Pastor Ock Soo Park's Testimony
IN THE SITUATION WHERE WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING
IN THE SITUATION WHERE WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING
God poured a lot of grace
on me. God keeps working in and changing my life and the lives of our brothers
and sisters. Many times we go according to our methods because we trust in
ourselves. However, it’s amazing how the grace of God changes people like us.
God says in the book of Romans,
“The law entered that the offense might abound.” Nevertheless, we think that we
are good if we do good deeds because we do not know ourselves well. Whenever we
are in that mindset, God lets us fall into sins to shows us how evil we are and
to break the heart of trusting in ourselves. Through that, we come to realize that
we are truly helpless people and there is nothing we can do. We then deny
ourselves and return to the faith to believe in Jesus.
Most
people believe that they can do good things until they go through such
experiences. There are many people who try to do good things and keep the
commandments by their own efforts. In order to set us free from such hearts, God
not only makes us know that we are sinners but also leads us into situations
where we cannot do anything because there is no good in us.
Likewise, when we are at
the point where we cannot do good no matter how hard we try, we finally rely
solely on Jesus’ grace. If we think that we have even a little goodness in us,
we will still try to accomplish something for ourselves instead of depending entirely
upon Jesus.
There
are two kinds of missionaries who preach the gospel. One kind think that they have
something good in them even though they received salvation because they were sinners.
These missionaries work with their own thoughts and will. They do not work only
with the faith to believe in Jesus Christ. The other kind know that they are
nothing and helpless people. These people work totally depending on Jesus. Some
people try hard with their own efforts. Others deny themselves and only Jesus Christ
works in them.
A
MISSIONARY COUPLE’S MONEYLESS WITNESSING TRIP
One
missionary went to South America and preached the gospel. During his eight
years of ministry, the number of brothers and sisters decreased. Only two were
left so he lost strength to go on with ministry.
He
thought it was impossible to continue, so he decided to go back to Korea and
find another job. However, he and his wife said to each other, “Let’s go on a
moneyless witnessing trip as our final attempt. If God does not work during
this trip, let’s quit our ministry and return to Korea.”
The
missionary, his wife, and their five-year-old son hitchhiked to a city 100km away
from Buenos Aires and they tried to spend the night at a bus terminal. However,
the metal chair was too cold to sleep on so his wife said, “Let’s go outside to
find a place to sleep.” They went to the police station and the fire station. However,
there was no place to sleep. Then suddenly, they got caught in a downpour and were
drenched to the skin.
Fortunately, a police car
saw them and brought them back to the bus terminal.
The rain was blowing even into
the bus terminal so they sat beside the restroom to avoid it. They could not
sleep at all that night and thought a lot without talking.
‘When we went out to look for
a place to sleep, we did not go with faith. We just went ambiguously so God did
not help us. God stopped us with the heavy rain and made us come back here.
Humanistic ways are useless.’
THEY
REALIZED THAT THOUGHTS HAD BLOCKED OUT GOD’S WORKS
They realized this and
thought to themselves, “Even though we want to get a job, if God stops us, it’s
impossible for us to get one.” With that thought they made up their minds to live
by faith. For several years, they preached the gospel, but they never depended
on God in their heart. Instead, they lived hoping something would happen. That
night, they realized that their thought had blocked out God’s works. They made up
their mind to run with the faith to believe in God.
Since
then, they saw God working. A certain man gave them a lot of money so they could
sleep in a hotel. Then, a certain church prepared a room for them to sleep in.
In San Luis, the destination of their moneyless witnessing trip, they preached
the gospel and many people received salvation. About 20 brothers and sisters
started a regular meeting. Someone also bought a coat for missionary’s wife and
a pastor saw that this missionary had no watch and took off his watch and gave
it to him. Another person bought toys for their son. This missionary was so
astonished to see how God was working.
He
realized in his heart, “Ah, for several years, I only followed my own thoughts.
However, when I do not follow my thoughts and instead only do things with faith
in God, God works like this!’ He realized this fact in his heart.
GOD
GIVES FOOLS LIKE US WISDOM AND CHANGES US
No one can realize the
world of God with their own wisdom. God gives us several kinds of situations
and teaches us how useless it is to follow humanly methods and ways rather than
relying on God. I see God is leading each of our missionaries in this way. I
lived pursuing humanly ways and having expectations in people. However, God
gave me the heart to trust him know that trusting in Him is better than
trusting in princes. I saw God changing brothers in our church, as well as myself,
in this way.
There are many
missionaries in our mission. God let those who trust in themselves and work in
their own ways, go through difficulties and hardships, making nothing work well
for them. On the other hand, I noticed that God lets people who live with the
faith in Him have blessed and graceful lives. I am so thankful when I think
that the living God accomplishes His great and amazing works in us!
In our church there are more
and more brothers who were caught by God and are working for the gospel. Still,
there are many missionaries who cannot throw away humanistic methods and stay
in difficulty. I see God is changing each of them. Even though Peter followed
Jesus, he could not throw away his own ways and trusted in himself saying, “Though
I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.” However, when the heart to trust
in himself was crumbled down, he became a powerful servant of God. Abraham also
got out of his country and from his kindred and from his father’s house. Still,
he could not throw away his thoughts. When God told him that He would give a
son to him when he was 99 years old, he laughed, and said, “Shall a child be
born to a man like me?” Nevertheless, when that heart was crumbled down, Abraham
became a powerful servant of God.
When I see that God giving
foolish people like us wisdom and changing each of us into precious and great
servants, I am unceasingly thankful. As time goes by, many people receive
salvation through our church and many precious servants of God are arising. When
I think that more powerful workers will arise, who will lead people in the
world to the gospel, I have hope in God’s work and give Him thanks.
