[Tacoma] Post Seminar News (May 07, 2012)

Continued from Bible Crusades in LA and New York, the post conference with Pastor Jong-sik Joo was held in Tacoma Church from April 21st ~ 25th. With clement weather, brothers and sisters in Tacoma Church invited their friends and families, and the conference provided such a precious moments for them to look back upon their souls through the story of Jesus portrayed in the Bible.

Pastor Jong-sik Joo preached, “Just like the verse – “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23), we cannot change nor any good can come out from us. So the spiritual life is to let down any expectations on ourselves to wait on Jesus who had taken away all our sins and iniquities for us. The second son who met the father through heart after having failed his methods, Tamar who boldly saved her life with the pledges from Juda, the sons of Levi who came to the side of God after having defeated the sounds of their consciences, etc. Through the shadows of Jesus hidden in the Bible, Pastor preached that the word should be established in our hearts, not our thoughts.

“Trying to do well” is a heart from Satan, and to have heart to follow “my thoughts” and “my ways” is to have forsaken God already. As the brothers and sisters listened to the word, God led them to distinguish in their hearts between thoughts and the words. For the new comers, God led their hearts to believe the words and to receive Jesus into their hearts through the words. And for the brothers and sisters, God allowed them to look back at their life, which they have lived having nothing to do with the words even after they had received salvation. The testimonies from the pastor had all of us ponder about the true spiritual life.

Especially for this conference, not only the new comers, but also the brothers and sisters had a chance to see their spiritual life more seriously through the group fellowships. It was such a precious moment for us to repent our hearts and to be guided back to the words.