Enjoy a moment of reflection with our weekly sermon.
(Oct 18,2009)
To Be Like Christ!
Mark 10: 35-45
Today’s Scripture is a continuation of the story from last Sunday. Last Sunday, Jesus dealt with a rich young ruler who refused to be a disciple. Today, Jesus is dealing with disciples, the actual followers of Jesus ,who are looking for pretty much the same thing that the rich young ruler was looking for, fame and fortune, and a happy ending without suffering.
“James and John, the sons of Zebedee” are brothers who are also called, “Sons of Thunder” (Culpepper 345). They are the disciples who were called very early in Jesus’ ministry. They also make the famous trio along with Peter.
James, John, and Peter are the ones who were present when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter (5:37), during the transfiguration (9:2-8), and while Jesus prayed at Gethsemane before Jesus got captured (14:33).
Today’s Scripture is actually the third prediction of Jesus’ passion, the crucifixion. Jesus ran into some sort of frustrations from the disciples each time Jesus tried to tell them about what will soon take place.
During the first prediction, Peter actually “took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Jesus” saying that Jesus cannot die. That’s when Jesus said the famous line, “Get behind Me, satan!" (8:33).
During the second prediction, while Jesus was telling them how Jesus will be betrayed by others, will be killed, then rise again, the disciples were arguing “about who was the greatest” (9:33-34).
Now, during the third prediction, the famous James and John are asking Jesus for “the places of honor in Jesus’ glory” (345). According to Mark, all the disciples were totally, completely clueless until after the resurrection took place.
I wonder how Jesus felt about all this coming from Jesus’ very own disciples. I remember when I brought the African-American female minister to preach at my other appointment. One of the leaders that I relied on the most got passionately angry and questioned my motives.
I truly did not expect that from her at all. At first, I was devastated. I really had to pray hard about it and pull myself together to put my focus on what God was doing in the life of that Church and not on her anger. Honestly, it hurt me and it was a struggle for me.
Praise the Lord, God allowed me to experience how God worked in her life to bring even more faithfulness and growth in her life. It turned out to be, all her family members were pressuring her to talk to me, to change my mind about bringing such a person to preach at that Church.
It was such a struggle for her too, but she chose to follow God in spite of her family’s disagreement. Since Jesus knows everything, that is probably what Jesus saw in those clueless disciples.
However, Jesus being fully human as well as God, I’m sure Jesus felt frustration and disappointment from those beloved disciples. I am pretty sure that it is not just the disciples who cause frustration and disappointment to Jesus.
I cannot speak for everyone but personally, I find myself “trying to manipulate Jesus” to give me what I really want even though it might not be in God’s will.
Sometimes I speak to God as though God owes me something or I did something to deserve such a reward. Shamefully, I do that more often than I like. That was what these two disciples were doing asking Jesus, “we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You” (Culpepper 345).
“They were trying to manipulate Jesus into making a commitment to them before Jesus knew what they were asking for” like Jesus doesn’t already know. Talk about perfect timing.
They made the request concerning their status right after Jesus told them about Jesus’ death. Jesus told them that Jesus will be killed soon, yet they turned around and asked, “By the way, can we have the most honorable seats?” No empathy there for Jesus at all.
I guess for some people, when they have a clear goal, they go after it no matter what happens or who they end up hurting. As Culpepper says, “Ambition is not a bad thing, but it is dangerous (361).
Blind ambition becomes dangerous because “unchecked, ambition does not count the cost, or consider the consequences, or anything else. It becomes so focused on the goal that other persons, principles, or priorities are forgotten in the single-minded drive to achieve the prize we covet.”
It is true also in the life of Church. When certain individuals or group of people come in with such clear goal or vision without considering other people or the direction that God is leading us,
those individuals or group of people can easily hurt others in the process of making that goal happen, even breaking the unity of the Church and possibly drive people out of Church for the sake of their godly goals.
We can laugh at those clueless disciples, but sometimes, we become or at least we act like those disciples. Sadly, “a great many modern Christians have little understanding of the nature of the kingdom of God.”
“Their values and their ways of relating to others did not yet mirror the transformation that participation in God’s redemptive purposes requires.” Sometimes we forget that “the kingdom is oriented not toward power but toward service.”
“Both in the present and in the future, earthly measures of power and status do not apply in the kingdom of God” (TNIB 651). God’s ministry is not about getting what I want, satisfying my desires, nor getting people to like me or listen to my opinions, but it is all about being like Christ.
In God, “greatness is not measured by one’s status or power but by one’s commitment to serving others in Jesus’ Name” (Culpepper 361). Jesus is looking for people who are willing to follow Jesus on the way to the cross instead of those who are searching for the seats of honor.
Jesus clearly said, “If any want to become My followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me” (8:34). I guarantee you that you will not find the seats of honor by the cross.
People started to leave Jesus after this comment saying, “This teaching is too hard. Who can follow it?” What does the cross represent? Cross represents sacrifice. Cross is where Jesus sacrificed absolutely everything for our sake.
Denying ourselves, taking up the cross everyday in order to follow Jesus means to make daily sacrifices for the kingdom of God. Sacrifice does not mean martyrdom even though sometimes it may feel like being martyr.
How many of you have tried so hard to sincerely serve God yet ran into complications and have received complaints and criticisms which totally missed the point of what you were doing?
Doesn’t that make you mad? Doesn’t it sometimes make you want to quit everything that you are doing in Church? You poured your heart and soul into ministry, yet people are busy criticizing you instead of helping you?
Such experience is beyond frustration. It hurts and it hurts a lot. If you have experienced such pain, I have to say, “Welcome to the ministry.” Did you know that Jesus experienced such pain and frustration daily in Jesus’ ministry?
Believe it or not, you are the follower of Jesus. I am not saying that you have to be persecuted in order to be Jesus’ follower, but personally, I have not yet seen one case where it did not run into some kind of complication and the ones who did the most of serving received nothing but praises. I have never seen that.
Earlier, Jesus comforted the disciples who have left everything in order to follow Jesus. Jesus “unexpectedly inserts persecutions into the list of ‘goods’ that are repaid a hundredfold (v. 30)” (TNIB 651).
