These are the wise words of Solomon son of David, King of Israel. (Proverbs 1:1)

King Solomon, David's son, wrote the book of Proverbs. He was a third king of Israel after his father's death. These are the words of Solomon (Proverbs 1:1) after his experiences with his painful moments of his life.

King Solomon begins in his book with how the proverbs can apply to our daily life. In Proverbs 1:2, he told us the proverbs teach us "wisdom and self-control." They provide wisdom and guidance for obedience life. They "will help us to understand wise word."
It is important to us to learn wise words from these proverbs. Without understanding wise words, how can we go with our lives with tough decisions? We have challenged in our daily life, such as making a tough decision.

Everyday, I face a lot physical challenges. I have to drive my wheelchair and communicator to go around the school campus. Or I have to decide what kind of housing and accommodations I need after I would finish my training at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center.

We all need wisdom and self-control because they will help us to understand many wise words. The Bible, for example, has a lot of wise words. As I open the Word of God, I am reading many wise words from my Teacher. The book is not for the only professional Christians, because there are none in the world. The only perfect human in the world history was and is Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the Book of Proverbs provides us advice for our livings.

What if we don't have guidance for our livings, then what would happen to us? What if we don't know how to be honest with our families, friends, and people? What if we don't know how to be fair and right?

The book of Proverbs will teach us how to be wise and self-controlled, and will teach us to do what is honest, fair, and right (Proverbs 1:3). This book will teach us many aspects of having right living with God while we still live in this planet. King Solomon was actually talking to his son as he wrote these proverbs.

In Proverbs 1:3, King Solomon had mentioned five view points that the book of Proverbs will teach us. Let's look through each of them.

This particular part of the Bible is all about wisdom. The wisdom doesn't come from the world, but from God. We cannot earn the wisdom from our own works. Nor we cannot add wisdom to our own life. Only God can give us the wisdom. James said, "...if any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it." (James 1:5a.) There is no person in the earth who could give us the wisdom rather than God. Look at Solomon when he asked God for wisdom (see I Kings 3), he didn't ask for more than wisdom for his leadership. He was self-control. He was honest, fair, and right with God. What God did to Solomon? God gave him wisdom that was beyond his request. (See I Kings 3:10-14.)

Also, King Solomon had self-control when he requested his need to God. He didn't blow his temper to God nor gave up upon Him. He was patient with God. James also told us that we need to "be patient until the Lord comes again." (See James 5:7a.) Unlike Solomon, we sometime ask God for our needs without just to be patient. For example, I often want to have my work need to be done immediately. Nor we would want to have our needs to be met fast. Otherwise, we would burn to ourselves and not to God. His timeline is not like ours. He has his own time to give us the answers to our situations.

Not only the book of Proverbs will teach us how to be wise and self-control, but they also teach us how to be honest, fair, and right when we would use the wise words to the other person. They teach us important advice when we would use the wise words from any kinds of relationships or problems. They will help to build up our relationships, such as in marriage, workplace, counseling, and more, rather than tearing them down. For example, if you have a marriage problem with your spouse, don't break down each other apart. Instead, talk about the issue and solve them with your spouse by being honest, fair, and right. You cannot solve your marriage problem by grieving or arguing each other.

God hates divorce. We will look into relationship in further later of the book of Proverbs.

If you cannot think about wise words to say to your family, co-workers, friends, then read the book of Proverbs and apply to your daily life.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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Have you been discouraged when you were in your youth from your parents, peers, friends, and teachers? Or did you have a good time while you were in youth?

As we continue studying this series on “God’s Calling for Younger Generation,” I would like to bring the subject on seeking God in early life. Why I bring out this subject? As we read about the life of Jeremiah, God called him to be one of His chosen prophets before his arrival from his mother’s womb. And God called him to bring out the people of Israel and lead them into Him. Even though Jeremiah received some negative responds from his people in his young age, he continued to do God’s will.

Although to be in youth age, God called children to rejoice in their lives. Read with me Ecclesiastes 11:9-10.

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth,
And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth;
Walk in the ways of your heart,
And in the sight of your eyes;
But know that for all these
God will bring you into judgment.
Therefore remove sorrow from your heart,
And put away evil from your flesh,
For childhood and youth are vanity.

Being in the first 16 years of life that children are in is great point of start life. Yet, after children reach the age of 18, the word youth will become useless in their lives, because they are in adulthood. From ages 1 day to 2-years old, the child will get a lot of attention from mommy and daddy. From 3 to 5, they would begin to learn ABC, counting the number, and will have little responsibility. As they get older, they will have more responsibilities as they are in the care of their parents. Of course, they will have a lot of free time of doing many activities while they are in home and schools.

Also, the children are in good ages to seek the community and variety of touching and looking at materials and other people around them. But we also want let our young people to know who brought them into this world. When the baby comes out from his mother’s womb, he will first hear the words, momma and dada. As the child starts to learn the first two words, he uses to using these simple words throughout his infant stage.

We also need to teach the child the name of Jesus or God. Most time, in a Christian family, people fail to teach the child the name Jesus in his early life. Most people would think that they brought the children into the world themselves and don’t teach them the word Jesus to them. For example, in Catholicism, many believers worship Mary, the mother of Jesus; because they believe that she received a divine power from God to bring Jesus into this world as coequal to God; instead of, God called Mary to bring His Son to this world to take care Jesus for Him until He would depart from her to reunite with His Father after His mission.

If we devote to teach the child about the Word of God before he/she would become adulthood, that child will have fully walked with Jesus Christ throughout his/her life. Deuteronomy 11:19 says that we need to teach our youngsters what God had done in our lives, not for our sake but His. As the child receives the Word of God in his hearing, that child will continue to desire for God in his life.

Now let me to talk with youths and young adults. Being in young generation in your life is not easy. Although some of you live with your family, there will be new responsibilities and challenges to take care yourself and your family. Couple years ago, one of young women came to me and shared with me about how she wanted to live her own, to get out from her family, so she could have easy life. If she likes to live her own without further planning, she would have great deal of problems in her life. Being independent living is not easy, she still have responsibility to live with. I’m living independently with personal assistant now, but I’m still struggle with my life. Being in government financial assistant doesn’t help much with living expenses. I still struggle to meet my bills deadline. DEADLINE is ugly word in our vocabulary, because we need to pay bills by such date. If we don’t meet deadline, bill collectors will add about 1.5% more from previous bill amount.

Even though God tells youths to enjoy their lives while in their ages, they need to know that God will judge them according to what they would have done. He will be either as their Savior or Judge. Although they are young, it doesn’t mean that they’d be freed from the judgment according to God’s book.

And we also need to encourage young people and to help them to understand the way of God. If we let our youngsters do according to our wishes, they would feel corruption. But if we suggest them, they would feel much safe to do their accomplishments.

If you are youth or young adults, don’t feel like that you are useless, when other people say to you that you cannot do it. You are precious child to God. Just as Jeremiah, God knows you what you can do or you cannot do. Even though you hear all the negative things about you, there is only one person who will not let you down. That is God. God, who created you. God, who knows everything about you before you were born. If your parents decide to disown you because you have found the truth from the Word of God, you still have your Father in you—God. He will never forget you or forsake you, unless you’d decide to follow other ways to live life.

MTV will not help you, but they will make you more miserable. Playing lottery tickets will not help you to get $1 million, but they would make to loose that money. Trying to reach more success will not help you to gain more business achievements rather than they will make you apart from God, family, and friends.

Hold what you have accomplished while you were in schools, with family and friends who were devoted to God. Don’t make yourself to be in jail bar. Paul says in I Timothy 4:12, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

What do you have in your hand to avoid from going to Satan’s traps? What do you have in your hands to reach others with the love of Jesus Christ? What do you have in your hands to pass your senior year of high school? What do you do if your parents do not have Jesus Christ in their lives?

Although these questions may make you confuse, God knows what you can accomplish. Even though you cannot make your parents come to Christ, God will work on your behalf to continue knocking their hearts. You only need to trust Him and do whatever you are doing.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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Since Adam and Eve felt into the temptation of the serpent, Satan has overcome to control the world that God created. Jesus said, in John 14:30, before He would face His death by His people, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me."

In previous message, we brief studied on bad and good sides of the young people that they have impacted in this world. Before we would look more into the good side of the young people, we study on the bad side. If you miss the first part of this message, please feel free to read it on MGJC Home Page at mysite.verizon.net/jrappkor.

