so so Good morning, welcome to Seoul Bible Church. It's a joy to have you with us this morning. Today we have a treat as we recognize some new deacons here at Seoul Bible Church. We're excited about today's service. And of course, we will then have the opportunity to fellowship with them and with one another in our fellowshipping. In the coming week, we look forward to having a very mobile man on the move. John Lehman will be coming from Myanmar and visiting here in Korea. He will be here for the Wednesday service, so we invite you to, if you can make it, to be here Wednesday to fellowship with him. This is actually going to be the 14th flight, one of four flights that he's made recently. So he's really on the move. He said he's gone around the world at least once. All right, so as we prepare to worship this morning, our hymn of meditation and preparation is My Jesus, I Love Thee, hymn number 512. and the 512 verses of Chansong in the back of the book. I love you so much, my Lord, and I begin this prayer by reciting these verses in harmony with the piano accompaniment. so so 1 Corinthians 4, 1 and 2 reminds us, let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. We look to the Lord for his help to serve him. Let's turn to 519. 519, are you able, said the master. We'll stand to see. Let's stand up and sing the 519th psalm together. When the Lord asks, Can you build a cross? Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Shalom Shalom Shalom Shalom Shalom Shalom Shalom Shalom ♪ And the angels joined their voices ♪ ♪ Climbing up the mountain high ♪ ♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ I want to know your love I'll be waiting, just so you know Just a moment, won't you be here? And I'll be here with you ♪ To the angels from the mistletoe ♪ ♪ To the angels from the mistletoe ♪ ♪ To the angels from the mistletoe ♪ ♪ To the angels from the mistletoe ♪ Amen. You may be seated. Our scripture reading this morning is from Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. For the senior saints, verses 2 through 5, older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslave to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children. Let's turn to verse four. Starting from verse two. Old men should be restrained, reverent, and humble. So the young women start there in verse four, and verse five is that they are not only to love their husbands and children, but to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Verse five. Mercy six through eight. Likewise, urge the young men to be sensible In all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity and doctrine dignified. Sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Verses 9 and 10. Urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything to be well-pleasing not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. In our Motivation, Titus 2, 11-15, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak, and exhort, and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. The grace of God, who gives salvation to all people, has appeared. When He raised us up, He gave up all unrighteousness and this world, and lived in this world with humility, comfort, and reverence. He made us wait for the appearance of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great God with a blessed hope. When He gave Himself on behalf of us, As we prepare to go to the ward in prayer, we do want to remember our missionaries in prayer. The Bolins have sent a prayer letter that's on the back there. We need to be praying for their neighbors and friends as they get reacquainted with these people that they've been away from on furlough. And like us, they want us to pray for their children, for their children's ministry. That will be resuming in November, so pray for Erin. teaches the children. And for Dr. Park, she has been very much on the move as well. So she's been to Thailand, Myanmar, the United States, and now she's back in Thailand. And then she'll be going back to Myanmar in a little while, so we need to pray for her as she works on translating what the Akka and Hakka Chinti is. So both of these prayer letters are in the back if you would like to look at those later. For our own congregation, we do have a praise, two praises. As you know, the church has been growing. Next month, we will be adding some new church members for a third time in six months. But we want to praise the Lord that we are not only growing by adding members, but we are growing by adding babies. We've got two families that will be having children within the next nine months. So the Lee family, Jay Lee and Ariel, and the Sang family, the Sang, brother Sang and his wife. We are rejoicing with you. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I think we better pray before we get ourselves in more trouble. But we do rejoice in this. Let's go to the Lord. Father, our hearts are joyful today. We have seen how you have blessed us with your salvation here in Titus 2. We have the blessed hope of Christ's return. At this time, you are very busy building your church. Lord, thank you so much for the work of our ministries, our missionaries. planting gospel seeds, teaching, preaching. Lord, we just thank you for the work that is being done around the world. We thank you for the bowls and how you were using them there in Taiwan. We pray that even today that you would bless their services at the church there. Lord, we thank you also for Dr. Park for her ministry with Bibles International. Lord, she is busy and she is on the move for you. We thank you for the safety you've given her thus far. We pray for continued safety and blessing on her work. We do specifically pray for these two translations, the Akka and the Hakka. We pray, Father, for the translators and for all the work that's being done. Father, as