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WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

1.      Before meeting Christ

(In my early years)

I was born in 1969 as the youngest son, with seven siblings, in Haenam, Korea. In my early years I was so happy because as the youngest son I was loved a lot by my older sisters and my parents as well.

But it did not last long, and I had to live in poverty since my father passed away when I was in fifth grade. Whenever I saw that my poor widow mother was too burdened to support eight family members, then my heart was broken and I found out that the only way that I could please my mother was to study hard and to become a success. I was willing to study hard but I couldn’t because my inner heart was full of darkness with sadness, fear, and the desire of sin.

(God had mercy upon this sinner)

God had mercy upon this sinner and led me to UBF Bible study when I entered college. God blessed me to be forgiven by Jesus my Lord through Luke 15 at the summer Bible conference when I was a freshmen. God drove away the darkness from my heart and filled my heart with his great love.

God led me to be trained in many ways to be a disciple of Jesus based on word of God. Through this I could learn about true gospel faith. But whenever I would think of my poor mother I had to struggle between my desire to be a success to please my mother and my desire to be a great man of God to please him.

(Unless a kernel of wheat falls)

In my senior year of college God moved my heart by John 12:24, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

According to the word of God I served God as a full time shepherd for a year after graduation. After being discharged from my military duty, I served the Youngin campus pioneering ministry at the Korean university of foreign studies for three years as a missionary candidate and full time intern shepherd.

(When I committed my future way to the Lord)

When I committed my future to the Lord he blessed my faith to be a kernel of wheat for the gospel. God allowed me to experience spiritual blessings in many ways. God also accepted my desire to be a missionary and led me to establish a missionary family with Msn. Jackie Sun for the mission in South Africa. Though I was worrying about my future he led me in the best way to serve God, making me a successful man for his name’s sake. I thank God for blessing me with a woman of faith, Msn. Jackie, and with two precious children. He also blessed me to resume my study in South Africa because my wife has a secure job.

2.      Ministry

In the mission field, I thought of three things. As a missionary, if I accomplish these three things in 10 years, I will be successful. The first was to master English. But in Africa, English has changed a lot and there are so many different English dialects. In my early life as a missionary my English was poor, so every week I read the Namsan chapter message from shepherd Daniel Lee, recorded it, and sent it back. In school I misunderstood the test date and missed it. My GPA in the first year was low, so I had to submit my note about studying hard next year to a president of a law school.

Even though my English was poor, I had to preside, pray, fish, and deliver messages in our ministry. Even if I could not understand the class well, I continually sat down and listened. Sometimes I struggled to read for several hours with a dictionary but I just read three or four pages. But one or two years later I could understand English better and my reading speed went up. I answered my test questions boldly and won a victory in my school studies. After graduating, I had to finish four years of undergraduate school again because it was the requirement to be a lawyer in South Africa.

Once I misunderstood the homework assignment and I received a zero. If I failed that class, I would have to take it again next year, so I worried. That night I kneeled down and prayed; and Mark 9:23, “‘If you can?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for him who believes,’” came into my heart.

When I repented of my unbelief, I could have faith to face the challenge again. When I faced the challenge again, God blessed me and I got a perfect score. It was not easy to get a perfect score in law school where everything is a subjective question. More than that, English was a second language to me, but God gave me a perfect score. Through this I could learn that everything is possible for him who believes.

By God’s grace, I graduated from undergraduate school with good grades, and I got a good grade and reward in law school too. In 2005 I passed the bar exam at once and became the first Korean lawyer in South Africa, by God’s grace.

I mastered English naturally when I did it by faith to win a victory as a missionary and student. From the beginning of my ministry, my co-worker corrected my message pronunciation, and nowadays my first child is correcting my pronunciation. Still my English is not excellent, but God has helped me to do my job as a lawyer job and carry out my mission as a missionary. During the last World Cup, I did simultaneous interpretation of Mongjoon Jung in the FIFA general meeting, and during the conference I was used by God to interpret Korean messages to English.

Secondly, I had direction to be mature spiritually. At first, I thought of African sheep as inferior people who were lazy and liars. But God helped me to find my pride by serving sheep and being adjusted in South Africa. I struggled to humbly serve and co-work with others. I have been co-working with Missionary James Lee’s family for 14 years. In the early days of our ministry only two families co-worked, but now four missionary families, there native shepherd’s families, one woman missionary, and several student sheep are co-working together. Native shepherds have grown a lot and they are serving as messengers and treasurers, the Bible club in school, for conference reservations, and so on. Missionaries and senior shepherds are working full-time, so student shepherds are serving and making fellowship with sheep in the Bible club at the campus.