According to Jesus, “persecutions were to be expected as long as Christians are witnessing to the Gospel in the world.” Jesus said, “All people will hate you because of Me, but one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22).
Jesus said, “blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22).
If God has spared you from any kind of suffering in any of your service to God, that is wonderful. That is exactly what I want but I know that won’t be the case for me.
If you are or have experienced some sort of suffering in the Name of Jesus, know that you are in the process of becoming like Christ. You are doing what God wants you to do. You are where God wants you to be.
No matter what happens, we have to make sure that we are right with God and doing what God wants us to do and not doing it out of blind ambition in us.
Only way to make sure of that is to be in a very personal, close love relationship with God everyday through regular and faithful worship, personal regular time with God through Scriptures and prayers, and through faithful loving service.
“Since the first meaning of participating in the death of Jesus is the renunciation of ordinary greatness to be a slave in service of others, all Christians have an obligation to serve” (TNIB 655).
To serve is to respond to God’s calling. We have a number of folks who have been called to serve God in various parts of ministry in this Church this coming year along with those who have been serving for years already.
In your service to God, don’t be discouraged by negative comments, disagreement, any criticisms, or any kind of difficulties. Sadly, they are expected. However, what God has for us is so much greater than the discomfort that we experience here on earth.
Those discomforts that I experienced during my parents’ ministry are the very reasons why I ran away from the life of full time ministry. I have never understood why my parents refused to take the easy way out and insisted on staying in ministry.
As a young person, that always has been a mystery to me. Praise the Lord, God knew better. My parents knew better. God did not give up on me. My parents did not stop praying for me.
This same God will never give up on you no matter what happens. God appreciates and honors every small and big sacrifice you make in the Name of God.
As God reminds us, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15). Just remember, no matter how hard the battle may come at us, we, “Christians do not hide from evil or suffering”
because we have God who is cheering and fighting for us (TNIB 256). Through prayers and faithfulness, we leave the fighting to God and “overcome those realities through loving service.”
May the Lord continue to work in, through, and among us to enable us to come out victorious with our Lord, Jesus Christ. May this Church be filled with God’s faithful servants. May everything we say and do be pleasing to God
that our lives be filled with God and all the blessings from God and God’s Name be greatly glorified daily through us. Amen.
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Even the Dogs
Mark 7: 24-37
september,6,2009
As a child, I really had a hard time understanding this story. I was taught to respect everyone and calling people names is bad. It was not a Christian thing to do. However, in this story, Jesus calls the woman, “a dog” (v. 27).
I know what my mom would have done to me if I ever called somebody “a dog.” It would not have been pretty. This story has confused me greatly. Then I went to seminary. In seminary, I learned to hear different voices, to look at the text from different perspectives, or different points of view.
By doing that, I have gained so much more insight, knowledge, understanding, and meaning, however, what some suggested about this text was hard to accept.
Let’s see what God is trying to communicate with us through this story. In this story, the bread is emphasized. Jesus said, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (v. 27).
The commentators tell us that the wealthy cities such as “Tyre and Sidon and the Gentiles dwelling in those cities” depended on the food imported from Upper Galilee (TNIB 610).
It was good business for both Gentiles and Jews; however, during the time of famine, “the prosperous Tyreans were able, literally, to buy bread off of the tables of the Jews” (Culpepper 239).
While the wealthy city folks, the Gentiles, store up enough food for the whole year, the poor country folks, the Jews would survive only on “unhealthy nourishment through the entire summer” after using “up their winter supplies,” such as “the shoots and suckers of unhealthful plants” (Culpepper 239).
“As a result, the Jews of the area resented the Gentile ‘dogs’ for taking the bread of the children (of Israel).” The commentators are suggesting that what Jesus said to the woman maybe had to do with their situation.
Some theologians try to make Jesus look good by saying that the term “dogs” Jesus uses “indicate house dogs or lap dogs rather than yard dogs” (241-242).
In other words, Jesus was referring to “small dogs as pets and companions” of humans (TNIB 610). To me no matter how you look at it, whether it is the house dogs, lap dogs, small dogs, or big dogs, dogs are dogs. It clearly was an insult, not a complement.
In response, what did she say? She said, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (v. 28). What she said impressed Jesus very much. In Matthew 15:28, Jesus praises her by saying, “Woman, you have great faith!”
The woman’s wish is granted through her faith. In Mark, “Jesus announces that because of what she said the demon had gone out of her daughter” (Culpepper 242). Clearly in this conversation, she won the argument with Jesus.
Some theologians such as Culpepper suggest that this woman has taught Jesus a lesson, convincing Jesus “that God’s mercy could not be limited to the Jews only.”
Personally, I really have a hard time believing that. Do you really think Jesus truly did not know that God’s salvation was opened to everybody, even to those outside the Jewish community?
You mean, Jesus truly needed this woman to help Jesus to realize that God’s mercy goes beyond the Jewish community? I have a hard time believing that. Such a statement indicates what they/we truly believe about Jesus.
Let’s see what the Bible says about Jesus. According to Psalm 121:4, “God – will neither slumber nor sleep.” Why is that? It is because God does not nor “will not grow tired or weary” (Isaiah 40:28). Not only that, there is absolutely no one who can fathom “God’s understanding.”
Even God said, “TO whom will you compare Me? Or who is My equal?” (Isaiah 40:25) The Bible says, “Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instruct God as God’s counselor?”
Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten God, and who taught God knowledge or showed God the path of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13-14) If we truly believe in the Triune God who is Three in One, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus is clearly God, Godself.
When we say that Jesus is God, we are not just giving Jesus the honorable title, but believing, accepting, admitting that Jesus has the same power and authority as our God the Father.
If there is absolutely no one who can “consult to enlighten God” or to teach “God knowledge” or “understanding,” isn’t it same with Jesus? Sirach from Apocrypha says more about God in more detail.
It says, “God searches out the abyss and the human heart; God understands their innermost secrets. For the Most High knows all that may be known; God sees from of old things that are to come’ (42: 18).
“God discloses what has been and what is to be and God reveals the traces of hidden things. No thought escapes God, and nothing is hidden from God” (42:19-20).
