Title: Results of Mission (Acts 2:40-47)
Contents
Many people are interested in the motives and results of missions, and how and who testified what. A missiologist said that the mission of the Korean church is just about to rise, walk on a bed, wash your face, and set off. The church is the field of salvation by witnessing to and receiving the Word of God. The church has an organization, prepares and supervises the administrative body, develops the potential of its members, and allows them to thoroughly experience the fervent grace of the Holy Spirit who came down on the Day of Pentecost every day, every Sunday, every hour, so that the whole world can know that the church that God has allowed is the church. We must experience the fact that we are the church.
On the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, Jesus Christ descended upon the crowds gathered in the upper room after ascending into heaven. He appeared to those who were afraid and not sure what to do and were ashamed of the gospel. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and received a new challenge to reorganize all structures, such as sharing the gospel, and the fervent work of the Holy Spirit was accomplished that day. The people gathered in the Darakbang came to have the theological meaning of a new church through the Pentecost of the Holy Spirit.
There there was healing, the poor tasted the riches, they spoke foreign languages, they came together, and there was the burning experience of a fire that warms the cold soul.
We can see three meanings here.
First of all, the fact that the Holy Spirit descended on the early believers as a historical thing means that the Holy Spirit came as a person. Jesus, who ascended from the resurrection and ascended into heaven, came to us as a person, rather than staying in a distantly prepared place. After the age of the prophets passed, in the age of the incarnate Jesus, it was said that the wonderful Holy Spirit would pour out dreams and visions on you (Joel 2:28), but the historical promise of pouring out the Spirit of God has historically been fulfilled. Jesus told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Holy Spirit to be sent (Acts 1:4).
Second, it has been structurally reorganized. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, from the tradition of the former church and the former center of Jerusalem, those who had received God's Word only as a nation and only as a law, and those who understood only half of God's Word, can fully see the providence and revelation of God. The door was opened and at the same time the structure was reorganized.
The church of its own people, the church of nationalism, and the structure that put the nation and law first is now looking for the elect, sending them out, looking for them, praying, finding and suffering, and getting hope through suffering, and the whole church is blessed through hope changed. The gospel of advancing toward the Gentile world to the ends of the earth - The church of the ethnic group, which crossed national boundaries, crossed the Jerusalem tradition, and was immersed in nationalism, crossed the wall toward the Gentiles. The reason the ivy was so gentle and weak that it could do nothing was because it was planted next to a spring and watered the roots by Jesus Christ. The ivy does not guard the wall, but climbs it. The structure has changed.
Finally, there is the meaning of existence. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, we started as a new church with a role and function that can fully reflect the whole word of God. As long as the living Jesus Christ is present in the church, there has been a change in the existence of Jesus' great power of suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension beyond the wall. Previously, I thought I was a being that exists only within me, but now I am starting to realize that when that being spreads out, I am a whole being.
Continuity between Christ and the Holy Spirit- Jesus who was 2000 years ago, who was there for 33 years and raised disciples for 3 years The continuity that Jesus is present in the church 2000 years later- It flows steadily and is present in our day as well, and is eternally present. The meaning of the existence of being present outside the wall has changed.
Since we take Jesus as a person and call God the Father who sent Jesus, Abba Father, there is continuity between us and no one can claim that there is discontinuity. Therefore, me who was at the end of the earth, you who prayed with the world, and all the members of the Korean church are one family. When there is a correct realization of our existence and the existence of the Holy Spirit in this conception, Korean missionary work will have a new meaning of existence.
The church is yours, and no one can do it for you. Christ lives in each individual and lives in the Korean-Young Church. The fact that Jesus left the earth but came back as the Holy Spirit as a Lord without barriers is a Pentecostal event and we must have a vision of Pentecost. Through the new movement called the Pentecostal movement, we can criticize the wrong part, but the true meaning is that it became the starting point of opening a new door for the church to go to the ends of the earth through the Pentecostal vision.
Thus, as a result of the missions of the early church members, the first was to establish a church so that the powers of Hades could not prevail. Jesus said, 'Go ye into all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit'. After being baptized, they naturally gather in homes, districts, chapels... and the Lord has allowed His church.