Satan loves to attack our young people, so they wouldn't become children of God. He would love them if they learn to hate everything that God provided for them, so he could control them and send them into his kingdom, Hell. Even Satan loves to attack infants. In fact, they are two historic records that he killed infants.

Before we look into the two passages, please don't get mix up when God dealt His people by murdering their infants. Although God did these acts toward to His chosen people to lead the nation, He did this for reason: He disciplined His people to turn back to Him from the pagan gods and sins.

Read with me Exodus 1:8-22:

⁸Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; ¹⁰come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land." ¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. ¹⁴And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage--in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶and he said, "When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live." ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive” ¹⁹And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them." ²⁰Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. ²¹And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. ²²So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."

In this passage of Exodus is where the new King Pharaoh began to have jealous on the Israelites, because he may don't know who Joseph was or the previous King Pharaoh, who gave Joseph to be the governor of Egypt (Gen. 41:37-57). However, this new King Pharaoh would probably took over the land of Egypt many years after Joseph's death. And he didn't know about what Joseph had done.

Now, let me read the study note of Exodus 1:8 from The MacArthur Study Bible. Sometimes, we would need to look different view to get more information of Scripture, but not too often.

Now let's read the note of Exodus 1:8: "This king is either to be identified as one of Hyksos kings during the period of political disintegration, or as Pharaoh Amose I, founder of what archeologists have designed as the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom period in Egyptian history. It is probably best to take this new king, who knew not Joseph, as a Hyksos ruler. Furthermore, the term "rose" signifies "rose against," which accords well with a foreign seizure of the Egyptian throne. The Hyksos (ca. 1730-1570 BC) came from outside Egypt (cf. Acts 7:18)."

So, now we read that this new king did not have relationship with the previous King Pharaoh, and did not know about Joseph and Hebrew people. As we read in Exodus 1:8-22, we see that this new Egyptian leader wanted to have contest against the Hebrew nation, so that his nation would become much stronger.

Ok, we'd understand that King Pharaoh had an issue with Hebrews, but why he wanted let Hebrew women to kill their boys and not girls. We would probably think this was the strangest thing that ever heard. But, if we read throughout the Bible, God choose His men to lead their lands, families, and businesses. King Pharaoh wanted girls to be alive, because they are weaker than boys and more beautiful than boys; and if they are married, women would become men's partners or supporters. But, this king would probably want let women would become his servants while men are working hard at the hot sun.

In the New Testament, King Herod wanted to kill children, so he can find the Messiah to kill Him and let him to be the ruler of Israel (see Matthew 2).

In both cases, we see that Satan was involved with these two kings, so that he can control God's people. Unfortunately, he lost the war. By the time Satan tried to use two different era kings to kill the young people, God already saved His children.

Now let's go to our generation, which is right now.

Our society has become more like disastrous world. If we look through the past history, we would see that America was built by Christianity and by founding our national fathers, who’d believe that they were firm believers in Jesus Christ. Before the mid 20th-century, American was built by Christian. We heard that students had the freedom of prayer and reading God’s Words in their schools, which the court/ACLU set up. Many children TV programs were probably had less violence for them to watch. Now we come to the 21^st-century and look what we have done to make our young people miserable.

We still carry King Herod’s legacy, which we call “abortion.” Now, the court/ACLU released the freedom of right to kill the unborn child before he/she would come out from the woman’s womb. In the entertainment industries, producers create more action TV programs and movies for children to watch that contain violence, sex, alcohol, and occultism. In schools, our government gave the right for children to learn what the others produced in the entertainment industries. “Thus, un-Godly influences aimed directly at our young children are pouring in daily through TV, movies, videos, magazines, books, and tapes. However, one of the most important avenues by which Satan is trying to capture children's hearts and souls is through our public school system.” (See Cutting Edge Radio Transcript on “Our Children in the New World Order” at http://www.cuttingedge.org/ce1010.html.)

Why is Satan attacking our young people through the public school system?

The Cutting Edge Radio Transcript continues, “The first step is to destroy the old system, which in America is based on Biblical Evangelical Christianity. This system permeated all aspects of society, especially the Family and the Schools. Children received foundational home instruction in religion, morals, discipline, and normal person-to-person relationships as modeled in the home. The child came to school with this protective and sustaining foundation, and was thus ready to receive an academic education. Parents supported the education of their children in all these ways. Without this parental involvement and support, no child could properly learn.”

The Goal: Satan wants to destroy our young people’s souls. Thus, they cannot see the light from the darkness of sins.

Not we only need to blame these disasters on our young people to our public school and court systems and to our enemy, Satan; we also need to concern what we teach our youngsters in their own family and church family. The hardest thing for kids to have is on showing bad examples from their own parent(s). For instant, if the children see that their parents would decide to divorce from each other, they will start to collect unpleasant emotions and confusions in their lives. As they would get older, kids would follow the same methods of living as their parents, but their problems would get worse than what their parents dealt with.

Divorce within a family is the number one of America issue today. Most of them are from the Christian family. Why? Even though we hear more messages on the Christian family from our pastors, we may not hear often on how we need to live our lives as Jesus lived. Messages on family, money, and Christian life may seem great, but there is more to how we need to live a Christian life. We need to go to meat of the Christian life as we would lead our youngsters, whether we are married or not, have kids or not in our homes, to the next generation of their lives. Thus, leading them into Jesus Christ by demonstrating them our examples of how we need to live as Christ did. That doesn’t mean we need to die at the cross or speak in different language to them. Instead, we need to bring God’s Words into reality in their lives by loving and caring to our young people’s needs as Jesus did for us.

If you don’t have children as yours or you’re young adult, you still can reach into other children, teenagers, or other young adults into Jesus Christ with His love and care.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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This week topic is on for those are in younger generation. If you are under age 30, this message may give some inside of what God has planned for you.

As we see in today's world, many TV programs that young children, teenagers, and young adults watched have impacts on violent, drug, and any kind of addictions that pull themselves from God. As we see in movie theaters, there are more PG-rated movies than G-rated movies. Or we hear about some teenagers would decide to set up a false bomb thread alarm in the school to make everybody would be frighten. I had been in this situation before while I was in high school and rehabilitation center. It was not fun at all.

Is there hope for children, teenagers, and young adults from all the destructions in their lives? When children become teenager years, they started to make many hard choices in their lives. They will listen to many advices from their peers, friends, parents, and teachers as they are going through transaction period. Overall these, is there any hope that they can survive throughout their lives? If we are single young adults, is there any way to escape from loneliness, depression, and sadness? What we, as single adults, can help the other people who are younger than us?

Read Jeremiah 1:5 with me:

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

The Book of Jeremiah is about how God used this young man, Jeremiah, as a prophet of God to lead the nation. Throughout his life, Jeremiah cried out to the people to bring them to God. Most of Jeremiah's speeches were harsh to the people of Israel. Because of his harsh words, many people, even his own family, hated him without knowing that his words came from God. Some of Jeremiah's obstacles are death threats (see Jer. 11:18-23), isolation (see 15:15-21), stocks (see 19:14-20:18), arrest (see 26:7-24), and challenge (see 28:10-16).

If we, as single young adults, face these or more challenges in our lives, what we do to protect ourselves from harm? Some of us decide to look for drug, sex, or violent activities to get the solution to the problem. As we see on the news, MTV, and other mass Media, we see that many teenagers and young adults are killing themselves in the spiritual round. Satan is controlling our young people through many television, radio, toys, and movie industries--pulling them from God.

As Christian young adults, we first need to understand that our physical bodies are not just bodies, but they are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). We bought at a price (I Cor. 6:20). Jesus didn't just die for our sins, but He died for us with His compassion, love, and care for us, so we could be saved. If we destroy with alcohols, having sex outside the marriage, committing crimes, and putting tattoo on our bodies, we actually are destroying God's House.

We need to build ourselves with the strong foundation rather than what the world offers. What are they? How we build strong foundation in our lives as young generation?

1) Establishing relationship with Jesus Christ. As we read about Jeremiah's life, he faced many obstacles in his life, from his youthful age to adult. Although he had many challenges, Jeremiah didn't give up the problem. He was going to give up once (Jer. 1:6a), but God kept give him encourage and hope in his life to do difficult assignment. God didn't just give him encouragement, He walked side with him during the difficulty. God said in Isaiah 43:2, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; ad through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you."

If we have the relationship with Jesus Christ, we can accomplish anything in His name.

