GOD HAS WORKED IN HIS HEART!
It has been 50 years since
I received salvation. When I look back, I can see it was God who worked in me
and led me in His plan so I could work for the Gospel, not my own effort or
good works. This is especially clear when it comes to preaching the Gospel.
Whenever I preach the Gospel, I feel strongly, “Oh, God has been working in
this person so that he could listen to the Gospel.”
After receiving salvation,
I made a plan, prayed, and witnessed to preach the Gospel to certain people.
There were many times I was disappointed because the people did not accept the
Word that I preached to them. As I do ministry work, people often come to see
me. While conversating with them, I can strongly sense, “Oh, God loves this
person! To save him, God brought problems to the things that were going well
for him and put him through difficulty to humble his heart!” Therefore, even
though I preach the Gospel, in reality all that I do is just add a few words to
what God has already done. Whenever this happens, I cannot express how thankful
I am to God.
EVEN
THOUGH I NOTICED SECRETARIES URGING TO FINISH IT …
Not long ago, we held the
World Camp in La Plata city, Argentina where I met Mayor Pablo Bruera before
the camp. He was pleased with having the camp in La Plata city and welcomed us
with hospitality. After I delivered my words of thanks to the mayor, God
strongly aroused my heart to preach the Gospel to the mayor.
“Mr. Bruera, In the past,
I lived a poor and difficult life after going astray. However, after Jesus came
to me my life changed.”
Starting with my testimony
on how God healed me when I had sickness in my stomach and my heart, I preached
the Word of the Bible to him. In my eyes the mayor didn’t look healthy. Later,
I came to know that his health was poor due to his extreme concern for his
mother’s health which had worsened after her son was elected mayor.
Being a mayor, he was
extremely busy and I could not preach the Gospel to him for a long time. I
needed a certain amount of time to tell him the necessary things. When I
started to preach the Gospel, I could feel that his heart was drawn into the
Gospel. The problem was that he had to move onto the next thing in his
schedule. There were two secretaries. I noticed his two secretaries were urging
the mayor to finish the meeting with me and to leave for the next event.
Nevertheless, he continued
to listen to the Word sincerely without caring about the next meeting. I did
not know whether I had to keep preaching or to stop. However, I could not stop
because the mayor was listening very seriously to the Word. I could read the
mayor’s heart, while preaching the Gospel.
“Ah, this person really
loves the Gospel! He made up his mind to cancel the next scheduled event!”
Regardless of his
secretaries’ complaints, the mayor did not even look around, but focused on my
words. I preached the Gospel through translation. He read the verses in his
Spanish Bible very carefully following along with his finger, and accepted the
Gospel.
I
WAS SO THANKFUL TO GOD AND TO THE MAYOR
Watching the mayor
receiving salvation, I was so thankful to God.
“God, there is nothing
that I did! You loved this mayor and allowed difficulties to him to save him.”
Before I finished
preaching the Gospel and got up, I told him, “I want to pray for this city,
you, and your health.” He gathered his hands and put his head down in front of
God in a humble manner. I was so thankful to God and to the mayor while I was
praying.
Usually, people like
mayors are so busy that they tend to signal that they want to finish the
meeting soon so they can attend the next event. However, Mayor Pablo Bruera was
different. When I think about this, I am extremely thankful.
By the time we stood up to
leave after praying, it had already been too late for the mayor to go to the
next event. Receiving salvation, the mayor came to the World Camp with us.
There, he gave the welcoming speech to the students at the camp. After giving
his speech, he excused himself, ”I’m sorry that I have to leave now to attend
my next event.” Saying good bye to him, I felt very thankful. I saw him for the
first time on that day, and I did not know when I could see him again. God made
his body sick, caused him to think of God, let him listen to the Word for a
long time, and had him accept the Word. As I think about what happened to the
mayor, I am inexpressibly thankful.
BECAUSE I FEEL SO HAPPY
LIVING MY LIFE TO PREACH THE GOSPEL WITH GOD…
Even now, the reason why I
go out to preach the Gospel with the Bible is that there are many people that
God loves. He is working in them to save them in Seoul and many other cities
and counties. Just As God connected the Ethiopian eunuch with Philip, Ananias
with Saul, and Cornelius with Peter and led them to listen to the Gospel, God
is using me to save people that God prepared, and for which I am very thankful.
I do not just preach the Gospel. I am so happy living my life for God and
preaching the Gospel. I give all glory and thanks to Him.
I have preached the Gospel
to many politicians and public figures. I could not meet with most of them
again because they are so busy. However, when I pray, I sometimes think about
them. I pray that God will pour his grace on them and receive glory through
them.
Although I am away from
them, I hope that the Holy Spirit of God will lead them and let them grow as
workers of God.
When Elijah said “I am the
only one of the Lord’s prophets left”, God said to Elijah “I have left Me seven
thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal.” As I see
that God has left His servants in this world to accomplish His will, I am
unceasingly thankful.
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