As a result of the mission, the disciples were nurtured for the second time. In the 4 Gospels, the disciples are presented as learning students, but in the book of Acts, the student changes and becomes a teacher, and the disciple changes and becomes an apostle. One theologian said that Jesus preached in the beginning, and then selected 12 disciples and raised them with the gospel as teachers of the gospel. It was Jesus' intentional evangelism plan to change the disciple John into the apostle John, the disciple Peter into the apostle Peter, and the proud Saul into the humble Paul.
All of Jesus' salvation plan was evangelism and nurture. There is no other program in the entire 66 books of the Bible except for nurture, evangelism, teaching and proclamation, which are God's salvation plan. He said, 'What we have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to the faithful ones, that they may teach others.' Through the wonderful experience of Pentecost, the grace of nurture must grow to the extent that Christ has grown in the hearts of the saints.
So who shares the upbringing? Who gave the light of Pentecost? We must receive this and give it away. There are many words that the Lord and I exchange every day, but among them there is especially the word llama.
In Spanish, llama means embers and flames, little camels that carry loads from the Andes, and to call. Just like the meaning of llama, the Lord has called me, and it is the same as God gave me a mission to carry the gospel, like Jesus, the flame, a camel that carries burdens from the Andes. When I think of llama, my heart is moved. When things go wrong, whenever we encounter a difficult time, I think of llama and pray for the Lord to warm me like a fire, and I think of the prayers of the Korean church members for missionaries who are scattered around the world to spread the gospel.
God sent me to Argentina after allowing me to experience a lot of Western and Andean civilizations in Singapore for 1 year and 6 months, so I was able to do difficult and difficult missionary work for indigenous peoples without being tempted by the various good conditions of the Korean church. If there had been no training period, I would have entered a Korean church with good conditions because I was a weak person. Because God loved us, he sent us to the indigenous tribal community to witness the gospel and trained us in Singapore. The mission of the church begins with the Holy Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit it will bring victory. Jesus promised to be with you always, even to the end of the world (Matthew 28:20).
The early church worked hard on prayer, which is the secret to unlocking the lid of a great treasure. He taught me to open the door to prayer, which is a prayer that unlocks clues when the future is dark. Whenever we encounter difficulties, we can overcome them with prayer, and we can taste true innocence, true hope, and the amazing power of truth through prayer.
They broke bread at the sacrament feast. The Lord Himself, the owner of this feast, became the bread and shared the bread of life. Also, they got along with each other. It is possible to reach a consensus without a consensus of mind, but the Church of God must move forward with a consensus that stems from the unity of heart. And they taught each other. It has shifted from preaching to teaching and nurturing.
Third, as a result of the mission, the saints live a changed life. The vision of Pentecost can think of healing. It is to rise again with the hope of the future given by Jesus Christ from the pit of the wounds from which we fell and fell, taste the fulfillment of forgiveness and freedom, and be poured out with power.
Calvin said that the Church of God is like a mother. The church nurses you, teaches you to walk, nurtures you, and makes you a young man. The teaching of the epistle is that Jesus Christ is the head of that church. Like a loving mother, the early church nurtured early Christians to discover and develop hidden gifts.
When serving the church, hidden gifts that you did not know must be discovered and found, and when you find those gifts, you can do God's work. If you do church work without looking for your gifts, you will become frustrated.
The incarnation of Jesus Christ gave birth to disciples, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit gave birth to apostles, and through the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, today's saints were born. Mission is more than a program, it is about risking your life. Therefore, Christians develop their gifts for the kingdom of God and the body of the church in Jesus, and the changed life that they present before the Lord will appear as a result of mission.
The mission result of the early church must be the starting point of our church today, the departure of the early church is of course our departure, and the mission of the Korean church, where the sun is just rising, must start again from the mission result of the early church.
Primitive religions came to Argentina from South America through Brazil, and each mission field has different cultures and traditions, but Argentina is particularly immersed in religious syncretism, so the gospel needs to be preached in a transparent and consistent manner.
Not long ago, the Pope rewarded the author of a fairy tale who distorted Genesis and the Exodus into syncretism by featuring a boy named Amy from the star kingdom. Love was a Catholic church that distorted the Bible with a beautiful aesthetic element and completely changed emotions to plunge the world into syncretism.
Dear saints,
I hope that Hanyoung Church will overflow with the precious history of preaching the Word to places where Christ is not known, nurturing them transparently according to the Word, developing gifts, serving the kingdom of God, and establishing the Church of God.