2) Don't say I am too young to do the will of God. God always choose young people to accomplish His plan. In Genesis, God choose Joseph to bring out His people from the seven years of famine. In 1 Samuel, God choose young David to lead the nation of Israel, which it leads to the promise of the coming of Messiah.

Why? Why He choose the young people to accomplish His plan?

The Bible tells us that God loves us as His children. He knows us before we were born (see Jer 1:5). He created us, so that He can have relationship us. He calls us to show example of obedience of God's children to others, so they can be citizens of His family.

Paul says in I Timothy 4:12-16, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you."

As we close in this portion of topic, ask yourselves with this question: What God has planned for me with this young age? Don't say you are too young to be on the missionary field. Or if you are adult, don't just say you're too old to reach to the needy. God can use any of us to accomplish His plan.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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Who do we depend on when we would face some difficulties in our personal life? Some of us may depend on family members, church councils, friends, and co-workers. It is good to have somebody to help and encourage you when you are lonely, depressed, sad, and happy in your life situation. King Solomon said, “If one falls down, his friend can help him up.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10a NIV.) Is that a reason to have a friend?

Over the past two years, Kelly, my personal assistant, has been one of my best friends while I have been living my life independently. Although she has a limitation of the Personal Assistant Services Program, Kelly has been willing to take the risk to help me to learn how I can live more independently, such as community outing, job seeking, errands, enrolling in college, and more. She has been faithful and willing to trust me to work on our life problems together.

When one of us may have an awful day, we share the problem and give advice to each other to solve issue. Although she considered as my employee, I considered her as my friend and one of God’s family members. In this case, we have experiences with our lives and have a chance to understand our individual character more as we meet each day.

We may not see this kind of friendship from our work environment because our duties are to maintain the business. Nor do we need to take care of our family. People can find friends if they can see beyond somebody’s physical and inner being of character. To have a friendship with the other person is to have willingness to any situation that he or she may have and help him or her out during the circumstance. A friendship should be willing to take risk, to love, to care, and to have faith in the other person. Not only would that person be willing to take these four qualities to find a friend, he or she should be willing to be with you all the time, no matter what is going on in that person’s life.

Even today, some of us may find having a friend difficult. Sometimes, we may find the person is hard to trust. Trusting a friend is very important to have a friendship in our lives. Is he or she willing to take you through some difficult situations and bring you into the light path? Or is he or she not going to go through some situations with you?

If we have friends that can last long, we receive more health into our souls and physical beings. The only way that we would have unhealthy physical and inner being is not having any fellowship with the other people in the community. I have discovered myself in this situation in the past. But I have gained more health to my physical and spiritual life through development of friendship. When I did not have a friend around me at my apartment, it was depressing and lonely. Sometimes, I had a headache of being lonely. I had not much to do around my apartment except look at the four walls of the house. But when I found a friend, my life has totally changed from depression, sadness, and loneliness to happiness and enjoyment. I have a hope that I can go through any situation with the help from my friend.

Anybody can have a friend, no matter what the person looks like, or his or her sex, or religious background, or where the person came from. You could find some friends in home, community, church, school, or workplace. Do you have some friends in your life? To grow physically and in your inner life is to have friends around you.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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What if you die today, what would you be doing? What if you die this moment and come before God, and He asks you, "Why I let you into My place?" About 78 percent of American people said and believed that they are going to Heaven. If 78 percent of the people believe in Heaven, do they know how they will go to there? Maybe they go to the church and religious activity; they might think that God will let them.

Turn to John 14 as we conclude the message series. Heaven is a real place, but we cannot just enter into the place. It is a place for those who truly accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. If those who are not accept Christ and will face Him at the great white throne, they choose to go to Hell. Hell is a real place and it's reality. Jesus talked about Hell as twice as much than Heaven. But where you go after this life? That's the question. Please read the first four verses in John 14:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many room, if it were not so, I have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." (John 14:1-4.)

In the Book of Revelation, Heaven has many angels that we can't count (5:11). There will be the New Earth and New Jerusalem when we die and live for eternity. Jesus said there will be many rooms in Heaven. On the final day, God will bring the New Jerusalem to the earth to prepare as a wedding ceremony (21:2). He will call all His glooms, the Church, to celebrate with Him. New Jerusalem will be 1,400 miles in length and as wide and high as it long (that is about 2,200 km) and 144 cubits thick by man's measurement (that's about 65 meters or 200 feet). There will be no more pains, tears, problems in our lives. There will be no more handicapped. The land will be altogether and it will not be separated. For now, we are living on this physical world with 30 percent of the land in whole earth, but in haven there will be 100 percent of the land. There will be fruits, food, and drink that we never will be hunger and thirsty again. There will be a lot activities are going on that we never will get tire and worry from them. All the problems which we are experiencing now will be disappeared when we enter the Heaven gate.

But there will be only few of us enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 7:14). Although Jesus doesn't like to hear that many people will find wide gate and spend the eternality in Hell, He does have no choice to send them to Hell. In Heaven, there will be no more sins. Sins cannot enter the Heaven, because God wants us to be peace, enjoy, and loved our lives each other in His place. He knows our struggling against sins in this moment of the time. He knows that we want to be saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. He knows that some of us want to be saved by our own deeds and He lets them go until they would come to Him, but He is still calling him/her to lead into the right direction. Jesus said that we do not let our hearts be troubled and be trusted in God and in Him (John 14:1-2). He didn't to go back to the Heaven, so that we could have many pains. No. He went back to the Heaven to prepare a place for us to rest and enjoy our lives for eternality. While we are living on this earth, God wants to have the personal relationship with each of us. James said, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (1:2-4).

There will be a rapture of the Church before the Antichrist would appear on the mass of Media. There will be many believers will be disappear at the twinkle of eyes. Airplane pilots will be disappeared because they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of the streets, there will be many people will be left behind and will have many confusions and sadness, because they miss the opportunity to repent their sins and go with Jesus Christ to His place. There will be the second rapture of the Church during the Great Tribulation. But the people will experience many pains and sufferings before Jesus comes again to those are left behind.

When we stand before God, the book of life will be opened to us. This book will be determined to spend our eternal life. John wrote, "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books." (Rev 20:11-12.) If God can't find any of us in the book of life, then He will throw that person to the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:14-15). To understand the place is called the Lake of Fire, we cannot put the fire out, because it's very hotter than the earthly heat. In Luke 16, Jesus described the Hell as torment. Even the rich man is in the torment and is called for help; God doesn't change His mind to take him out from burning furnace.

But God gave us the second chance to repent our sins while we are physically living. He brought His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, 2000 years ago, to demonstrate that He loves and cares us, so we may have the eternal life with Him.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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Today's message is that we may do not hear often as we should, because it seemed that the subject may seem is too personal. If we look where the world is going today is that anybody would like to seek something more upon them. As we look on the TV, many Christian programs now advertise more of their products than sharing on the Word of God. If we watch TBN Praise-A-Thon, people always talk about giving or donating some money to their TV network. Or many TV programs would give name after the name of the church leader.

Look King Solomon. Although he ended his kingship with a bad result, he always seeks after God as his father, David, did. In I Kings 3:1-15, Solomon had a desire something to have in his life, but he didn't ask Him what he wanted for himself. We may ask, "What kind of the king was that?" Being a national leader, he can do anything to get what he wants. No! Even though King Solomon had the freedom to be a worldly rich, he didn't ask anything else rather than requesting wisdom. So he can help his people (I Kings 3:16-28).

The letter I can use in both good and bad way. For instant, if you say to your friend, "I want to make it works." In this sentence, you want something done for yourselves and not both of you. It's not a suggestion. But if there's the word "would" between "I" and "want," your friend would have chance to express the idea to you freely. If there's too many "I" in a paragraph without any suggestion word or phrase, there's problem in the whole subject.

Now let's go to reality.

There are two letters are hidden in the letter "I" unless we would use it wisely. It's spelled SIN. Committing sin can make us to live selfishness and turn away from God and people. In Isaiah 14:12-14, Lucifer was trying to be the higher ruler than God, because of sin that he committed and would like to be a ruler over God's kingdom. His main goal is all about what HE WANTS (or WHAT I WANT). There's nothing wrong saying I WANT, but if we keep repeating it to God or somebody, we would likely to become self-righteousness. And it's considered as SIN. I = SIN.