“God has set in order the splendours of God’s wisdom; God is from all eternity One and the same. Nothing can be added or taken away, and God needs no one to be God’s counselor” (Sirach 42:21).
If what Bible says is absolutely truly, and if “God understands” human’s “innermost secrets” and “nothing is hidden from God,” Jesus who is also God already knew what the woman was going to say. There is no way Jesus could have not known how she was going to respond to Jesus.
Do you see what’s going on here? In other words, Jesus already knew that she was going to win the argument, which means Jesus willingly lost the argument in public to a Gentile woman who was considered a dog to Jews. Does that make sense to you? Isn’t this absolutely crazy?
How many of you are willing to even get involved in an argument or any type of debate where you clearly know that you are going to lose, not in secret but in public?
As many of us are aware of this, we have a situation where it needs to be talked out. How many of you are coming to the table willing to lose even before the argument starts? Tough question!
Well, in any situation, losing is not always a godly thing to do. We have to see why Jesus was willing to lose in such an occasion in public to a Gentile who is referred to as a dog.
What has changed through this conversation? What is the miracle that just took place here? Is it simply the fact that the woman’s little daughter has received the healing? The miracle goes a whole lot more than that.
The biggest miracle is Jesus’ willingness to lose. But for what? Why would Jesus willingly humiliate Jesus-self in public to a Gentile woman? Jesus did it to teach the disciples and all those around Jesus, for the well being of their faith walk with God.
By losing the argument, Jesus has overcome the “prejudice and boundaries that separate persons” (TNIB 611). Did you know that just by having “any contact with her would make Jesus unclean in the eyes of the religious Jews of Jesus’ time,
and all the regional prejudices between the Galileans and the Syrophoenicians lay close beneath the surface (Culpepper 240). Jesus knew that the disciples needed to know what God desires from all of us in dealing with people.
Jesus knew that they needed to be daring in order to follow God in this world of prejudices and divisions. Jesus needed them to know that “the determining question at the Judgment is not what your theology is or how many Church committees you served on
but whether you fed the hungry and clothed the poor: ‘As you did it not to the least of these, you did it not for Me’” (249). Jesus knew that they needed to learn to lose in order to win in God.
“This passage reminds pastors, teachers, and others in positions of authority how to lose an argument” (TNIB 611). When Jesus realized that by losing the argument, the whole community would benefit from this experience, “Jesus grants her petition.”
“Many of us do not have nearly so much graciousness. Even when we know that the other person is right, we may try to justify ourselves rather than agree and get on with the business at hand.”
See, “it was not easy for a Gentile woman to approach a Jewish teacher for help.” However, “her love for her child had brought her across boundaries of gender, religion, and ethnic origins.”
When she came for her sacrificial, undying love for someone else in mind, it moved the heart of God and Jesus willingly lost the argument with her.
No matter what the argument might be, when we come together with the love for God, love for God’s Church, which is for each other in mind and decide to do what is best for the whole body of Christ, we will all come out as winners no matter who wins the argument.
We can never forget that our goal is to do God’s ministry according to God’s will and do it in God’s way and not our ways so that it will give God all the glory.
I pray that through your willingness to do everything you can to please God even it means to lose the argument, God’s Name will be glorified and your lives will be filled with heavenly blessing wherever you go and whatever you do in God.
Amen.
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Enjoy a moment of reflection with our weekly sermon.
7/12/09
Dancing for the Lord!
2 Samuel 6: 1 – 5, 12b – 23
Today’s Scripture is full of drama. This story would have created a perfect Life Time channel movie. This story contains God’s powerful presence through the Ark of the LORD and the power struggle between two men.
There is also a woman who lived a sad and bitter life caught in between those two men and ends up being childless for the rest of her life, yet that is considered acceptable and justifying by many theologians and preachers.
In order to get a full picture of this story, we must go back to the previous scenes to understand how we came to this point of the story. We are dealing with the Ark here. We are going to learn a very crucial part of Israel’s history today.
This Ark is called “the Ark of Yahweh or the Ark of God in early sources, the Ark of the Covenant in typically Deuteronomic language (Deuteronomy 10:8), and the Ark of the Testimony in priestly material (Numbers 4:5)” (HarperCollins Bible Dictionary 70).
The Ark of the Lord is in the shape of a chest containing “the tablets of the law, [the Ten Commandment],” also “the manna (Exodus 16:33-34) and Aaron’s miraculous rod (Num. 17:10)” (71). God gave a very specific detailed instruction to Moses on how to make the Ark (Exod. 25).
The Ark of the LORD was believed to contain the raw presence and power of God. God proved that to be true over and over again to Israel and to Israel’s enemies such as Philistines.
During that time, Israel did not have a Temple of God yet, therefore the Ark of the LORD functioned as a Temple where God dwells, therefore, “nothing in Israel was more holy” than the Ark where God dwells (Cartledge 442).
As important as this Ark was, it was lost for twenty years into the hands of Philistines since the sons of the priest Eli had taken it into the battlefield to secure the outcome of the battle believing that as long as they have the Ark, God will give them the victory (1 Samuel 4).
King Saul never attempted to try to bring the Ark back into the life of Israel during his ruling even before God rejected him, clearly knowing that the Ark of the LORD is the “visible symbol of the invisible God” (Cartledge 434).
For David, bringing the Ark back into Israel was a very remarkable move both religiously and politically. “Jerusalem, the city of David, the new city with David’s new power” now becomes the City of Yahweh, the City of God (Brueggemann 248).
Now, the Israelites in their faith in God “must make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem” which is “the locus of Yahweh’s presence, and the place of appeal to Yahweh in time of need (1 Kings 8:31-54).”
This is why “Solomon could claim so much for the Temple because David had so well established the legitimacy of Jerusalem.” David was politically a genius to make such move.
In the excitement of bringing the Ark of the LORD into Jerusalem, David was careless in handling the Ark. Any of the Religious objects were handled by the priestly families or the Levites, those who devoted their whole lives in serving God.
God ordered Moses to place poles on each side of the Ark for carrying, normally by Levites (Exod. 25). However, while “David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals (v. 5),” the Ark of God was being carried into Jerusalem on a new cart pulled by grass eating oxen (v. 6).