Brother Lehman is doing a lot of traveling and is currently in Myanmar, we do pray for him and for his wife as well. Father, we thank you for how you are building Seoul Bible Church. We acknowledge, Lord, that it is Jesus Christ who is building His church. And we are confident that he will continue the good work that he has begun in us. Lord, we pray that the good shepherd would guard us from sin, from any evil way. We pray that we would continue to grow in unity and in love for one another and most of all in love for yourself. And Lord, we do rejoice with these families that are rejoicing that you are adding to their families as well. We do pray for these parents that you would help them to disciple and to reach their children for Christ at an early age. And Lord, even at this early stage, we do ask for help for both the mother and the baby. Father, as we are gathered here today to worship you, we do pray that you would help us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Help us by thy grace to lay aside the distractions of last week and all the things that we have to do this week. We pray that in some small way you would help us to see Jesus in his glory in our worship of you today. May all that's done here glorify you in the things said and done. Lord, we pray that you would meet each one of our spiritual needs. And Lord, we do commit other needs that we have to you as well, whether financial, physical, or any other. We just put that before your throne. Lord, we need you. We need our need for yourself today. And we know, Father, you have promised that those who seek you will find you, so we long to find you today. We pray these things in Jesus' name with thanksgiving. So we desire to serve the Lord, so let's stand up, stand up for Jesus, standing the same, head number 300 down. O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, And Christ is born in thee. And I will watch as you carry on. With all of the earth, and as the sky above, O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Please be seated. This time, we will worship the Lord with tithes and offerings, so I ask that bread and alms, bread and alms. Let's commit this to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that every part of our lives can be dedicated to you as an act of worship. Even our eating and drinking can glorify yourself. And now, at this time in our service, we have the chance to return to you to help some that are in desperate need of help, those who've been affected by hurricanes in the United States. Father, we pray that as we help those who need even more than we do. Lord, that you would help us to be cheerful givers, that you would use this gift of love to show that people around the world care for brothers and sisters in Christ, to show the love of God, not only with our words, but even with our wallets. And Lord, as we do this in your name, Lord, we will give you the glory for any encouragement, any after mercy that is done in your name. We pray these things in Jesus' name with thanksgiving. Amen. so Mrs. Hendrickson just played a song called, There's Joy in Serving Jesus. Great truth in that. and great truth in our next song, that we can carry our burdens to Jesus before you leave. We will stand to sing before the children leave for a children's church. Oh, still I softly to Jesus, to Him with my heart be afloat. Thy Father's gift in secret shall give thee a gracious reward. Leave trust in His point of mercy, thy soul of His sorrow relieved, and turn, I am bound in Thy name. Give me, as Thou hast received, O still the ways of meekly Jesus, to Him that thy heart be adored, thy heart, O Spirit, in secret, shall give me a place to behold. May Christ be thy gracious companion, keeping on His holy side day by day, I've heard and I've seen the blessings that brought you here by the way. Oh, steal away something to please us, to make my third heart be afloat. Our God, whose sin you sinned with, shall hear the allegations you were told. Oh, fill our hearts with thanksgiving and glory, this time the one who will be loved shall be as worthy of loving as a mitten on some other. I'll still be suffering through Jesus, till in my blood I'll be a fool. But I will still persevere, shall I ever be a gracious fool. I think that was a new one for some of us. I didn't realize that. All right, so the children will be going now to Children's Church, so we will be looking at the Word of God once again. I'm going to ask you to turn to 2 Kings chapter 5. A couple weeks ago now, we began looking at the topic, how can we successfully serve our Savior. And you'll remember we use 2 Kings 5, the story of Naaman, to illustrate the principles that we see in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and 4. And we talked about three of the five characters in 2 Kings 5 two weeks ago. In Naaman, we saw a pagan capable servant who needed God. And in 1 Timothy 3 and 4, we saw false teachers, those who did not know Christ as Savior. And of course, 2 Kings chapter 5 begins with a young lady, an unnamed, praying, caring servant who both forgave and loved her captors. And of course, this reminded us of the commands in 1 Timothy 2, to be in prayer for all people, for their salvation, as well as for our own peace. And then you remember the third, where we finished last time, we saw the peoples Worried servant the one that needed reminding there is a God in heaven there is a faithful servant and so the king of Israel you remember received that message and that he needed to heal and got very scared. And you may remember that we compared the king to Timothy, this brand new preacher, their nemesis, who had to be reassured to let no one despise his youth. Now, as we read 2 Kings chapter 5, verses 8 through 14, we're going to see the fourth comparison, the prophet. Here is, yes. Elisha's God-servant who was concerned with pleasing God, not man. So you're there in 2 Kings chapter five, and I'm reading now verses eight through 14. Verse 8 says, It happened when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, and he shall know there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood in the doorway of the house of Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean. Verses 11 and 12. But Naaman was furious and went away and said, behold, I thought he will surely come out to me. and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Adana and Farpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. I am the only one who is old and is dying. I think I should come out to you and stand and call the name of the Lord and shake hands with you and make peace. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, my father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more than when he says to you, wash and be clean? So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. If my father had told me to do a great thing for you, I would have done it. If he had told me to wash you and make you clean, I would have done it. Let's extend this for two more verses, 15 and 16. When he returned to the man of God with all his company and came and stood before him, he said, Behold, now I know there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. So please take a present from your servant now. But he said, As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will take nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. Alesha, God's servant, is a man that we all need to emulate, we need to copy. Notice his focus is pleasing God, not pleasing anyone. He is looking for his God's approval, not a cash reward. Now, way back in Syria, the little girl, the unnamed servant, had trusted that this prophet would be able to dispense to give out God's healing power. The seeking soldier, Naaman, came hoping for healing to the servant of the Lord. Think for a moment about this man's qualifications. The servant of the Lord did not have a medical degree. He was not a doctor. Put in today's terms, he had not gone to medical school. He had no license to practice medicine. But he was called by God. He was equipped by God. Take them all. How about you? Are you trusting in your college degree, or your wisdom, or your experience? Remember, the title of this sermon is how to be successful. This world defines success as making a lot of money. First you've got to go to the right school, then you've got to get the right job, and there's this certain expectation of what success looks like. As you think about yourself and you ask yourself, What would it take, what would it be for me to be successful? How do you answer? You know, some people from certain backgrounds may be a success just if they stay out of prison. You know, there are those with a background that success is just staying in the law from their perspective. For someone who has been more than very poor, or from a bad background, not going to jail, not being a criminal. Yeah, okay, fine. Naaman, remember, we called him successful. He was a successful servant. He had career success as a general. He had achieved it all politically. He had access to power, to the king himself. And here is Elisha, staying home, away from the capital. And here comes this powerful, connected man to him, to his house. If you were in this situation, how would you treat Naaman? I know when we have guests, we clean the house. You know, there's a certain level of preparation and welcome to being hospitable, to welcoming someone to your house. Now here's not just a special guest. Here is a caravan that rolls up to your door with all kinds of servants and all kinds of royal attire. Does Elisha try to curry favor with this wealthy, connected, powerful man. Look at the first sentence in verse 10. The first part of the sentence says, Elisha sent a messenger to her. She doesn't even bother to answer the door. It's like, you know, here is this embassy and he sent he sends a guy to voicemail. He sends the guy a servant with a message. Not only did he not go out of his way to curry favor, but we see that the message he gave was only the word of God, he didn't do anything to make it more acceptable or more favorable to the man who received the message. Go wash in the Jordan seven times. Now, when we tell people God's Word, when we tell them the gospel, This is not well received. The gospel tends to be offensive to the natural man. Last time we saw Naaman was a patient who wanted to act like the doctor. He wanted to prescribe his own healing. The prophet said, go to the Jordan, and he said, I don't want the Jordan. I want my river. We tell people, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And they say, how dare you? I'm offended. I'll save myself. I'll try harder. I'll do more good work. I'll be religious to make my God happy. That will save me. Every other religion is about doing some kind of work. to somehow please God. It is only Christ, it is only Christians who realize We can't save ourselves. We must be saved by the Savior. To acknowledge as people that we are helpless before Almighty God is very humbling. our natural pride resists that. We want to pay God off. So Naaman gets healed. He trusts that that will work. He dips seven times and what does he want to do? He wants to pay off his debt. I've got to pay my doctor's bill. I've got to pay for my life because I was saved. Remember, leprosy would kill, so he was given life, and he wants to pay for that with his wealth. We don't buy and sell salvation. Those that try to buy and sell spiritual things, verse 16, Elisha says, I will take anything for this. We have a New Testament example of someone who wanted to buy and sell spiritual gifts to. In the book