Although we were born from the sin nature, it doesn't mean that once we born, we committed sin. Babies have no idea if they are born from sin nature. While we were babies, God covered us with His grace. As we are getting older, we have the choice which way we learn to reach our destiny. But that doesn't mean that God doesn't protect us anymore. No! It's time for us to choose which way we'd live for.

Now if those would like to live with Jesus Christ. We may not have much to live in this planet. In His word says, God demonstrated His love toward us by brining His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay all of our sins from the darkness. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But He did more than any god cannot do. He demonstrated to us that He can give us the new life to live with Him by showing us through His resurrection. But that doesn't mean that we don't have sin anymore. Although we deal with sin, Jesus Christ can help us in the midst of tribulation through His grace if we'd accept Him.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

Updated: Saturday, April 14, 2012 4:09 PM EDT

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Last week, the world selected the new Pope after the death of Pope John Paul II. It was both great and sad news for the all Catholicism. Now the Pope John Paul II passed away from his people, all the Catholicism were greatly rejoiced as they celebrated the legacy of this man.

Have we wondered why God didn't make us famous? Or have we wondered why we cannot be great person as those who are in Hollywood or Christian Network television?

The Bible says that we are strangers from this planet for those are believers in Jesus Christ. First John 2:15 says,: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." This verse does not mean that we cannot have successful life here before we would die. No! But this verse warns us not to fall into the world system as if we do not need God anymore.

As we see on the TV last week, most of TV Evangelists were discussed about what Pope John Paul II did for the churches over the last couple or more decades. He had the world fame, power, and wealth, but is going to last?

Jesus demonstrated us that we gain nothing if we don't know which life we pursue for. If we have won $1 million from the lottery game, would the money be last? If we have memorized all the New Testament Scriptures, does it mean that we have the free access to the eternal life?

Romans 12:1-2 say that we should live by according to God's will by renewing our minds and focus on His way of living. It doesn't mean that we cannot be going out to the other parts of the world and use our talents and skills. We can use what we have built skills and talents to reach to the other side, but our missions are not all about us. We should build our skills and talents to reach the loss souls to God and glorify Him.

Our fame, power, and wealth would not be in this world, but we will receive a great reward when it'll be a time for us to be reunited with Jesus Christ and His angels forever.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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When we meet Jesus Christ before the throne of God, He will ask you and me a question. He will not ask about our social spending. He will not ask us about how many things that we accomplished on earth. But He will ask this question: "What was your relationship with My Son, Jesus Christ?

There are three parts of the message series that will help us to answer that question. In Part 1, I want to discuss about the Eternal Question. What God will ask when we meet Him. Second, If I were Satan. There are more description about Satan and Hell than any other subjects in the Bible that Jesus described. Finally, A Place is Called Heaven. What is the Heaven like? What is the different between Heaven and Hell? As we study on this, it will lead to the question: What is your relationship with Jesus Christ?

Please, read Mark 8:36-37 as we answer to that question. "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forefit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"

What is your relationship with Jesus Christ? This question is that we must answer now or at the throne of God. It is not for our lifetime on the earth, but it's for our eternal life. Jesus asked, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world...?"

Some of us may work on our jobs for more than 40 hours a week. Or some of us may have family and job. More than 80 percent of household have family and job. Do they satisfy you? You may say, yes or kind of. But do they satisfy you for the rest of life?

King Solomon asked this question: "Do people really gain anything from their work?" (Eccl 3:9 NCV.)

In today's world, many of us have been focused what are things that we love to do on earth. It's the mostly popular things to do. Let me ask you this question: If you love this world, have you considered where will you be when you die?

Our human life has limit. We all die physically. In I Corinthians 15, Paul described the resurrection of the dead. In Genesis 3:16-19, God gave Adam a limited life because of sin that he ever done. We have a limited life on earth because what one man did. But, on the other hand, God brought His Son to the world, so we may have the eternal convent with Him through Jesus Christ.

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:12-17.)

So Jesus asked, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forefit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"

We may enjoy doing the activities on earth, but we may do not have the eternal happiness in our lives. We may have many relationships with our people, but do we have the eternal security after we die on earth? If we gain the whole world, what we will end up? Either we enter the Heaven gate or Hell gate. There are no other ways to continue to live our life, because we are made from the image of God.

If we just gain the whole world, then what are we? The Bible says that Jesus came to the world so He can establish the loving relationship with us. Paul said there is nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:39)." God didn't just create us for His work, but for establishing the loving relationship with us.

Are you ready to give your answer to the one simple question to the Heavenly Father? The question cannot be answered by someone else. It is you alone to give it to God. Do you have your personal relationship with Jesus Christ? If you are not sure to the question, please consider to confess your sins and thoughts to God and invite Him to be the center of your life. Many church leaders may call you to go to the altar for sinner prayer. But this time is one and one, you and God, because He wants to know you personally. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matt 7:7-8.)

Let God be the centered of your life.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

Updated: Saturday, April 14, 2012 4:11 PM EDT

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The spiritual war is like a race to the finish line of a car race. It's not a simple game to play in the spiritual field. This battle is more serious than any other games on the sports channel. It costs more than the money. It costs our whole lives to get our prizes.

Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, as we conclude with this important topic. Our culture encourages us to stand up for ourselves and demand our rights, even at the expense of others. But we do know this concept is not a true way to handle our issues.

Read verse 24. The New Century Version of the Bible says, "You know that in a race all runners run, but only one gets prize. So run to win!" Do you know that all of us are in a spiritual race right now? Like running a mile or 1000 meters, we are racing against the other team to get the gold medal. But we are not racing against people as we read in Ephesians 6. We are racing against the spiritual enemies of Christ. Our defenders are trying to win the gold medals. Everyday, I am in a race against the spiritual enemy. We need to understand that we are in a spiritual battlefield while we are facing many challenges.

So we may ask ourselves about how we can win the prize that is waiting for someone to grab it. In the verse 25, Paul reminds us that we need to use our self-control to get the crown. The crown in heaven will last for eternity. But the crown in this world will only last for short amount of time. While I was in school, for example, I received many academic awards. As I continue with my life, all my awards will soon become useless. The earthly awards will not go with me when I die. You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. So run to win! (I Corinthians 9:24 NCV.)

King Solomon asked this one question in Ecclesiastes 3:9. His question is this: “Do people really gain anything from their work?"

Do we? Do we gain our salaries from our jobs? Of course, we gain our salary from our work and effort. Of course, we are happy with our own doing and our actions toward to the community. But is God interesting all of our efforts and work? God is not looking for our efforts to put into our work. No. Our goal in the spiritual warfare is not getting power, fame, and fortune. They will not last for eternality when we go and see our Judge, Jesus Christ the Lord and our Savior. Instead, we need to be self-controlled and wait to fight against the Antichrist, who calls himself the Prince of Darkness.

Why? So we may know where his weak spot is to defeat him. We already know when Satan feels weak. When we use God's holy word, we are getting closer to the finishing line while Satan is getting further from the goal line.

So Paul says in verse 26, "So I do not run without goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something." As he continues on in verse 27 he says, "I treat my body hard and make it my slave so that I myself will not be disqualified after I have preached to others."

Let me ask you a couple questions. Are you running to the finishing line of the spiritual race against Satan? Are you willing to win for Christ to receive your eternal award? It's not easy to defeat the spiritual enemy. Nor is it easy to run to the finishing line.

Remember Jesus already won His fight against Satan to free us from the sins of darkness. The spiritual warfare is not over until all the believers gather to fight against the enemies of Christ. Our own spiritual warfare is just beginning for the major spiritual war. One of these days, we will meet the Antichrist and his armies face to face and fight the final war. In the meantime, we have to choose which kind of training we need to fight the enemies.

Do not open the Bible just for Sunday and have the training session, but have the training session everyday by opening God's word and study it and pray about it to build your weapon of faith to defeat your spiritual enemy.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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Throughout our lives, we faced many sufferings and struggle in order to work the things right. For examples, when we try to live our lives in our workplaces. Some of us try to communicate with the new people and share our beliefs and faiths. Or some of us would face the major decisions on which way we should go as we listen to the other people's advice. Some of us have physically disabilities, and we face the sufferings and struggles through the days to learn and communicate with other people. These and other problems are not only ones we face physically, but, also, we are suffering and struggling against the spirits in the darkness as well. Like Job, when he suffered and struggled against Satan during his life. Jesus, He who fought against the tempter in the wilderness after the forty days and nights of fasting.