Through this incident, Uzzah dies. Bringing the Ark into Jerusalem gets delayed for three months but when David hears how God has blessed the household who was keeping the Ark, he gives new order to bringing the Ark into Jerusalem.
This time, David does it right. He gets the Levites involved and seems to sacrifice numerous “burnt offerings and fellowship offerings” to the LORD. This time, David is the only one who is dancing “wearing a linen ephod,” dancing “before the LORD with all his might” (v. 14).
You have to understand the nature of this fabric, linen ephod. “The term ‘ephod’ had multiple meanings in the Hebrew Bible” (Cartledge 438). However, the one mentioned in this story is most likely the “Israelite’s underwear.”
Linen ephod is like Tarzan’s outfit covering from “hips to the thighs.” It was used to provide protection “from public exposure,” however, “it was insufficient to keep David covered during his ecstatic dance.” So, we don’t know exactly what has been revealed during his dance.
Now, one of his many wives, Michal saw what he was doing in the name of God in the presence of commoners. The Bible tells us that “she despised him in her heart” (v. 16). Many theologians and preachers claim that Michal was upset simply over that incident and that it hurt her pride, Michal being King Saul’s daughter and everything.
Let me ask you this. If a wife gets upset and overreacts over a little thing that just went wrong, is that truly because of what just happened or is there a whole lot more issues hiding behind what just happened?
The answer is obvious. She has been dealing with or upset over different issues and the incident happens to trigger her buried emotions. So, to be fair, we have to learn more about Michal.
She never had her own identity away from her father. “She was always called the daughter of Saul” (TNIB 1252). All her life, she has been used for political reasons and has been given to different men not regarding her own feelings and needs.
Even though her father, Saul, hated David and tried to kill David, “Michal had boldly dared to love David and to make that love known (1 Sam. 18:20).” She was first given to David for political reason (1 Sam. 18:27), then to “Paltiel, to spite David (1 Sam. 25:44).”
She was happily married to Paltiel as one man’s only wife. However, David took her again “as the price for alliance with Abner” to be one of his many wives while her husband Paltiel followed her weeping (2 Sam. 3:14-16).”
Obviously, “Michal is important to David” (Brueggemann 251). “As Saul’s daughter she gives David legitimacy in the eyes of the old Saul party.” Being used for different men’s political ambition, she seemed to “lose sight of her love, for love was not allowed a role in such political matters” (TNIB 1252).
“Her claim of love was given no power in her world.” By now, that love seems to be long dead. Her anger, resentment, disappointment, and anger is poured “out upon David.” David uses her connection to her father, King Saul, to dismiss her and “the entire Saulide claim” for good (Brueggemann 252).
She becomes childless for life. No one knows whether that was the result “from divine intervention, or the natural consequence of presumably being excluded from David’s bed” (Cartledge 442). It caused her to be a shameful married woman who failed to produce children. David took her away from her loving husband to make her truly alone.
As much as I love King David, studying this Scripture was quite discouraging and disappointing to me. Then why does God choose to bless him so much, receiving his sacrifices, when God rejected others’?
Theologians claim that as a king, David assumes “the high-priestly role of offering the sacrifices and blessing of the people” (Cartledge 439). David was able to offer sacrifices to the LORD “because Israel’s king was ideally Yahweh’s representative” (439-440).
I wonder if that is the case, then why did God reject Saul when he offered up the sacrifices to the LORD (1 Sam. 13)? Let’s look at Saul’s situation. Saul is waiting for the Prophet Samuel to come and sacrifice “the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings” to the Lord and to bless the troop before they go out to fight against Philistines (v. 9).
However, Samuel did not show up after waiting for him for seven days, and “Saul’s men began to scatter” (v. 8). From the fear of losing them, Saul called them to bring the sacrifices and offered the sacrifices to the LORD himself.
As though Samuel had been waiting for this, he arrived “just as Saul finished making the offering” (v. 10). There is no other indication that God has commended Saul to follow such instruction except in what Samuel says to Saul.
Samuel’s speech indicates that God has used this occasion to test Saul’s obedience to God. Samuel told Saul, “You acted foolishly. You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you” (v. 11).
As a result, “[Saul’s] kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of God’s people, because [Saul] have not kept the LORD’s command” (v. 14).
For David, he brought the Ark of the LORD in less respectful fashion that it caused a death of an innocent man. After sacrificing many, many offerings to God, he danced “vulgarly” showing inappropriate side or parts of him (2 Sam. 6:20).
When he came home “to bless his household,” he ended up dismissing Michal and her whole family in the Name of the LORD (vv. 21-22). We do not even know whether “David’s intense personal involvement” in the process of bringing the Ark of the LORD into Jerusalem was
“a genuine recognition and honoring of true power in the LORD (represented by the Ark) or a manipulation of religious symbols for the sake of his own enhanced power” (TNIB 1251).
One thing we know for sure is that God knows what is really in our hearts. It is because God knows everything, we learn of the true intention of individuals through the result of how God deals with them,
whether God blesses them or punishes them at the end. Clearly, Saul’s intention was not too innocent before God. Saul tried to use sacrifices to gain his political power without sincerely worshipping God. As a result,
God rejected him and took the kingdom away from him and his children.
As David “danced before the LORD with all his might,” he must have had a sincere heart longing to worship, to honor, and to praise God (v.14). After all the mistakes and wrongs of David, God honored and blessed him, “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14).
Even all the wrongs David did, he was not afraid to admit his wrongs and sincerely ask God for forgiveness. He was not afraid to become a fool for the sake of God. He was not afraid to ask God for help in any situation.
Most of all, he truly worshipped God with all his heart. Even through his failures and sinfulness, David in his humanness, he sincerely tried to seek after God and longed to please God especially through worship.
Worship rightfully belongs to God. We cannot and should not use worship to advertise our Church nor to promote the status of the Church or the individuals. Sincere worship is what God desires and what we will be doing eternally in the very presence of God.
I wish Michal experienced more mercy from God. However, some people do remain as the victims of men’s power games. Many people have and still die in the name of love and justice by the power of humans.
Many theologians and pastors may have criticized and judged Michal for her criticism toward David, failing to recognize her pain and bitterness. I truly believe that God does not forget even a person like Michal who has been used, tossed about then thrown away to be all alone in this world.