IN
THE SITUATION WHERE WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING
God poured a lot of grace
on me. God keeps working in and changing my life and the lives of our brothers
and sisters. Many times we go according to our methods because we trust in
ourselves. However, it’s amazing how the grace of God changes people like us.
God says in the book of Romans,
“The law entered that the offense might abound.” Nevertheless, we think that we
are good if we do good deeds because we do not know ourselves well. Whenever we
are in that mindset, God lets us fall into sins to shows us how evil we are and
to break the heart of trusting in ourselves. Through that, we come to realize that
we are truly helpless people and there is nothing we can do. We then deny
ourselves and return to the faith to believe in Jesus.
Most
people believe that they can do good things until they go through such
experiences. There are many people who try to do good things and keep the
commandments by their own efforts. In order to set us free from such hearts, God
not only makes us know that we are sinners but also leads us into situations
where we cannot do anything because there is no good in us.
Likewise, when we are at
the point where we cannot do good no matter how hard we try, we finally rely
solely on Jesus’ grace. If we think that we have even a little goodness in us,
we will still try to accomplish something for ourselves instead of depending entirely
upon Jesus.
There
are two kinds of missionaries who preach the gospel. One kind think that they have
something good in them even though they received salvation because they were sinners.
These missionaries work with their own thoughts and will. They do not work only
with the faith to believe in Jesus Christ. The other kind know that they are
nothing and helpless people. These people work totally depending on Jesus. Some
people try hard with their own efforts. Others deny themselves and only Jesus Christ
works in them.
A
MISSIONARY COUPLE’S MONEYLESS WITNESSING TRIP
One
missionary went to South America and preached the gospel. During his eight
years of ministry, the number of brothers and sisters decreased. Only two were
left so he lost strength to go on with ministry.
He
thought it was impossible to continue, so he decided to go back to Korea and
find another job. However, he and his wife said to each other, “Let’s go on a
moneyless witnessing trip as our final attempt. If God does not work during
this trip, let’s quit our ministry and return to Korea.”
The
missionary, his wife, and their five-year-old son hitchhiked to a city 100km away
from Buenos Aires and they tried to spend the night at a bus terminal. However,
the metal chair was too cold to sleep on so his wife said, “Let’s go outside to
find a place to sleep.” They went to the police station and the fire station. However,
there was no place to sleep. Then suddenly, they got caught in a downpour and were
drenched to the skin.
Fortunately, a police car
saw them and brought them back to the bus terminal.
The rain was blowing even into
the bus terminal so they sat beside the restroom to avoid it. They could not
sleep at all that night and thought a lot without talking.
‘When we went out to look for
a place to sleep, we did not go with faith. We just went ambiguously so God did
not help us. God stopped us with the heavy rain and made us come back here.
Humanistic ways are useless.’
THEY
REALIZED THAT THOUGHTS HAD BLOCKED OUT GOD’S WORKS
They realized this and
thought to themselves, “Even though we want to get a job, if God stops us, it’s
impossible for us to get one.” With that thought they made up their minds to live
by faith. For several years, they preached the gospel, but they never depended
on God in their heart. Instead, they lived hoping something would happen. That
night, they realized that their thought had blocked out God’s works. They made up
their mind to run with the faith to believe in God.
Since
then, they saw God working. A certain man gave them a lot of money so they could
sleep in a hotel. Then, a certain church prepared a room for them to sleep in.
In San Luis, the destination of their moneyless witnessing trip, they preached
the gospel and many people received salvation. About 20 brothers and sisters
started a regular meeting. Someone also bought a coat for missionary’s wife and
a pastor saw that this missionary had no watch and took off his watch and gave
it to him. Another person bought toys for their son. This missionary was so
astonished to see how God was working.
He
realized in his heart, “Ah, for several years, I only followed my own thoughts.
However, when I do not follow my thoughts and instead only do things with faith
in God, God works like this!’ He realized this fact in his heart.
GOD
GIVES FOOLS LIKE US WISDOM AND CHANGES US
No one can realize the
world of God with their own wisdom. God gives us several kinds of situations
and teaches us how useless it is to follow humanly methods and ways rather than
relying on God. I see God is leading each of our missionaries in this way. I
lived pursuing humanly ways and having expectations in people. However, God
gave me the heart to trust him know that trusting in Him is better than
trusting in princes. I saw God changing brothers in our church, as well as myself,
in this way.
There are many
missionaries in our mission. God let those who trust in themselves and work in
their own ways, go through difficulties and hardships, making nothing work well
for them. On the other hand, I noticed that God lets people who live with the
faith in Him have blessed and graceful lives. I am so thankful when I think
that the living God accomplishes His great and amazing works in us!
In our church there are more
and more brothers who were caught by God and are working for the gospel. Still,
there are many missionaries who cannot throw away humanistic methods and stay
in difficulty. I see God is changing each of them. Even though Peter followed
Jesus, he could not throw away his own ways and trusted in himself saying, “Though
I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.” However, when the heart to trust
in himself was crumbled down, he became a powerful servant of God. Abraham also
got out of his country and from his kindred and from his father’s house. Still,
he could not throw away his thoughts. When God told him that He would give a
son to him when he was 99 years old, he laughed, and said, “Shall a child be
born to a man like me?” Nevertheless, when that heart was crumbled down, Abraham
became a powerful servant of God.
When I see that God giving
foolish people like us wisdom and changing each of us into precious and great
servants, I am unceasingly thankful. As time goes by, many people receive
salvation through our church and many precious servants of God are arising. When
I think that more powerful workers will arise, who will lead people in the
world to the gospel, I have hope in God’s work and give Him thanks.
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