Let me ask you this question: Have you wonder why God let you have sufferings and struggles? I often ask myself that one question as I go on with my life. I came from to this country. I experienced many circumstances and I cannot solve my life crisis. Being an orphan boy was one thing I had. But, now, I face many other challenges than when I was in the orphanage in the 1980s.

Early in year 2001, I faced the major spiritual battle while I'm in Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center of Virginia to do my job training. As I listened to the people around me, my mind was beginning to confuse about which way I should go. Satan was trying to use the people to tempt another person and me with our friendship. It left my heart and soul burning in the fire. But thank God that He provided me some Christian friends to overcome this difficult obstacle with me. It is not easy to overcome many challenges, especially in the spiritual round. Satan may swallow you up if you cannot find some resources to win this kind of battle.

Read II Corinthians 12:7-10 and look into Paul's special blessing, he discovered something that helps to understand why he faced many trials in his life. In this passage, we find that Paul had been faced with many obstacles and begged God to help him. His problems were not from God or from the people, but from Satan.

This is the same way that our problems occur. Satan tries to destroy our lives, too, by using anything that he can to control our minds and spirits, such as money, the media, relationships, and other things he can use to destroy our souls. The Henry Potter Movie is the one of tools that Satan could teach the children how to become witchcraft, which they could receive the same power as God has, for example. These techniques Satan tries to use to destroy our relationship with God in our lives. If you would like to have more details about today’s occult, I would strongly suggest read what God’s Word said about this subject, especially in Leviticus 19.

But Paul discovered something else, too, in II Corinthians 12:9-10. He didn't discover this on his own, but from God. Paul discovered that all his pains occurred because of two reasons.

First, he can live with Christ's power. Without Christ and His power, we would not go pass through our difficulties. But what does He give us as individuals? Love? Salvation? Talent? Whatever He gave you, use it to overcome your sufferings and struggles. Don't stand there. Use the gifts He already has given you. Satan cannot stand against the gifts we have.

Second reason is restoring our energy. In verse 10, Paul said, "…when I am weak, then I am truly strong." The battles that we're facing will not last forever. When Paul mentioned the last phrases, he meant when we feel tired, then we need to take the time off to restore our strengths. For doing that, we need to go to God's word and prayer to refresh our spirits and be ready to face our problems again.

“And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (II Corinthians 12:9 NKJV.) Our battles are not against people or ourselves, but against the Prince of Darkness. We cannot fall into one of devil's traps if we are willing to walk with God everyday. Maybe you are searching for answers to your issues and need someone. The best way to do that is finding some Christian friends in your church or community, but mostly to go with God, because He has all the answers.

I don't know what circumstances you're facing, but God knows. He knows every answer to our problems. Max Lucado said, "He doesn't come quarreling and wrangling and forcing his way into anyone's heart." No. That is not what God does. God brought His Son, Jesus, to this world, to fight for our sins and fill us with His strength, power, hope, faith, and love.

Are you communicating with God everyday basis to get the resources what you need for your upcoming battles? If you are truly in God's family, don't waste your time with your activities and call God for help in the last minute. Instead, train yourself with God for your next battle with Satan.

First Timothy 4:8 says, in the New Century Version, "Training your body helps you in some ways, but serving God helps you in every way by bringing you blessings in this life and in the future life, too."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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As we go with our lives, there are many challenging that are waiting for us to step in the battlefield. As we are living for Christ, we would already go through some warfare that are related to physical and spiritual issues. The most problems are occurred in marriage and family problems, financial issues, friendships, and people in our workplaces. As we see on the media, many people faced the tragedies and had resulted as broken hearts. Also, throughout the biblical period, there were many issues as people were going through the battles.

For the next two issues on "Spiritual Warfare," we are not looking only into the physical problems and the spiritual causes, but, also, look into what God told us about the issues we are facing. The first issue is about how we can be ready for any battles. Second message is dealing with sufferings and struggles. And the final message is on the solution to the problems and that is called the "Finishing Line."

As we read from Paul's advice on how we need to prepare for the spiritual battles (Ephesians 6), we will also be looking at the physical issues. Read Ephesians 6:10. Paul told us (as the body of Christ) that we need to be brave and strong.

How we need to be strong and brave in the spiritual battles? We need to trust God the Almighty. Proverbs 3:5-6 said that we need "trust the Lord with all" our hearts "and he [God] will give" us "success." As we can see many people want to have power, fame, and wealth. If we turn on the TV, we would see many violent and sex activities. Look what had happened at Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. We saw that many people had injured and killed because of some plane hijackers. Look on the Social Security Trust Fund (SSTF) for our retire benefit. Although this ministry doesn’t believe every doctrine from the radio and television Christian evangelists, I have found the information about what our government is doing with our money. Pat Robertson, a founder of Christian Broadcasting Network, mentioned that politicians are trying to use our money through the Social Security Trust Fund advertisement, so they can use it for their political reasons. These or more tricks we can be sure of. But we need to be alert everyday by listening and trusting God.

But look Ephesians 6:11-12 and see that what kinds of weapons we need to fight against the devil's tricks. Notice and understand from these verses that we are not planning to against the other people. From the childhood to the adulthood, we have learned that we feel to fight against our neighbors, family members, friends, co-workers, and other people. This is a difficult task for most of us, because we easily see that the people have made mistakes and can't forgive them until we would get the revenge. But look what Paul is saying that we need to fight against the devil only. Although we can't see the devil, he is trying to work in us.

So how can we prepare for the warfare we face?

First, we need to have God's truth. Read Ephesians 6:14 and see that we need to know God's truth to get through the spiritual battles. Also, read Proverbs 3:5-6.

Second, we need to have the Word of God to stand against the Prince of Darkness. In Ephesians 6:15, Paul reminded us the Word of God is a tool to stand against that enemy. For example, three times Jesus used the Scripture from the Old Testament to fight against the tempter (see Matthew 4). He didn't lose the battle, because God's Word is so powerful that the enemy of Christ cannot stand against it. We need to use the Bible and mediate on God's Word to exercise our faiths each day. We do not know what kinds of troubles would come next. Also, we need to exercise our faiths, so we can touch the people into Jesus Christ.

But we need to accept God's salvation before we ask Him for help. "Accept God's salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Ephesians 6:17 NCV.)

Finally, we need to pray all kinds of prayers (see Ephesians 6:18). We can't lose the spiritual war if we pray to God. Our prayers can be any problem that occurred to our lives.

Are you ready for your upcoming battles as you walk with Christ in your daily lives? Take God's Word before you open your door and walk with all kinds of frustration. Try reading a couple verses each morning and let God show you the way through your busy schedule.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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In Ephesians 6:10-17, Apostle Paul gives instructions to prepare us for a fight against Satan and his demons. First, let us go to spiritual battle training. We need to understand who Satan and his demons are and what they can do to pull us apart from God.

We need to understand that Satan is a liar; he is the master of lies. In his book, You Are Destined to Win!, John N. Chacha brings out some of the key lies of Satan. Here are a few:

• Your sins are beyond forgiveness.
• Your problems are beyond God’s help.
• Jesus didn’t die for you as an individual. (Page 6.)

These are lies from the mouth of our enemy. The Word of God says that he is the father of lies (John 8:44). There is no doubt about it, Satan is a liar! Dr. Chacha also pointed out that our battleground is in our minds, because Satan tries to give us bad thoughts or bad habits to control our minds, so he can destroy us in our relationship with God, ourselves, and others. Unfortunately for him, Satan has very limited power to defeat us. Apostle Paul had experienced pain from Satan, but God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in you (II Corinthians 12:9 NKJV).” Satan and his armies are no match with God, our Supreme. Jesus defeated him when He crucified Himself on the cross for our sins, but He resurrected on the third day from the grave to show us that He won the war.

We need to do our part, training with God to face our enemies. Paul says in I Timothy 4:8, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” Paul knows and understands the importance of being trained spiritually because he had experienced the pain that Satan put him through as we see in II Corinthians 12.

First, we need to understand that our struggle is not coming from the other person. Sometimes, the problems might be caused by the other person’s mistakes. However, we need to look beyond the problem. Paul said that we need to be prepared to fight against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly realms. You and I need to understand the main reason why Paul wrote this portion of passage in Ephesians.

Today, we see the enemy attacking the churches around the world through the creation of certain denominational churches that mix Christianity and paganism tradition. We see this throughout I Corinthians, where Paul focused on the problems within the Church of Corinth . We see many issues within the churches throughout the , such as: denominations, immorality within the church, and music that is mixed with worldly tunes (Contemporary Christian Music). These and other problems arrived from our very own enemy, Satan.

