where this change is going to lead us. We don’t know where the Messiah is going to lead us. We don’t know what the Messiah is going to ask of us. We don’t know what the Messiah is going to teach us. We don’t know how we might have misunderstood what the Messiah wants for us, for God’s people, for our world. There is so much that we don’t know. We have to accept that unknown and start changing anyway. We’ve got to start changing now and be open to changing more and more.

REPENT! The Kingdom of God is at our door, ready to break out among us. Let’s open the doors by changing our lives together.

New Members

Several weeks ago, we had another membership Sunday. This was our first Sunday with our new membership option of being a community member. (Go to this post for more about our membership options.) We were blessed to take in 16 new members. Two people didn't even tell me they wanted to join the church, they just walked right up to the front when I asked for all of those who are joining the church today to come to the front. Most of the new members chose the "community member" option. Many of these are people who are already integrated into the live and leadership of our church, but just aren't comfortable joining the Church of the Nazarene. I hope this will help them commit more fully to our church and thereby participate more fully in the work of God in our world.
Our international character shone boldly through the variety of our new members. We had people from South Africa (2), Cameroon, China, Canada (2) , USA (4), South Korea (4), and New Zealand (2).
We also added our oldest and youngest members. ChanGi, a KNU junior, joined our community and the Church of the Nazarene, and Shawn (the Chinese student who was recently baptized) is also a KNU student. Charlie Park is our oldest member at 70 years old.
I'm pumped about our church!