I served only one sheep for the first four years. He was more like a friend, not a sheep. From the end of 2002, me and my wife prayed together and sheep came to our fellowship. God raised native shepherd Eumpo (medical doctor) through missionary Jackie and God sent shepherd Stephen to me. They grew and pioneered the “Holy Nation” fellowship. Shepherd Stephen established the first South African house church with medical doctor shepherdess Yulenda; and Dr. Eumpo established a house church with police officer shepherdess Abia last month. Since 2004, I have been serving the male leaders, and currently eight sincere leaders are establishing the Jonathan team and receiving training.

I don’t know how much I have grown spiritually over the last year, but I found that I have become more sensitive to understanding and serving others and less complaining. I learned to have a spiritual struggle independently wherever I am and whatever I do as a missionary. I pray that I may keep growing spiritually. I pray that I may go deep in the spiritual world through spiritual growth.

Third, I decided to be a self-supporting missionary in 10 years. I saw that some missionaries went back to Korea because of financial problems. I just hoped that if I became a lawyer I would be financially independent. But there were many obstacles to overcome to live in a society as a foreigner.

First, I had to finish four years of law school in order to take the bar exam. By God’s grace I passed the bar exam at once in March 2005 after graduating from undergraduate school and law school. But to receive a lawyer appointment I had to wait patiently for five years. To receive a lawyer appointment in South Africa, we have to submit an application to the lawyer institute and through the recommendation of the institute receive admission from two judges from a high court. Usually, we are appointed after passing the bar exam and finishing in-service training, but I was not qualified because I was a foreigner without a green card. I had to have worked for five years with a work visa as a legal adviser in order to receive a green card.

By God’s grace I got a job as a legal adviser in a Korean company as soon as I finished my training. It was not easy because it was my job in my life. More than that, it was hard to commute over 90 kilometers from my house in Pretoria to my company in Johannesburg. Sometimes I postponed my one to one Bible study when I was stuck on the road for two or three hours because of traffic. When I went on a business trip to local areas or long trips to other nearby countries such as the Republic of Mozambique, the Republic of Zimbabwe, and Congo, it was not easy to serve the ministry and struggle spiritually.

In March 2009 I had to quit my job because of my company’s financial problem. I could not get a job at a law firm because I did not receive a lawyer appointment. For the first several months working in my house, my inner heart was troubled. During this time, every morning I read the Bible more than two hours. Because I already read the NIV several times, I read other translations such as the NLT, New King James Version, and The Message. The word of God refreshed my heart and gave me new life. I thanked God who gave me free time after regaining spiritual power by the word of God. Before I was appointed as a lawyer, I opened a legal adviser consulting company. Early in this year, I worked as a big company’s business agency and my regular income increased and I became stable financially. By God’s grace I received a green card on April 1 and I was appointed as a lawyer on June 6 of this year.

I submitted my lawyer application to a lawyer institute, but she submitted the paper to the court and my lawyer office, so I had to take the in-service training again. I submitted my last five years working list to the court. When our co-workers prayed earnestly for my lawyer appointment without training and I also prayed sincerely, God gave me peace in my heart. On the court day, the judge ignored the lawyer institute’s opinion. Rather he approved my lawyer appointment at once by saying that I had waited in patience physically and mentally and congratulated my lawyer appointment with a long address. In conclusion, I finally laid down a foundation for financial self-support.

God helped me to have three directions in my early missionary life and led me so far in that direction. I am still struggling in these three directions. I think these three directions are toward only one direction: “learning faith.” Mastering another language is possible when we believe in God who made all languages. “If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes.” Whatever we do, when we face the challenge to the end by faith, we can do it even though our language is not excellent.

When we have a faith in God, we can grow spiritually. When we believe God who gives rewards, we can seek the eternal heavenly reward, not the reward of this world, and live as a man of mission with clear direction and hope even though this is different from others.

I believe that we can be self-supporting when we have faith. I pray that I may be self-supporting financially in faith that believes God’s majesty, and I may grow spiritually to take care of all the missionaries in Africa not only my family. I pray that God may lead me to live a life of faith which learns the faith continually and pleases God by faith. Amen.

One word: The faith that pleases God.