We not only need to recognize our enemy, we need to equip our spiritual weapons to stand against Satan. Paul named some weapons that we can use to stand firm against the prince of this world. These weapons are:

• The truth of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:14a)
• The breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b)
• The Gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15)
• The shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16)
• The helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6:17a)
• The sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17b)

We need to gird our waist with the truth of the Gospel. The truth of the Gospel is like a belt that we put on our waist. Paul says that when we are wearing the belt of the Gospel, we will not be deceived by the lies of Satan. We also need the “breastplate of righteousness and having shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:14-15).” This protects us from satanic attack as the shield of armor protects us from the enemy’s sword. Finally, we need to have the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:16-17). These weapons are deadly to Satan and his armies. Paul recommends us to have all these weapons in us, ready at all times.

Above all, Paul stresses the importance of prayer (Ephesians 6:18). Prayer is vital for our stance against devils. Our communication with God is crucial to have in our daily life. It is the key to stand against Satan at the spiritual battleground. Jesus said that if we ask Him anything in His name, He can do it for us. Read what God did for Paul when he faced struggles in his life. In II Corinthians 12:8-9, Paul asked the Lord to remove his pain from him; and God answered him. He knew Paul’s circumstances and let him know that He had been working with him to strengthen him.

As I am a disabled man, God is continuing to work with me through various trials in my life. When I am distressed or going through a hard time as I am living independently, there is a great resource. I receive some help from the community, but there is no greater resource than God, His Holy Word, and my communication with Him. Being a physically disabled person doesn’t mean that Satan can defeat me easily. No! As long as I trust in God and have hope, Satan cannot stand against me long.

As we see in Paul’s letter to the Church of Corinth , he didn’t deny the Gospel of Jesus Christ; instead, he continued to pursue and to tell others about what Jesus did for all humanity. Also, he wrote and preached a powerful message to the Ephesian church, urging them to protect themselves from the darkness of life.

We need to learn from Paul’s experiences that there is nothing Satan can do to destroy our lives or pull us away from God’s presence. Our daily prayers are the most powerful weapon we have in our lives, because God stands with us when we cry out to Him while facing problems throughout our lives. Although Paul had a stressful life in his missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God was with him because of his communication with the Creator of the Universe. To have a successful life, we need to prepare our spiritual weapons and make room for God to intervene in our lives each day.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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In his fictional best-selling book, Blood Moon, Hal Lindsey explains in great detail what would happen on the final day of Lord’s second coming. Although there might be some discrepancies between his book and the Bible, he describes great detail on the religious movement that could produce the antichrist to the world. For example, Lindsey describes that the antichrist would appear on the world scene through the hatred of Islam. Although the word Islam means peace in the Arabic world, we see and hear about the Islamic people attacking Christians. Is that possible? (It seems ironic!) What does the Word of God say about the end of the world?

We need to first understand that God’s Word is always true. The Bible says that His Word never fails. We can try to change His Word around, but His Word always stays the same. Apostle John writes, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19.)

One of books in the Old Testament that deal with the end time is Daniel. The Book of Daniel is like the Book of Revelation, giving detailed prophecies on the end time (Chap. 7-12). God chose Daniel to be His messenger to the Gentile and Jewish world to warn them of the judgment that God would bring to their current and future world. We see that Daniel was in Babylon, training as a royal servant to King Nebuchadnezzar. During the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar and Balshazzar, God was with Daniel and showed him some prophetic events that would take place.

Daniel describes his visions in Daniel 7. The visions that he had seen were not just personal nightmares but were God-given dreams with purpose. God has a plan to end this world that He created and create a new one, so that the devil can’t enter the new location to destroy His creation. We are part of His creation.

Living in this very age, we have seen and heard rumors of wars in various places, people committing suicide and murdering each other in the community, government promoting partial-birth abortions, and voting in favor of gay marriage in the United States of America. We have seen the birth of the final days, and there will be more events to come before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Although there will be more world tragedies, God will not leave us in the midst of terrifying events; instead, He will save us if we are truly born again into His family and have fellowship with Him throughout our lives. For example, God saved Daniel and his friends from the midst of their tribulations. God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego from the fiery trial of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3). In the fiery furnace, God was with them because He knew that they refused to worship the useless statue that Nebuchadnezzar made, and they trusted their God faithfully. Daniel himself was saved by God in the lion’s den, due to his faithfulness (Daniel 6).

We might ask ourselves what Daniel 2 and 6 have to do with the final judgment of the earth in Daniel 7-12. In Matthew 24:43-44, Jesus says, “But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh..” We need to be ready to meet the Lord’s coming. Although we do not know the final hour that Jesus would return to judge the world, we must always be prepared to meet our Holy Father. Otherwise, we might miss the opportunity to be with Him for eternity.

Matthew 24:44 applies to end time prophecy and urges us to be ready to face the new challenges in our daily lives as well. We do not know when problems might hit us. Follow the example that Daniel and his friends did when they faced the challenge. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).”

In the last days of the earth, there will also be a lot of cries around the globe, because many people will be left behind on this planet and few of them will be caught up with the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds (I Thessalonians 4:17). Those who are left behind, they will face many sufferings on the earth before the white throne of judgment. (According to some experts, there will be a second Rapture of the Church during the seven-year tribulation, which will be after the first three and one-half and before the second three and one-half years of the tribulation. Although there is no 100 percent guarantee of a second rapture, there will be a lot of cries, murders, suicide, and global disaster throughout the whole world.)

Daniel also writes about the ten horns and a little horn on the fourth beast (7:7-8). He speaks about the appearance of the antichrist to the world scene. Before the appearance of the antichrist, there will be ten nations, which are ten horns, among the earth to prepare the road for the antichrist, the eleventh horn, to destroy one-third of a portion of the earth, mainly to attack the land of the Israel. Then, in Daniel 7:9-10, he talks about the judgment that God will have for each of us. He will judge by the books that were written down, recording what we did while we lived on the earth. Unfortunately, He will not judge us by our works; instead, He will judge us according to what we did on the earth with the gift of the salvation that He gave us. On the other side of the judgment seat, God will judge those who didn’t accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. In that day, they will have no choice rather than to accept their punishment from God.

Our chance to meet God in the last days of earth depends on our decisions. Nobody makes the decision for us to meet Jesus Christ. It is our own choice to accept and follow or reject Him. Consider what Daniel and his friends did when King Nebuchadnezzar made everybody worship him. They chose to worship the one true God rather than a king of fame. When the antichrist comes onto the world scene, he will declare himself lord of all lords and try to make us worship him. It is up to us to choose whom we will worship and serve eternally.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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Since Adam and Eve decided to disobey God’s command, many people have been experienced problems and pains in their lives. Throughout the Old Testament, many people of decided to follow their own way to living life. Because of their decisions, God let them have their way, with many consequences in their lives. As a result, they realized what they were doing was wrong and decided to follow God’s way of living.

Why do we need to obey God? Do we need to obey all the biblical laws of God? There are at least 613 laws that God established in the Bible; how can we keep those 613 laws? God knows that we are imperfect that we cannot keep the Ten Commandments perfectly. We cannot keep all the 613 laws that God established for us to learn and obey. We have a hard time hearing and obeying God’s voice because of our sins.

So what do we do now? How can we have God in our lives again? Is there a simple law that we can keep?

If one of us seriously desires to have that relationship with God again, first, we need to repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness. Although many TV evangelists use the “sinner prayer” as a repentance formula, there is no certain prayer in the Bible that we need to follow to pray. It is up to us individually alone to repent and ask God for forgiveness of our sins. Then, we may accept God as our Savior and follow what God says to us to do. If He says to enjoy going to the church, we may decide to go there. One thing God cannot do for us is make a decision for us.

We all have the freedom to live in this planet. God created us to have the freedom of choice. God didn’t make us robots that we cannot make our own decisions. Look at Abraham in Genesis 22; God called Abraham to sacrifice his own son Isaac as an offering to Him. It was hard for Abraham to obey God because he loved and had compassion for this young boy. But Abraham decided to obey God rather than following his own feeling; God blessed him and provided a ram, instead of Isaac, as his offering to the Lord. Because of his faithfulness and obedience, Abraham was included in the “Hall of Faith,” which is recorded in Hebrews 11.