God knows all her feelings and pain. God is probably giving her all the comfort and healing she needs which she could not receive from any of those men in her life.
It will be very helpful “to examine our own refusals of love for the sake of power, our own disregard of women’s,” or any other minority’s “interests as irrelevant to the public interest, our own efforts to honor the LORD while not fully honoring the priorities to which the LORD has called us” (TNIB 1252).
And ask God to give us the hearts that are willing to dance for the LORD, willing to be fools for the sake of God, willing to be wrong and to lose so that God may win and be glorified.
If our Church is filled with those willing people, there will be no problem we cannot handle with love, there will be no hurt that cannot be healed, and there will be no walls we cannot climb in the Name of the LORD.
May the LORD fill this Church with such willing people that God’s love may be overflowing out of this Church into all the communities around us. May God’s Name be glorified at all time echoing through every wall in this Church and through our lives.
And may we bring blessing into not only our homes but into everybody’s lives around us that they may all know the LORD and receive the everlasting life.
Amen.
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(8/17/08)
Fear to Trust
Matthew 14: 22 – 33
Last Sunday, we experienced Jesus feeding 5,000 plus people with five loaves and two fish. Right after collecting the leftovers, Jesus rushes the disciples to “get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while Jesus dismissed the crowds” (v. 22).
Book of Matthew does not say anything about why Jesus rushed them like that, but Book of John tells us why. According to John, people were so impressed with Jesus believing that Jesus is a prophet, they wanted to make Jesus a king (16:14-15).
Alan Culpepper thinks that maybe Jesus quickly sent disciples away from the crowd “to prevent them from getting caught up in the crowd’s enthusiasm” (214). Then Jesus finally went “up to the mountain” alone “to pray” away from the crowd (v. 23).
Meanwhile, the disciples were more than struggling on the boat. NIV (New International Version) said that they were “buffeted by the waves” (v. 24). NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) used the word, “straining.”
A more accurate translation would be “torture,” “harass,” “torment,” or “put to the test” (214). Can you imagine struggling like that at night in darkness in the middle of a huge lake on a boat feeling so helpless?
This is “the first time in Matthew, the disciples are sent forth without Jesus” (TNIB 327). The first time they left Jesus, and they are already in big trouble. They were fighting with the wind and waves all night.
Then “early in the morning,” it probably got all foggy, and what did they see? (v. 24) They saw a person walking on water coming toward them. We all know that was Jesus walking on water, but they did not know. What did they do?
The Bible says, “they were terrified, saying, ‘It’s a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear” (v. 26). I don’t blame them for acting like that. I probably would have done the same thing.
In Jewish culture, “bodies of water were viewed by Jews as the place where spirits and demons dwell” (Witherington 290). The large body of water represents chaos, the untamed part of creation, and things that are out of control.
If you study about heaven, you will find no body of water there which means that chaotic and untamed part of creation disappears. There is no need of sun because God gives all the light they need. There is no need of walls to protect them because God is their protection. And Jesus is the only living water who gives life, the eternal life that they need.
In this world, “to the biblical mind, being on the sea is itself a threat, representing all the anxieties and dark powers that threaten the goodness of the created order. To be at sea evokes images of death, the active power that threatens the goodness of life” (TNIB 327).
In this story, sea is what divides them from Jesus, “who represents the presence of God.” Do you remember the sermon about elephant poop? I explained that the stinky ark represents the Church where it is full of sinners.
In this story, the boat also represents the Church. “In the midst of the chaos of the world, they are left alone in the boat/Church, with only their fragile craft preserving them from its threat, buffeted” or tortured “by the stormy winds of conflict,” “temptations, trials, and persecutions” (TNIB 328 & Hare 169).
In the midst of this craziness and fear, they could not shout for joy when they saw Jesus “but to scream in panic” (Witherington 291). What did Jesus say to this group of frightened people? Jesus said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid” (v. 27).
“Take courage and have no fear” is “a formula of divine self-revelation” (Witherington 292). Throughout O.T. and N.T., every time the Lord or angel of the Lord appeared to people in person, the first thing that is said to the person is usually, “Do not be afraid” (Genesis 15:1, 21:17, 26:24, Deut. 20:3, Joshua 1:9,…).
What Jesus said is, “Do not be afraid.” Why? It is because the very presence of God is with them in Jesus. Did they realize that after recognizing Jesus? No! They probably were just happy to know that Jesus came to them instead of a ghost.
If they understand the miracle of feeding 5,000, “they would not have been terrified by the appearance of Jesus walking on the water” (Culpepper 216). All these miracles are telling them/us about the very nature of Jesus, about who Jesus is saying that God is present among us. But sadly, they are still clueless.
What was the second thing Jesus said? Jesus said, “It is I” or “I am.” Where have we heard that before? Remember, that was the Name of God that God told Moses in front of burning bush (Exodus 3:14).
“I AM WHO I AM” or “I AM THAT I AM” simply means, “I will be what I will be.” It means that no one can define God with human knowledge or put God into a category of creation or put God into a box saying, “This is Whom God is all about.”
Our God is unique where there is absolutely no other like God that we can compare with. We can probably compare certain characteristics of God with others such as comparing God’s love with the love of a parent, but we do not have enough knowledge to say, “This is Whom God is all about.”
Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. It is I,” which is “the self-identification of God,” telling them who Jesus really is, but they just don’t get it. Not only that, what was Jesus doing? Jesus was walking on water. Is that something we see everyday? NO!
Even with today’s technology, we still cannot walk on water unless we trick people to believe that we are walking on water. In biblical tradition, people believed that “only God walks on the sea/water” (TNIB 328, Job 9:8, 38:16, Psalm 77:19, Isaiah 43:16, 51:9-10,…).
Jesus is clearly doing “what only God can do, and speaks with the voice of God, ‘I AM,’” How much more proof do they need to know that they are experiencing theophany: “Jesus revealing Jesus-self to the disciples as a divine being – as God” (Hare 168).
No one knows how to respond to such an experience that they are facing, but Peter speaks up. Peter is definitely an extravert. He doesn’t give himself enough time to think before he speaks. He speaks, thinks then speaks again, instead of thinks, speaks then thinks again like introverts.
