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REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS

“The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”(Mark 1:15)

I. Looking Back at 2010

1. I thank God who allowed us to grow to be a self-supporting ministry.

We have been in Macedonia for 5 years and trying to be self-supporting has not been easy. When I just thought about my financial problems at the beginning of last year, the future seemed completely dark. When I thought of my 4 children and of the money I had borrowed here and there, I became sad, felt I had nowhere to turn and could not have any faith. God had mercy on me and opened a way for me to borrow the needed money. I newly put my faith in God and challenged my financial problems by faith in him. In this way, I decided to expand my business. We had about 20 kinds of items but God helped us to extend to 50. And by God’s one-sided grace, 90% of the Macedonian supermarket is filled with supplies from our company. In this way, God made me matchless amongst Asian food companies in the Macedonian market. When I made the annual account, I realized that God had almost doubled our profits. God made the end of this year a starting point and helped us to reach a stable level of self-supporting. I confess that this is indeed a miracle of God and because of his one-sided grace.

When we did not have any money, God sent tourists to the Balkans and helped me to become a tourist guide. In this way, God fed and clothed my family. When I think of God’s one-sided comfort towards this lazy and terrible sinner who was not even able to raise 4 children, I cannot but thank God. I pray that God may be the Lord of this company and use it preciously for His work.

2. God sent Bible students through the company.

Our company is the first Korean company on Macedonian soil. The company’s name is ‘Bethel’. 'Bethel’ means "God’s house" and it was my wish that God would use this company as his house. God has sent 4 students through this company. They are Brothers Toni, Alek, Lypcho and Sister Emilija. We met them through other students. While working with these brothers and sister we became like one family. Moreover, we became also close to the families of those four and received many invitations, and grew to have good relationships. I met Tony during his student days and have built a relationship with him over the past 5 years. Through attending this year’s Balkan conference he received the grace of God’s word and developed a sense of spiritual responsibility for Macedonia. When I look at them, I realize that God is using the company ‘Bethel’ preciously for his work. Outwardly, my business looks merely like a shabby corner shop, but God views it as a blessed. And it looks as if I would not have many people to help, but these four and their families together make almost 40 people. They are people who need physical and spiritual help and I realize again that I truly have many things to do. In my laziness I could not serve them with a shepherd's heart. I earnestly pray that in the next year, I may serve them whole-heartedly and become their shepherd who feeds them spiritually and physically.

3. God helped our 4 children to grow chubby both spiritually and physically

My wife Petra worked hard to take care of children. She worked so hard she lost much hair. But thankfully, her remaining hair is dry. While taking care of the children she did not take care of herself. One grandma of the neighborhood even said to Petra: “Why does your husband look so fancy and you look so poor?” When I heard this, I felt like I was hit with a hammer. It was only then that I realized how much my wife has suffered to serve the family and I felt sorry for her. Petra has continued her master's studies despite her busy schedule and passed her exams with now only two left. She prays to finish her master’s thesis at the beginning of this year to obtain the her master’s degree. And she prays to be used as a Korean professor at the university from next fall. When I think of Petra living bravely and diligently, my heart is overwhelmed with sorrow and deep repentance.

Now when I think about it, Petra is making an incredible effort to raise our 4 children as disciples of Jesus. God surely will richly reward her efforts. I pray that these 4 children can grow strong spiritually and physically and that God may use them as his precious servants. Especially, our first, Sarah, has already begun helping with the ministry by playing the piano well. The second, David, is strong and has a good heart and has become a reliable co-worker for his daddy. In the past, I've been sorrowful and doubtful that I could be capable to raise 4 children. I pray that God may have mercy on this foolish and unbelieving sinner and open my spiritual eyes and make me into a person with a spiritual way of thinking.

II. Looking forward to 2011

When I think of 2011, I confess that I worked hard to establish my family as self-supporting but I was lazy in sowing the word of God. Seeing that the world is becoming more and more sinful and darker and that there are signs of the end of this world here and there, I firstly myself have to listen to the Gospel and live a life of repentance. As I see students of Macedonia, they cannot but be swept away by the enormous wave of sin of this world, especially if I remain on the sidelines. Maybe I have gained good friends but I have been lazy in actively preaching the Gospel to them. Therefore, I want to hold onto Mark 1:15 as my key verse for this year: 'The time has come,' he said. 'The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!'” I am a person who has received the grace of the Gospel and the blessing of experiencing the kingdom of God. But not paying back the debt of grace despite receiving the Gospel is a sin. I pray that in this year, God may help me to struggle spiritually in order to fill my spirit with the Gospel as my first priority and to testify to this Gospel of life to my students and family. It is because of the Gospel that I have come this far. I repent of my laziness and wickedness and pray to prepare Sunday messages diligently and live a life of testifying to the grace of Jesus.

Prayer topics:

1. Weekly preparation of Bible study material and messages
2. 5 one-to-one Bible studies a week
3. Brother Toni to as a leader in our ministry
3. Petra master’s degree and invitation as a Korean professor
4. Self-supporting, invitation of missionaries
5. 4 children’s spiritual and physical growth