God commands us to obey His voice because being obedient will lead us to greater things that we can’t imagine. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” If we want our dreams to come true, we first must acknowledge our Heavenly Father and seek Him before we ask Him for anything else. Jeremiah 29:11 said that God already knows what He wants to give us. Before He would like to give something to us, He would like to know that we have not neglected Him. The only way He knows that we can be trusted is if we make right choices and obey His command while we are living in this present age.

Of course, God knows that we cannot keep all 613 laws or even the first Ten Commandments. Instead, He gives only one law for us to keep. That is, love one another as our Heavenly Father loves us. If we love each another, we are doing more than just obeying the first Ten Commandments. We are fulfilling all the 613 laws if we obey one simple law that Jesus gives us to do.

Why is it love and not the first ten laws? I John 4 tells us that God is love and He loves and cares for us. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Romans 8:38-39 tells that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus also says that if we love Him, we need to obey His command. If we love Him and refuse to follow His command, it means that we do not love Jesus at all. This applies to human relationships as well.

God chose His Son, Jesus, to be a sacrificial offering for our sins. Throughout the Gospels, we see that Jesus was fully obedient to His Father. Even though He knew that many of His people would reject Him as their Messiah, He refused to disobey His Father’s will. Why? Jesus knew that His people didn’t know what they were doing to God.

Today, there are few people who choose to obey God and follow Him. Jesus tells us that there would be few who will make it to Heaven (Matthew 7:13-14), because only few have accepted Him and follow through His way of living. That’s why James warns that having faith but not showing our work is considered spiritually dead (James 2:14-26)—separation from God.

In addition to obeying God, we need to obediently love people. The last six commandments of the Ten Commandments are laws that are related to people. If we decide to not showing any respect to people, we are neglecting them as our guests, friends, business partners, or neighbors. Not do only we make them to feel unwelcome, we are breaking our loving relationship with Jesus Christ as well. But God says that we need to show respect to people by listening to them or have communication with them. It’s another way to be obedient. Also, we need to love them as our Heavenly Father loves us.

We cannot have faith in God unless we show respect to God and people. We can obey all the laws in the Bible, but remain unhappy in our lives. We can become a multimillionaire, but money doesn’t satisfy our needs. To satisfy our need, we need to establish a relationship with God and people through obedience.

Today, the divorce rate is high within families, because they disagree with each other and with God. They haven’t established good foundation of relationship. Many young people decide to go astray from their family by disobeying their parents. Many marriages have broken because the husband and wife don’t show any respect to each other. Most of them are from Christian homes.

To have success in life and marriage, we need to respect people; but mostly, we need to fully follow God’s instructions in our lives. It is up to us to make that decision.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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When we look at today’s world events, we see that our living style has changed over the generations. Throughout the years, our moral standards have also changed. If we look into our governmental systems, we will see that many laws have been added or taken away to make brand new laws for the people to follow. For example, God, in the early days of creation, established the law of marriage that it should be between one man and one woman. Today, in this twenty-first century, we see that the people want to redefine God’s law of marriage stating that any union, including some same sex unions, should be acceptable.

So we must ask ourselves these questions: Where do we stand and where are we on this issue? Is our world becoming a Sodom and Gomorrah ? The book of Genesis tells us that many ungodly people had been drinking, eating, and have some same sex marriages until God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah .

While still living in the midst of this world’s standard, God tells us that we must not give up our identities to the world. Instead, we must continue to hold on to God’s moral standard of living. When we read the book of Genesis, we see that God’s standard was opposed by Isaac’s son, Esau. God blessed Jacob to be the father of the nation because of his desire to know God; and God rejected Esau because he decided to live his own way.

Although the moral standard of the world may be pleasing to us, it is not pleasing to God. Even though John 3:16 tells us that God loves the world, He is making reference to His love for the people and not to the pleasure of this sinful world. Jesus came to the world because He wanted to save His people from their sins. He wanted to rescue His people from the Prince of this world, Satan. First Peter 3:l8a says, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God…”

We must ask ourselves this question: Where do we stand? We have two choices, we may live moral life or immoral life as Psalm 1 declares. All people are born from different ethic and moral backgrounds. People from all around the world come to live in the bringing their beliefs with them. Some practice the rituals of Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. Some of them teach to hate people or other religious people. Others might teach their people to love and care for others.

If we look at the religion of Islam, we see that their moral standards are totally opposite of what Christianity teaches, for example, in Christianity, Jesus teaches us to love each another while Islam teaches to hate anyone that is opposed to Islam. Unfortunately, the command to love each another is not in full operation in , even though its laws were established on godly moral principles. Because our constitution states that we accept all people and their rights to worship in their own way, we have opened the door to the moral decline of this country.

Even though we believe that this country is a Christian nation, it doesn’t mean that we are free from God’s judgment. He will begin to judge those who are in the House of God first. He will judge us according to what we have done with our gift of salvation. I do believe that He will judge us according to His moral standard. Paul says in II Timothy 4:8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Where do we stand? Jesus warned us that there will be only two ways to have eternal life, one way will lead us to eternal life with Him or eternal death with Satan.

Most of today’s preachers teach more on world ethics and moral standards of living, such as having a good marriage, stewardship, and family life. These teachings are good, but there is more than just having a successful life. Throughout the Bible, God teaches us how to have a successful life by having a relationship with Him. God wants to have a relationship with us. To have a successful life, doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about our marriages, finances and family, but without Him it’s in vain.

This world was created by the hand of God and He created us to enjoy it and to have relationship with Him. Although Satan destroyed God’s creation, it doesn’t mean that he can rule our souls. Satan’s moral standard has no limits, but God’s standard for us has boundaries. God loves and cares for us; He wants us to learn His way of living.

Where are we? It’s our choice which way we want to live. Although is considered a Christian nation, it doesn’t mean that all the people living in are Christians, only those who accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Some have other values for their life, but, it’s our decision to choose how we should live our lives.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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What it means the word exile to our lives? As we are going our days and schedules, there are some problems occur to our lives that are unusual for us to handle the situations right. Do you feel as if you are exile?

As we read in II Chronicles 36, the people of were turning against God and realized that they need God to repent their sins and rebuild the Temple of the Lord, so He can live with them.

In my own experience as I'm physical disabled and am in the training program, it's hard for me to stay in touch with God all days long as I'm going into some temptations and challenges. In his book, Run with the Horses, Eugene Peterson wrote, 'Exile pushed them [Israel] from the margins of life to the vortex where all the issues of life and death, love and meaning, purpose and value formed the dynamic everyday, participation-demanding realities of God's future with them... Exile is the worst that reveals the best.

'All of us given moments, days, months, years of exile. What will we do with them?' Eugene asked. In James 1:12 mentioned that temptation that we are facing is our exercises to prove that our faiths are connected with God. God doesn't put into the temptation or exile, but we did as the people of put themselves into the jeopardy of their lives.

Application in 'The Inspirational Bible' says, 'Do you feel as if you are in exile? Let disaster develop your character. Do not spend all your time seeking relief but reflect on what God wants to teach you. Ask him to show you what is really important.’

Read II Chronicles 36 and discover why we are in exile for God's kingdom.

If you would like to know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, please consider to ask Him to forgive your sin and come into your life today. Paul said in Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. “

In the meantime, may God bless you.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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In Jewish's time, the day begins at 6 PM and it goes on to 6 PM on the next day. In Genesis 1:5 says, "So the evening [6:01 PM to 6 AM] and the morning [6:01 AM to 6:00 PM] were the first day." This was the first time 24-hour period system that God created before somebody developed 12:01 AM as day starts point.

In the New Testament, Jesus told us that He will be in the heart of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights as Joanna was in the belly of the great fish (see Matthew 12:40). Most today's churches believed that having an Easter sunrise service means that Jesus resurrected on Sunday at 6:01 AM. If this is true, the book of Joanna would be considered as fictional story and Jesus' word would mean nothing to us.

Some believe that Jesus was buried on Wednesday at 6:00 PM. This theology may seem to be accurate time. If Jesus was buried on Friday at 6:01 PM, He would resurrect on Monday at 6:00 PM. This would mean that Mary shows up to the tomb on the third day of the week. If He rose on Sunday at 3 AM from Friday evening, that would mean He was in the heart of the earth for 1 day and 9 hours. And He cannot rise on Saturday, because that day is to be Sabbath, which would be constricted with the Sabbatical law.