Peter said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (v. 28). Peter is walking on dangerous ground here. Do you know who else ask that very similar question? Satan did while Jesus was fasting in the wilderness saying, “If You are the Son of God” do such and such (4:6).
Personally, I don’t think Peter is being evil by testing God in this situation since “Peter is willing to risk death himself to prove the presence of the divine reality” (TNIB 329).
Actually, “Peter is the only disciple in this story who initially overcomes fear and is prepared literally to step out on faith and come to Jesus on the water” (Witherington 293). “Peter represents the risk-taking of faith” even though he fails and shows the lack of faith and gets rebuked by Jesus (Hare 170).
As Christians, we live with a lot of uncertainties. The world knowledge of science sounds a whole lot more certain than our faith in God many times. However, with the grace of God, God gave us the understanding that the most important things in life are not all the things that we can actually see.
As Christians, “to believe in the saving power of Jesus is to take a risk” even though we might not see the guarantee that we are going to come out successfully according to the world standard.
When we put our trust “in the saving power of Jesus,” Jesus will continue to bless us with not only the material things but with the things that we cannot see such as the knowledge of God, comfort, peace, healing, and the list goes on and on.
It means that God will bless us with changes as we continue to grow in the knowledge of God and become new creations everyday. The word, “change” is a scary word to many, but in God, to change is an amazing blessing and a MUST in Christian life.
As Hare said, “believing is always a verb, never a noun; faith is not a possession but an activity” which grows and taking new forms, renewing everyday (170). “Those of little faith are warned that they must exercise their little faith or it will wither away like an unused muscle.”
Let’s take a look at Peter. Why do you think Peter failed? I don’t think we need to think too hard. Peter lost his concentration. He got distracted by the waves and “the strong wind” that “he became frightened” (v. 30).
“His nerve and his faith failed as he gave way to fear. He panicked when he began to sink, “he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” After saving Peter, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (v. 31) What does that mean? Does that mean “If Peter had had enough faith, he could have walked on water?” (TNIB 329)
If that is true, we can easily say, “If we had enough faith we could overcome all our problems in spectacular ways.” Does this mean that bad things happen to us, Christians because of our lack of faith? I don’t think so.
One of my professors was told after losing his eight year old daughter that she died because he did not pray hard enough. That is not only not true, but that is a poisonous talk that destroys people in their walk with God.
As the New Interpreter’s Bible says, “If Peter had had enough faith, he would have believed the word of Jesus that came to him in the boat as mediating the presence and reality of God” (329). “Faith is not being able to walk on the water – only God can do that.”
Faith is not being able to avoid all the bad things happening in life, “but daring to believe, in the face of all the evidence, that God is with us in the boat, made real in the community of faith as it makes its way through the storm, battered by the waves” (TNIB 330).
As the disciples struggled all night on that lake without Jesus, quite often the Church goes through that long rocky, wavy, ugly, painful, and unpleasant period. Then we really feel like the disciples who were sent out onto the sea without Jesus. We may ask, “Where is Jesus, the miracle worker, when we need Jesus the most?” “Doesn’t Jesus care what is happening to us?” (Culpepper 224)
Sometimes, “the Lord seems absent just when we need Jesus the most.” For the disciples, Jesus was present with them at all time even when they did not realize it. The Lord did care and still does.
To the hungry crowd, Jesus fed them. To the sick people, Jesus healed them. To those fighting with the storm, Jesus walked on water to tell them that Jesus is the Master of that very sea that they are struggling with.
Jesus “cared about their distress and that in the darkest hour Jesus would come and make Jesus-self known to them.” Jesus comes in such “unexpected way” that Jesus’ “coming is always mysterious, and Jesus’ identity is often concealed.”
However regardless of our lack of understanding, Jesus still speaks to us saying, “You have no need for anxiety. Have courage. I am. I am still God. I continue to care for my creation. Stop being afraid” (225).
Meanwhile, we focus on God. In our faith in God, concentration and “trust in Jesus are required” (Witherington 293). For Peter, he “needed to keep his eyes on Jesus and not focus on the frightening wind and waters. Real faith requires real concentration and not focusing on the difficulties.”
Of course, “in the moment of most dire human need, there is but one cry,” but remember also “there is but one source of salvation” that is Jesus. And this Jesus is already with you whether you recognize Jesus or not. I pray that you would keep your eyes focused only on Jesus that you may taste and experience the salvation in Jesus everyday. Amen.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION QUESTIONS
If you had been with the disciples and saw someone walking on the water, what would you have said?
What made Peter sink?
a) He lost confidence in himself?
b) His focus shifted from Jesus to his circumstances?
c) His fear was greater than his faith?
d) He realized how foolish he had been to step out of the boat?
How are you at “stepping out of the boat” and taking risks?
Where do you feel God is inviting you to get out of the boat now?
What do you think might make you “sink”?
What would be the best way for God to help you in that situation?
What are you facing in your life right now that you need to hear Jesus say, “Don’t be afraid”?
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Enjoy a moment of reflection with our weekly sermon.
We are blessed with our youth and they blessed us with a VERY SPECIAL service. Lee shared his insightful thoughts in this very special message. !
(06/30/08)
EVERYTHING HAS ITS TIME
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
As human beings we always want to be in control. We need to turn to
God and let him be in control. If there's anything we don't have
control over its time. Oh yeah, we try very hard to be in control with
cell phones, watches, calendars, blackberries etc. but we can't help
the fact that time marches on. Time is always going forward; never
backwards or, "Lord have mercy", side to side but time does go forward
and there's no stopping time. God knows everything, and when I say
that I mean everything that was, is and will be. At this moment we are
in the present and we remember and reflect on the past and are
preparing for the future.
Solomon was an amazing person; he was of course the king of Jerusalem
and could have anything he ever wanted. Solomon points out in
Ecclesiastes that everything is vanity and cannot satisfy our bodies.
Solomon also says that nothing quite satisfies the soul like God.
Solomon was a very wise man because he did everything he could under
the sun in order to become wise; he indulged himself with all the
worldly desires of man only to discover that in the end "all was
vanity and grasping for the wind".
