↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording)
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As you work during the week, I’m doing some work during the week. Guess what? I’m teaching Korean to a group of Japanese people.
I teach them for an hour and a half per week. Personally, I think my students need to practice not once a week, but six times a week to improve their Korean skills. I mean almost everyday. If they do it once a week, their Korean skills… Well, maybe improve little by little. But frankly speaking after a year or three years and even after five years, there is a high possibility that they will always remain at the beginner level. Well, it’s good to learn a foreign language as a hobby. If it’s a hobby, they can do it for about an hour and a half a week. However, if they really want to do it well, they shouldn’t do it just for an hour and a half a week. Ideally, they should do it every day. All they need to do is to set aside an hour and a half every day to study Korean.
There is a better way to learn a foreign language. That is… To focus solely on a foreign language for at least one year without paying any attention to other matters. Without worrying about anything else, just concentrating on a foreign language? Not that easy, but it is so true. If so, how can we concentrate on it?
For example, when we read the Bible, we try to read the English Bible. When we want to read books on politics, economics, psychology, counselling, sports, cooking and gardening, we try to read books written in English. When we watch TV dramas or movies, we try to watch American dramas or American movies. When we watch news programs, we try to watch Fox news or CNN news. We also try to read English newspapers. When we make friends, we try to make friends with English speaking people. Of course, we also try to go to an English language school every day if possible… Simply put, we try diving into English and live in English 24 hours per day. If you try to do these things for a year, I can guarantee you that you will certainly think in English and even speak English in your sleep.
What I am saying is that we need to learn foreign languages “intensively.” It seems that Japanese people prefer doing things consistently and gradually. They try new things bit by bit. Perhaps they also study foreign languages in a steady or incremental way. Unfortunately, when it comes to foreign languages, if someone learns slowly only a little bit over time, their language skills will never improve significantly. No matter how much time passes, they will remain at the beginner level.
In other words, at some point, we must focus “exclusively” on just one thing, abandoning everything else… If we concentrate “solely” on English for a year, we’ll experience a big leap in our language ability. We’ll jump to the next stage, the next level. Otherwise, we will remain stagnant. Alway the same. Same old, same old. Those who understand this principle may find it challenging and burdensome, yet they strive to engage in intensive training. Why? In order to proceed to the next stage and level up our life, we must immerse ourselves fully in the learning process. We must undergo intensive training. We know it. Right?
What happens if you don’t? You will remain stagnant… You will alway stay in the same place. You will spiritually get stuck. Perpetually at the beginner level…
Same thing… The same thing happens in our Christian life. There are similar aspects in a life of faith. In general, we attend worship services once a week. But at certain points, God may lead us into intensive faith education or training. This means engaging in daily communion with God, reading the Bible daily, and praying daily. It does not necessarily imply entering a seminary to study theology. We may call it “discipleship training.” It is a time dedicated to in-depth learning about God and His Kingdom. Just as all training has a set duration, this discipleship training also has a certain period of time. The duration of discipleship training varies from person to person. For some, it is quite long, while for others, it is rather short…
God wants all of you to be Jesus’ disciples. God desires for all of us to be disciples of Jesus. He wants us to obey this command.
Let us take a look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 11 to 14… It says, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”
God’s command is not something too difficult or impractical. In addition to that, God does not command or instruct us to do what is wrong or unjust like a dictatorship or a tyrant.
There were many disciples who followed Jesus, but among them were twelve disciples. These twelve disciples were always with Jesus. Jesus trained these twelve disciples intensively for three years. He lived with them for three years. He trained them while living with them. Rather than training them once a week for one hour, he trained them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 3 years, Jesus intensively trained them in faith. To them, the discipleship training course run by Jesus was not a hobby. They didn’t do it as a hobby. It’s a challenging course.
Jesus used the strategy of training people to change the world. He decided to change the world through people. So, the beginning of Jesus’ public life began with choosing the disciples he would use. First, he called twelve disciples.
In Mark 3:13-19, we see the reasons why Jesus called His disciples. The first reason is that Jesus wanted them. He wanted to be with them. In verse 13, it says, “And he went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.”
We can see that Jesus called those whom he wanted. This has nothing to do with their status or position in the world. The qualifications of those whom Jesus wanted are not mentioned here. Were they qualified to be Jesus’ disciples? Were they over-qualified? Were they unqualified? I have no idea. We don’t know it.
We can see that the Lord’s choice of His disciples was a sovereign selection. He called not those who were well-known in the world, but ordinary people like fishermen and tax collectors. He chose ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.
When we take a look at verse 14… “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.”
The second reason why Jesus called ordinary people is… To live with them. Through deep personal interactions(fellowship) with his disciples, Jesus wanted to focus on teaching them about the Word, prayer, and evangelism over the course of three years. Eventually, he wanted to send them out to preach the gospel.
When we take a look at verse 15, we can see the third reason why Jesus called ordinary people. Jesus wanted them to have authority to drive out demons. Jesus also gives the power to preach the gospel to those who want to evangelize.
And these disciples saw the resurrected Jesus with their very own eyes. They experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. As a result, the first Christian church was founded. In that church, they grew into workers who spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. The work of God is not something that can be done with human talent, wisdom and knowledge, but is accomplished only through the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit who works within those who have been called and trained as disciples of Jesus.
I want to finish my sermon here . Are there any special qualifications to become a disciple of Jesus? There are none. Whoever repents, believes in Jesus, and follows Him is a disciple of Jesus. It is because Jesus wanted us, called us and made us disciples.
Some of you might say, “Pastor Park! I want to believe in Jesus, but I don’t want to be his disciple.” I’m sorry there is no such thing. From the moment you repent, receive forgiveness, and decide to believe in and follow Jesus, you automatically become his disciple. From that moment on, you can live a life following Jesus. And if you read and meditate on the Word every day and pray every day, you will also learn how to live as a disciple of Jesus on this earth.
Brothers and sisters, I pray that you would concentrate on reading the Bible and praying for one week or for one month. Read the Bible intensively for one week or for one month. Pray to God intensively for one week or for one month. If you do that, I am pretty sure that you will take a big leap of faith. Let us pray.
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