If Jesus was buried on Wednesday at 6:00 PM, He would meet the requirement of the Passover of Lamb on Sabbath.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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One of the oldest books in the historical record of world events is the Bible. The Bible has been the best selling book throughout many years; it is the best published book in today's world. From the books of Genesis to Revelation, it tells us what happened in world history from the beginning, prediction of the world future event, and how we can live life on this earth. Both the Old and New Testaments are still relevant resources in our lives today.

Although it is the mostinspiring book ever published, both the Old and New Testaments have many aspectsof God's characters toward people. For example, the passage John3:16tells us how much God loves theworld that He sent His Son to us to show the light of path. In fact, the NewTestament has a completely different revelation of God who helped the Israelitesset free from the bondage of sufferings from their sins. However, the Old andNew Testaments reflect the character of God throughout all the 66books.

All the books in the Bible are all about God's character toward humanity that He created since the beginning of the world.

In the Old Testament, there are 39 books that are recorded about the earliest parts of the history of the Jewish world. From the books of Genesis to Malachi, the Old Testament provides us details on what happened in the earliest part of the world.

The Old Testament begins with the Book of Genesis which explains how God created this world and living creatures, including humans; how God brought down the first judgment to the earth; and how God choose three Patriarchs to form the twelve tribes of . After the first book, from the Book of Exodus and on, it begins telling about the beginning of the hardship that the people of were facing and how they turned to God. From then on, it explains how the Israelites created their own government, religion, and economy to try to walk away from God for several years; and then how they realized their mistakes and the effect on their lives and how they needed Him back in their lives.

In addition, books of the Old Testament were written by several Hebrew authors or scribers in the time of period BC or Before Christ. During this time period, God taught and disciplined His people about life in earth and how God was reliable to them and would bring a restoration in their lives. The Old Testament is split into five parts. There are the Laws of Moses, earliest prophets, writing and poetry, Major Prophets, and twelve Minor Prophets. Each section of the Old Testament has different themes and discusses many aspects of Jewish history. For example, in the prophets section of the Old Testament, it discusses the greater details of God's judgment against His people and how He saved them from the disastrous area. It also discusses what kind of judgment that God would bring on earth in the future to end the battle with Satan.

In contrast, the New Testament has 27 books that are recorded about the earliest history part of Christianity. It links from the Old Testament. The New Testament began after 400 years of God's silence to the world. During the 400 years, there was no word from the prophets who spoke to the people of . Instead, they did their own way to live a life, although God was waiting for them to repent their sins and have them back in His presence. After the end of 400 years, the new era had risen.

The New Testament begins with the first four books, which is called the gospel of Jesus Christ. It tells us about the life and teachings about Jesus Christ. Not only does it show the history of Jesus Christ, it also brings the complete picture of who God is and what He has planned for our lives. After the first four books of the New Testament, from the Book of Acts and on, it begins telling the beginning of Christianity and Church histories. The Book of Acts is different from any other books in the New Testament, because the story did not end after Paul preached God's message to the Roman citizens. In fact, the Book of Acts has never concluded the journey of Paul until God would complete to gather the church and take us home.

In addition, books of the New Testament were written by Greek or Gentile authors or scribers in the earliest time of period of AD or After Christ. During the early church era, there were many people who began to understand what Jesus Christ had done for them and began to convert themselves to Christianity. As many of them converted to Christianity, there was a great fight between Christians and Roman citizens; and Christians and Jews. There also was a great argument about who Jesus Christ was among many other religions. In fact, since early AD, many churches viewed Christianity differently and believed that they needed to separate from the other Christians.

The New Testament has no particular chronicle order to explain the history of Christianity. However, when we read the Book of Revelation, we would see many aspects of what God had done for us in the past, in the present, and what He will do in the future. In addition, many Christians would prefer the New Testament when it comes to learning about Christian living.

The Old and New Testaments also explain to us who God is and how people received the wonderful healing in their lives through Him. Although the Bible has two separate eras, it does not mean there are two different gods. One of the reasons is the both testaments reflect to each other. The Old Testament discusses about the coming of Messiah, which it leads to Jesus Christ. Also, it discusses who Jesus was throughout the Old Testament. Whenever we would like to know who Jesus was, we could go to the Old Testament to identify Him.

Even though the Bible is old, we can use it today as current guide resource for life situation, world update, and answer to our toughest situation. To prove that the Bible would lead to these, we may need to read the Bible and find related situation in our daily lives. Or we may believe that God's Word is the truth by looking at ourselves and have faith and trust that God can change our lives.

Some people changed their lives to one true God, because they believed in the faith of Jesus Christ. Whether we would believe or not that the both Old and New Testaments reveal about God's character and His wonderful works through the humanity, we would see the changes in people's lives because of their faiths in God's hands.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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In today's society, many people are looking for answers to their lives after the event of Sept. 11, 2001 attack. Still the news media reports today's bad news. There are seeming the world has filled with the bad news as we are in the 21st century. The question is still remaining for us to answer when we all will meet Jesus Christ at face to face: What was your relationship with Jesus Christ?

Even we still experience many sufferings and trials in our life; we may often forget the important question in our lives. Why we face a challenge? What is God doing? If I were Satan, what would I do?

Read with me in John 14:30 as we answer that question. Jesus said, "I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming."

What Jesus meant these sentences? Although He showed Himself to His disciples after the resurrection, what He meant to us in this century? Before the reformation of the Church, there were a great religious movement going on between the Roman Catholicism and Paganism. The both religions became a partner to each other and they Christianized from their original background in about 300 A.D. Even before Jesus left on earth, He warned His disciples that there will be a great suffering on earth.

Even today, we see many ugly events among our people, nation, and the third world countries. We see many U.S. governments voted for abortion, alcohol, sexual activities, and drug administration. The Church has been separated from each other since the early church era. Many people are scattered to search for the answers.

In I Corinthians 1:10-17 and Chapter 3, Paul argued about the divisions in the Church. Paul asked, "Is Christ divided?" The word "denomination" means the division among the group. If the Baptist has the conference meeting, then Catholic Church doesn't show up. If there is Washington, DC conference and the both Catholic and Protestant Churches show up, then the Baptist Church doesn't go to that conference. Do we depend on our own denomination or the Word of God and our relationship with Christ? God does not looking for our performance and attendances in the Church. He does not looking for any favoritism in our church denomination. But He only wants to have the personal relationship with each of us.

There is a great different between the two passages of the Scripture. One is that God loved the world (John 3:16) and another one is hated the world (I John 3:15-17). In John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." According to this verse, Jesus didn't refer to this physical world, but in the heavenly world. If He loves so much of things in this world, He died for our sins. Yet God created this world, we are still bound into sins and our sins cannot wash away unless Jesus Christ came to the world to demonstrate how He loves us and would like to take us into His world that He created and loved.

Satan is an enemy of God. The Bible recognizes Satan as deceiver, devil, Lucifer, dragon, serpent, and the World Prince. He was in the world since God created the earth, heaven, and creatures. In Genesis 3, Satan tricked Eve and Adam with the one of fruits that God warned them not to eat. In Job 1, he was at the Heaven with God's angels to temp Him by accusing the life of Job. In Matthew 4, he was trying to tempt Jesus at the wilderness after 40 days and nights. Satan was and is the Prince of this world since the event of Garden Eden.

This world is belonged to Satan until God will put him into his own world, Hell. Because he is ruling of this world, God cannot enjoy His creation any longer. Yet He is still loved us, we have the choice to love God or to love our own deeds. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. "For everything in the world... comes not from the Father but from the world." In the same way, if we love the world much than God, He can't just love us and take into His home. The place is called Hell real. God created Hell for those who reject Him, even though He doesn't want any of us to go there. Hell is filled with gnash of the teeth, lake of fire, a place of remembrance, and a separation from God.

Look at today's America. Our country has been turned to the day of Gomorrah and Sodom and filled with variety religious and cultural activities. Satanism Secret Society, Gothicism, and other unfamiliar occults are already developed in this country. Our economic system is becoming greater than other parts of the world.

But where are you in this point of the time? If you and I were Satan, where we will be after we die? These characteristics of Hell and Satan are real and realistic. But God doesn't want to see any of us to go to Hell and enjoy our eternal life with Satan, but we may choose to go there for eternality. Jesus didn't just die on the cross 2000 years ago to wash away all our sins, but that He may have the personal relationship with each of us from now and throughout the eternality.

Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:16-21.).

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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