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 really jumps out at me. Solomon blatantly points
out the obvious but teaches the reader a moral lesson that everything
has its time and you can't change time. For instance he states that
there is a time to be born and a time to die . . . well we all know
were going to die, but it can also mean that in everything there is a
beginning and an end and therefore nothing lasts forever except for
God His kingdom.
Ecclesiastes is full of snippets of wisdom that we can reflect on in
our daily lives. For instance the vanities of life: wisdom, effort,
achievement, rivalry, selfish sacrifice, power, greed, accumulation,
and religion. Also the values of life such as: the value of a friend,
the value of practical wisdom, wisdom being superior to folly, the
value of diligence, the reward of seeking God early in life, and the
whole duty of man. All of these things add up and become a masterful
piece of scripture that it shows the two sides of life the good and
the bad, the wisdom and the folly, the controllable and uncontrollable
things that all have such significant meaning to our daily lives.
Closing prayer:
Dear Lord thank you so much for time. Thank you for yesterday, today
and tomorrow. Let us know that you can come down from heaven any time
of any day of any week of any year. But Lord, I pray that we are
prepared for what comes in the future because no one but you Lord
knows what will happen tomorrow. So please help us to live not in the
past or future but in the present because it is the greatest gift of
all. Please help us study your word and pray with our hearts and minds
to you Lord. And help us to gain great amounts of wisdom that you
humbly give in the scriptures. Thank you God for all you have given us
and help guide us in the direction you want us to go. Because you know
all and see all and we will serve you Lord for all time. In Jesus'
name we pray.
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GRADUATION SERMON - 6/8/2008 - GOOD LUCK AND God Speed to our Graduates !!!
Walk in Faith!
Genesis 12: 1 – 5
Aren’t you excited about the graduation that just took place? You are finally out of High School! I’m sure you are also nervous about the new beginning. The parents are probably more nervous for you.
I remember being overwhelmed with the excitement and sadness all mixed together. Then life went on. At that time, I was so wise that I knew exactly what I was going to do, not knowing that God had totally different plans for my life that I wasn’t aware of. Praise the Lord!
I just wish that God informed me beforehand so that I could have been more prepared. In my mind, I was supposed to be an opera singer with one hundred adopted children. But instead, I’ve become a preacher with two gorgeous kids. Talk about surprises.
I’m sure you all have different plans and things you want to do. I want to encourage you not to try to do everything at once. In everything, please do not rush into anything, but give yourself time and chances to learn as much as you can one step at a time.
Take your time to enjoy your youth. Take time to experience all the wonderful things God has for you. And learn; learn as much as you can. Build up your knowledge, build up your education. It will open up so many doors of opportunity for you.
I’m going to be totally honest with you. All the plans you have for your life, they probably will not happen exactly the way you have planned them. But I want you to know that is okay. Don’t get discouraged just because you did not get into the school that you wanted to go, hoping that you will get in, or did not get the job that you wanted.
It is a fact that what God has planned for your life is so much greater and so much better than what you can ever imagine. God can make things happen through you even though it might be impossible for you to do it on your own.
Please, through everything, give your God chances to make that happen through you. Meanwhile, you just walk faithfully with the LORD while you study, work, or whatever you do.
If you think about it, it is a blessing that none of us knows exactly what our future holds. I heard somebody saying that if we do know exactly what would happen to us in our future, there will be a whole lot of people killing themselves because they cannot handle it.
Thanks be to God, God who loves us so much and wants what is best for us, is the One who knows and holds our future. And God has the ability to take us there. God knows what is best for us and knows exactly how to get us there.
Everybody knows Abraham, Sarah’s husband, from the Bible, right? When God first called him, his name was not Abraham, but Abram. And this is what God told Abram. “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).
God did not provide GPS or any kind of map for Abram to see where he was going. God did not even tell Abram where he has to go. God just told Abram to “go to the land I WILL show you,” which means, “I’m not going to tell you now, but I will tell you where you will be going later on. But for now, just leave toward any direction.”
That would have driven David absolutely crazy. I’m sure you
already know that he is an extremely responsible person who would like to be fully prepared for everything in life. I’m telling you, he is responsible for getting the kids ready and getting me here on time every Sunday morning.
Well, during Abram’s time, they did not have any gas stations to stop to ask for directions. Everything was simply an open wilderness without street lights or signs. The only thing Abram had besides his family members was the promise from God. This is what God told Abram.
I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Genesis 12: 2 – 3
Isn’t this just an incredible blessing? However, it was not a written promise. Even though Abram did not receive a written contract, it was the voice of God without seeing the actual face of God, Abram believed. He believed in this promise from God.
Can you imagine risking your whole life along with lives of your whole family on a verbal promise? It sounds crazy, but Abram did it because it was the promise given to him by GOD! Abram risked everything he had in GOD!
Abram truly believed that God is able to do all that God has promised to do. Please know that this amazing promise of God is not just for Abram but also for all of us here when we place our total trust in God.
Through our faithfulness and obedience to God’s word, God will gladly carry out this promise upon you. All you have to do is to faithfully remain in God’s hand.
Have you seen a potter working with clay? When the potter places the clay on that spinning machine, the clay does not just sit there. Without holding it while the machine is spinning, the clay would fly away in every direction.
The clay fights against the hands as the machine spins around. It is a struggle for the clay to remain in the hands of the potter. But if the clay faithfully remains in the hands of the potter, the potter would turn the clay into a beautiful, priceless object that the potter had in mind.
Remaining in God’s hand at all times is honestly a struggle because we human beings do not always like to agree with God even though God is always right and do not always want to do what God wants us to do.
However, even though we may fail sometimes, if we struggle to remain in God’s hand through obedience to God, God will honor our struggles. Did you know that God is not too much interested in your successful results but more interest in the process?
As human beings, we like to see the results, right? The reason we struggle is to see the great success at the end. We call ourselves failures when we do not see that great success at the end. However, God does not see it that way, Praise the LORD!
Look at Esau. Even though he killed his brother, Abel, and became a wanderer, his descendents were all great successful people. Cain himself built a city (Genesis 4:17). One became “the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock” (v. 20). One became “the father of all who play the harp and flute,” a great musician (v. 21).