of Acts, there was an example. One who wanted to purchase the ability to give the Holy Spirit. And he got an entire corrupt practice named after him called synonymy. So we're talking about the servant of the Lord. We're talking about Elisha. Elisha was determined to give only good, wholesome medicine to do what God said. Now, we have been looking in 1 Timothy 3. What do we have here in 1 Timothy 3? Of course, this is written by Paul who is known for his preaching and for his refusal to compromise the gospel. And it's written to Timothy who, chapter one, don't compromise the gospel. But as you turn to 1 Timothy 3, we see the first section of this chapter is devoted to two kinds of people in the church who are not to compromise the gospel. And so we see in chapter 3, verse 1, we see about overseers, their character traits, But these are those who are to proclaim God's word. And like Elisha, a pastor must not be a people pleaser. Pastors have a charge to preach the word of God. Sometimes people like to hear that, many times they do not. And so we see in 1 Timothy 4, 1 through 5, that in the last times there are going to be all kinds of false doctrines out there. And Paul says, in these latter times when people fall away from the faith, chapter 4, verse 1, what do you do? This must be rejected. This is not the kind of preaching from a pastor. So you're there in 1 Timothy 4 now, look at verse 6. In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ. a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you can follow. Again, without considering the audience, what they want, verse 11, it says, prescribe. teach things in accord with sound doctrine. Verse 13, again, until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching. So you apply what the Bible says to the situation at hand. You rightly divide the word of truth to apply it to the situation that you're in. So Paul and Timothy had to be responsible to resist every kind of false teaching. We need to equip you as pastors to recognize false teaching so that you don't fall into things like legalism that we see here. in 1 Timothy 4, 1 through 5. In 1 Timothy 4 and 1 through 5, we see that there were those who were trying to get favor with God by what they ate or did not eat, and by all kinds of rules. Singleness instead of getting married. So, First Timothy warns against both vain philosophies, idle speculation, and legalism. These are errors to avoid. That was the poor servant. Elisha and the servant bowed. The final servant for this message is found here in 2 Kings chapter 5, and he is the greedy servant, Gehazi. Look at verse 20, 2 Kings 5 verse 20. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought, Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Aramean by not receiving from his hands what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him. So here is the unprofitable servant. In John 10, Jesus describes himself as a good shepherd. And he mentions those who are not good shepherds. They are called hirelings. Hirelings care nothing for the sheep. Their sole concern is their paycheck. Stop the money, they stop the service. They are most concerned with their own comfort, their own reward. Now, don't get me wrong. Someone who works should be paid. The laborer is worthy of his hire. That is a biblical principle. But Paul also tells us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So greedy Gehazi loses everything in an attempt to get something from me. What does he lose? You might think the worst thing he lost was his life. That's not it. The worst thing he lost was his integrity. To get money, Gehazi was willing to lie. You still have your Bibles open there to 2 Kings 5. Look at verse 22. There Gehazi tells Naaman, all is well. My master sent me. That's a lie. saying, Behold, two young men of the sons of the prophets just came from the hill country of Ephraim. That's a lie number two. Give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes. The message. That's lie three. Three lies, one verse. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. I'm sorry. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now, let's look at verse 22. It says, I am the peace that God has sent me. Now So first he's lied to this man who basically has just believed in God. He lies to him. Second, he goes back and he lies to the prophet of God. Look at verse 25. Elisha questions him, where have you been? The answer comes, your servant will know. The Bible says, be sure your sin will find you out. The Gizai sin is found out there in verse 26. And of course, not only does he lose his integrity, but he also loses his life. Verse 27, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you. and your descendants forever. In this five From 2 Kings 5, we've seen five servants. Three of those servants serve as a warning. We should not be fearful like the king of Israel. We should not be greedy like the Hazar. Nor should we be unbelieving like Naaman. Obviously, we need to come to Christ. But we do see two good examples of how we can successfully serve our God. Like the young Megan, we can serve. forgiving those who do us wrong and loving them. Like her, we can be a witness at work or anywhere we go. And like Elisha, we too must be sure that as we talk about God, that we say only those things that are true of Him and from Him. Every child of God is a servant. And today we are recognizing two who will be serving the church and serving the Lord in a special way as deacons. Once again, here in verse 23 and verses 8 through 12, here is what a deacon looks like. Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sport or game. Verse 9, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Verse 10, these men must also first be tested, experienced, Then let them serve as deacons, if they are beyond reproach. Verse 11 says, women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful, and unthankful. Yeojadeuldo iwagachi danjeonghago chamsohaji malmyeo jeoljaehamyeo modeun iire chumsungdeun jaraya daljiniya. Verse 12. Deacons must be husbands of only one wife and good managers of their children and their own households. Jipsadeureon han aneui namkyeonideuh janeowa jagijibul jal dasurineun jaljjini. And then the reward, verse 13. For those who have served well as deacons, obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. How do you get a deacon? There needs to be a certain personality that is recognized before there's a deacon. There are character traits that we are looking for. And a few weeks ago, There were some nomination slips that were put on the back table back there. And those nomination slips shared with you what I just read, 1 Timothy 3, 8 through 13. And I asked those of you who are members here at the church to think about who we could nominate to come help Brother Al as as fellow New Gets. Members of the congregation came up with two names. that you see there in the bulletin. Those two names were Brother David Affley and Brother Nam. Did I say it right? We have had the chance to talk. They've talked with me and Brother Al, and we made sure that they know the expectations of a deacon. And so let's turn in our Bibles to Acts chapter 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. Let's look at Acts 6. full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. Now notice the command here, select from among you. Here is the church giving their recommendations to the apostles about who would be good for this job. We had a couple other names come up, and they were not ready to do that at this time, and that's fine. But we see that the apostles wanted, in verse 4, to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. That would be their focus. So the church looks for men of reputation for the Holy Spirit and wisdom to have responsibility in the church. Verse 3. You see there in verse 5, the statement found approval with the whole congregation and notice they chose And then they have the list of these seven men. And so what we're going to do now is we're going to ask first Brother Atlee, then Brother Nam to come up and share their testimony. After they do that, we will accept them as candidates. So, I will ask you both to stay up front after you finish your testimonies. So, Brother Ackley first and Brother Dong. Okay. Pastor Bright, knowing me, asked me to submit my testimony in written form, so I'm going to stay with that, because otherwise I may turn to wander. But I was saved at 14 in my local small congregation church during a time when the pastor had been giving a message on salvation. I knew that I was sinner. I knew that I needed salvation and so at 14 I went ahead and went to the altar and gave my life to Jesus Christ. I was saved. I knew I was saved throughout my high school years. I attended various Christian mission type youth programs. I did stuff in the church and you know went to Sunday school and church and that but I didn't really ever really take anything all that serious, like, you know, many, you know, unfortunately, teenagers who grow up in the church, it becomes just a thing to do, it doesn't really sink in. And so, at 18, I went into the United States Air Force, and I was still a babe in Christ when I went into the Air Force. I knew I was saved, but I really didn't know anything else. And I remember I would go to a different base or a time back in the day before we had computers and Google and that stuff. I'd look into the Yellow Pages and I always looked for the church denomination that I belonged to back home. Well, it's a very small denomination and so it was never in the Yellow Pages. And I had no clue How to find a church and so because of that and because of the world I now found myself in a very sinful world and lots of worldly Distractions to pull you away from God. I spent six years away from God So the first six years I was in the Air Force, I didn't attend church I didn't you know do the things that you would normally do to cultivate a Christian life. I knew I was saved, but that was it. And so I was farther and farther away for six years. Now, God knew I was wandering away. I had wandered away from God. God never left me nor forsook me. And God used the Air Force as a means to bring me back to himself. And the way he did this is in 1991, he saw fit for me to be assigned to Bentwaters Royal Air Force Base in the United Kingdom. And I went to Bentwaters thinking it was just another assignment. It would have been my third assignment. I went to Bentwaters and I was there for about a week and I came home from doing ungodly things and there was a note on my door from a cousin who had grown up in the same small church that I grew up in and so they invited me over for lunch. It was a Saturday. It was a Friday night when I saw the note. Saturday, they invited me for lunch. I went over to lunch, and after lunch, they invited me to go to church with them the next day. Well, I felt kind of obligated at this point. They had just fed me. So, I wasn't really excited, because I hadn't been to church in six years. I was, you know, very severely vaccinated. But out of obligation, I said, yes, I will go with you. And I went to that church, and the pastor was preaching a gospel message. And it was like I was sitting there, and every time he said something, I said, yes, I remember that. I know that. And it was almost, for me, it was like that story in the Bible with the dry bones, and they start shaking, and they start coming back together. And I got to the end of the service, And I had really felt that spirit coming back to life in me that had been dead and dormant for six years. And we got to the end, and I knew what