Forgiveness in Action

This is a touching interview by Mrs. Winters, the wife of Fred Winters who was the pastor that was shot to death at First Baptist Church of Maryville earlier this month. She shares about her longing to see her husband's killer find peace with God and also her desire to one day meet with the killer's parents. A great testimony of the power of forgiveness that only Jesus can bring.

Happy Anniversary CGNTV

Congrats to CGNTV (Christian Global Network Television) on celebrating their 4th Anniversary. This is the media arm of Onnuri Community Church which reaches over 120 countries around the world. CGNTV has been used by God to bring the Gospel literally to the ends of the earth and it's been an honor to serve and partner with this ministry.

Also, there have been many testimonies from Christians and missionaries from around the world who have found strength and encouragement to keep pressing on in the midst of lonely situations because of the programs and worship services that are broadcast from CGN. For those who understand Korean, you can watch several testimonies of how CGNTV has impacted lives and the mission field here (if you have difficulty viewing the site with Firefox, try it with IE as most Korean websites are built for Internet Explorer).

It has done so much in such a short period of time and I hope and pray God will continue to anoint and use this ministry to bring the Gospel to every single people group of the world. Even for this short moment, please lift up a prayer for CGNTV to strengthen the Church around the world.

Global Warming Doomsday Called Off

This video link was sent to me by my friend Sam in Sydney. It's an interesting look at some scientific reasons why we need not worry nor buy into the doomsday messages about global warming being given to us from our governments today. Either way, for believers, we never need to worry about the future anyways because our God is in control and is working all things to achieve His ultimate purposes. But it was nice to see a much bigger perspective on how global climate change was always a part of earth's history and where today's weather fits into that larger picture.

Debate on the Devil

ABC held an interesting debate on the existence of Satan/demons last week in the US. It was hosted at Mars Hill Church and I'm glad Mark Driscoll represented our side. I feel he did a great job of staying true to Scripture in a friendly, firm and intelligent way. I think our side looked good because of the reasoning, presentation, and articulation of Mark, but I also think in part due to the people they chose to represent the opposing side. I can't help but wonder if they picked "white, middle-class American"-type people for that side, if the feel might have been different. Anyways, it's worth a look. You can watch this debate and previous ones here.

Sidenote: For Firefox users, to get rid of pop up adds and even the commercials, install the add-on application "adblock pro" and you'll have ad-free, commercial free viewing of all the sessions.

An Amazing Message Needed for Today

Friendship and Freedom

Wow, we had a great time in our school of prayer tonight seeing people set free and delivered from years of strongholds of the enemy. God is doing a great and mighty work in our midst and I praise Him for that. I also pray that God would protect them tonight and keep them in His Truth ... that sets people free.

Also, last Sunday's service is now online here. And the YouTube sermon (Loving Them Through Friendship) is also available in the upload above. Continual thanks to Dan for the conversions and uploads :) I really appreciate all your service for OEM.

The ESV Study Bible

I've been using the ESV Study Bible for the past several months and I must say I've been impressed. The notes and articles contained in this study Bible is second to none - high quality and solid scholarship presented in concise readable sections. I've been eating it up.

And I've also been getting very hooked on the ESV translation for personal reading and study. I love the close connection it keeps with the original text. The ESV Study Bible recently won the top award for the Christian Book Awards. The Dallas Morning News also covered this achievement. Check out the video above for a brief intro and you can also access the Bible and its notes online here. A great investment to help aid your studies and grow in the Word.

Mark 9:14-29 Loving Them By Trusting in God

Teaching Again

I just started teaching my preaching course at Torch Trinity Graduate School of Theology and it feels good to be back in the classroom. I love the idea of helping people grow and develop as preachers who will love the Word and be faithful in the delivery and proclamation of God's truth to the nations. And I really mean to the nations. One of the things I love about Torch is the international diversity that's represented in that place - literally people from all over the world who are training there to go back and be a blessings to their homeland that is need of Christ. What an honor and privilege it is to serve God's people in this way.

Please pray that God would give me wisdom to teach these students well and that these students would be used by God to bless all the nations of the world with His Gospel. And please also pray that our class would be a place of worship, so that all that we learn would trigger a heart

A New Season

It's been simply amazing what God has been doing in our ministry these days. His Spirit is being poured out in power every time we gather. People are getting healed from cancer and diseases, people are being freed from spiritual strongholds and there is a HUGE hunger for more of God through prayer. God's been showing up in powerful ways and He's definitely doing a new thing with this pouring out of new wine for OEM. Our prayer school on Wednesdays has also been soaked in the presence of God. I cannot wait until the fullness of what God is hoping to do is released in our ministry.

2 Corinthians 10:1-6 Loving Them Through Intercession

Praying for First Baptist Church of Maryville

Encouraging you all to lift up a prayer for Pastor Fred Winters' family and church (First Baptist Church of Maryville). Pastor Winters was shot during a Sunday morning worship service and is survived by his wife and 2 young children. The spiritual warfare even in America is getting more 'in your face' these days. Let's pray for greater protection to cover over all God's people.

Colossians 4:2-6 The Apologetic Lifestyle

Jonah 4:1-11 Do We Can About the Right Things

Jonah 3:1-10 A God of Second Chances