Another learned the skills to “forge all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron” (v. 22). When pretty much nothing was developed, those skills are life savers. People with such skills did survive. They are the ones who had the power.
However, the list of Cain’s descendents ends with Lamech who had two wives. Why is that? It is because the worldly success is not what God is looking for in us. They were successful, yet they did not know God nor did they bother to worship God.
Throughout the Bible, there are many other people who failed horribly, but God honored them so much because of what they have sacrificed and struggled to be faithful to God in the process. Look at our Jesus! To many people’s eyes, Jesus has failed miserably.
Jesus died like a criminal in front of everybody on that cross. But what happened on the third day? Jesus who is God, Godself faithfully remained in God’s hand and Jesus was resurrected on the third day. Jesus conquered death.
Look at John the Baptist. After sacrificing his whole life for God’s ministry, how did he die? He was beheaded to satisfy the request of a dancing girl. John even doubted Jesus before he died saying, go ask Jesus “Are You the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3)
After seeing the glory of God through the baptism of Jesus, John doubted who Jesus is and it is probably because Jesus wasn’t doing anything to save John who was in jail ready to get killed. That probably was the lowest point in John’s life.
However, do you know what Jesus said about John? Jesus said, “I tell you the truth? Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (11:11). Why did Jesus say that?
It is because Jesus was far more interested in the whole life of John who has sacrificed everything he has for God, than the great worldly success at the end. John was born as a son of the High Priest. He could have lived a comfortable life, but he sacrificed everything for God.
Jesus loved and cherished and honored John for the sacrifices John made in order to obey God completely. All the disciples died a horrible death for the sake of their faith in God, but they were never failures to God. God honored them so much that God placed them right next to God’s throne. Read Revelation. You will find them there.
God does not expect you to do great things in life. God expects you to do your best to be faithful to God in and through everything you do in life. Whatever you do, do your best for the glory of the LORD. And God will take care of you, honor and cherish you and meet your needs.
And I will tell you how. I am not ashamed to tell you that I have a reading disability and also have ADD. I did not know that until I went to the Seminary. I was having such a hard time keeping up with studying. I was even getting physically ill so I went to see the doctor.
It turned out to be that I have a disability. All my life, I thought I was stupid since I could not learn the way others do. I told my parents to expect much from my siblings who are so much smarter than me with studying, but not from me because there is no way I can live up to their expectations.
Every time I graduated from school, I praised God because I clearly knew that it wasn’t me. It was God who helped me to graduate. There was no way I could have done it on my own.
I cried for two days saying, “I’m not stupid. I’m just different.” I learned that I learned better verbally and with hands on things better than through reading books. What did God do? God sent me friends in Christ. I called them angels from God.
In my study group, they spent many nights explaining things to me, helping me to understand what I have missed from classes and from reading. And because I needed extra help, I had to go to the teachers in person to ask for help.
I learned that when you go to teachers personally after classes to ask questions, teachers think of you as the one who is trying extra hard to learn more. They love you for that, at least most of them. Through that I got to know the teachers in person whom later on wrote me great recommendation letters for my Seminary.
The fact that I graduated from any school is a miracle from God. It only happened through the grace of God. I tell you, if it worked for me, it will work for you. What God did through me, God will surely do it through you.
So, just cling onto God in everything you do even though you have to struggle to do that daily. Go to God in prayers and through the Scriptures. Let God speak to you daily through the Scriptures. Let God fill your mind with understanding from above that your life will be filled with God’s blessings, filled with the presence of God at all time.
Now, I’m going to tell you, youth and young adults, this as a mother of two children. Please, do not take dating or making boyfriend or girlfriend too lightly. Before you become boyfriend or girlfriend, think of marriage, first. Don’t let me scare you, parents. J
What I mean is, if you think that person is the one you are going to marry; invest time to get to know that person, mentally and intellectually and not physically. If you know or realize it later that person is not the right person for you, DO NOT get into a committed relationships.
The study tells us that the practice of having a boyfriend or girlfriend, then things don’t work out so they break up then find somebody else, then break up then find somebody else, that practice easily moves into the marriage.
People would get married. When things don’t work out, what do they do? They break up and move on with somebody else. Not everybody does that. And not all the broken marriages happen because of that. There is whole lot more reasons behind it. But it is possible that we can train ourselves to think that this is the way of life.
So, if you know that person is not the one you are going to marry, DO NOT get into the committed relationships with that person. If you are dating or in a committed relationship with somebody that is not right for you, you might be dating somebody else’s future husband or wife.
You don’t want to do that. Imagine your future kids asking you, “Did you used to date my best friend’s mother or father?” Or ask you more intimate questions about that relationship will not be good at all. So, please in every relationship, do it with a lot of prayers and considerations. And whatever you do, do it all in the LORD, and do it all for the glory of the LORD!
You beautiful ladies, you are going to have so many guys coming to you with flowers and with everything you ever wanted to hear to get what they want. Please, do not fall for that. But hearing pretty much same thing from two, three different boys was very disappointing.
Guys, please avoid aggressive girls. If they are throwing themselves at you, you probably are not the first or the last. It might feel good right there and then, but the consequences for that action is too much and too painful to deal with later on.
Please know that your body is not an object which was meant to share with whoever wishes. Too many young people do not know the value God has placed on them. Did you know that someone died for you because you are so very precious? You are so worth dying for that our God came down and died for you.
Guard yourself. Guard your body until your wedding night. Don’t let anybody dare to touch you or mess with you. You are too important and too valuable for anyone to just play with. If a guy says, “You owe me. I took you out and spent so much money on you.” You tell that guy, “You had the pleasure of spending time with me. Now, get lost with a lot of love.”
If somebody says, “If you love me, you will become physically intimate with me,” you tell that person, “If you love me, you will wait,” then walk away.
I cannot wait to see all the amazing plans God has for you. I pray that as God is always with you, that you may remain in the hand of the LORD at all times. May your life be filled with the blessings from above and be filled with the very presence of God all the time that through your very life, God’s name be glorified, always.
Know that you are the chosen one. You are the one that God cherishes the most. You are God’s beloved one. Never forget that. Bless you so much in the name of the LORD. Amen!