was coming. He was going to give an altar call to come and be saved. But I didn't have to worry about that. I knew I was saved. Yeah, I wasn't living for the Lord, but I was saved. So when he calls for the altar call, hey, no problem, I'll set through it. He'll say a prayer and I'll be out the back door. But God had different plans. Because this pastor gave that altar call. If you need to be saved, if you haven't been saved, come to the front and somebody will take you and show you how you can become saved. And I was like, I don't need to do that, I'm good. So I'm sitting there, you know, all heads bowed, all eyes closed. I'm sitting there, and I'm thinking, okay, that's the end. She's going to pray. I'm going to say amen. I can be out of here. No, no, no. The pastor says, now, there may be some of you here in the church today who are saved. You know in your heart you're saved. But you're not right with the Lord. You've been away for a while. If that's you, the altar is open for you. And I said, well, you got me there, God. I guess I can't escape this one. You're talking directly to me. So I went forward that day. First day back at church in England, Yeah, Faith Baptist Church, Bromswell, Suffolk, United Kingdom. And I bowed down at the altar and I said, God, you know I've messed up, I'm sorry. And I rededicated my life to God and I, since then, although unperfect, I've been trying to live for God. I knew Once I got rededicated, I'd never been scripturally baptized. So I asked about that. They had a baptismal service. And I was baptized shortly after that. I don't know exactly the date I was baptized. I remember it was in the wintertime in England. And the heat pump in the baptistry didn't work that day. So I remember being baptized. I don't remember the day. At this time that I rededicated my life, Gloria and my children were still back in the US. I had come first to get set up because if you know anything, 1991, that was the first Gulf War. Things were crazy. I didn't know if I was staying, if I was actually going to go. My trip to England was my third assignment in like six weeks. They kept canceling them. And so I went there first. Gloria came over. She was unsaved. We had met during that six years that I was not serving the Lord. And although she was from a Catholic background, being from the Philippines, she didn't know salvation. And so she began attending church with me. I made her. And after a while, she heard the gospel. She got saved. She got baptized there in England. and together we've served the Lord since then. We went to several churches after that. After England, we went to South Carolina, to Sumter, I attended a small church there where I heard for the first time about this college. It was up the road a bit called Bob Jones because my pastor was a 1950 grad and he talked about it every day, every sermon. It seemed like Bob Jones was somehow related to the sermon. So I heard that. We left South Carolina. I came here to Kunsan, to Korea. They joined me again in Japan, so we were in Maranatha Baptist Church in Japan, where I, you know, we were talking about building the church. I actually got to help physically build the church, carrying wet concrete up two floors of stairs, so they could pour it in the, what was gonna be the floor up there. And so, the Lord is blessed. The Lord's given me lots of time to serve him, and time to learn. Ultimately, when I left the Air Force, God called me to teach. And so I needed to go back to college. I was in Greenville, South Carolina. God just happened to line it up that way. So I went back to this college I heard so much about, and my oldest daughter had just graduated from, and went to college at Bob Jones. Got my teaching degree, came over here to teach at Soul Christian School, and of course, with that, we were introduced to Soul Bible Church, and Gloria and myself, a couple weeks, I think, maybe a month, wasn't very long time. Those of you who were here in 2014 may remember, we stood up here and we were, we became members of the church. And so since that time, we've been we've been members of church for 10 years now uh doing whatever we can to help out with whatever abilities God has given us so that's my testimony so thank you brother now if you would come share your testimony First of all, I let you understand that I have a language barrier problem. I won't be long like that. Sorry, I tried to be short. I was born March 22nd, 1944, in the countryside, North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea. I joined the Army, Korean Army, 1965 and the following year, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1966. And I was assigned the front line unit as a platoon leader. Then I went to Vietnam War in 1968 as a combat platoon leader in the Interpol house. Because there is very few linguists at that time, 1968. One of two who can speak English at that time. So I was picked up as an interpreter from Cambodia. After one year Vietnam War in combat, I'm returning home. And I served many different troop assignments. in front line unit and rear area unit. I joined the army in 1965. And the following year, I became a soldier. So, a year and a half later, I went to the Vietnam War. At that time, I went as a platoon leader, but there were only one or two people serving. So, I So, after a year in the battlefield, I returned to Jeonbuk In 1979, I was assigned ICO group, later combined field army, U.S. and Korea. Located in Uijeongbu. 20 kilometers north of Seoul. Capital Red Cross, CRC. We call it CRC. I was assigned there 1979 and the following year, 1980. In the middle of 1980, I think, I think I got saved at the post chapel. In Temple of Red Ground, CRC, about 20 kilometers north of Seoul. On the exact April 1990, April 1990, I first came to Seoul Bible Church, this church. From then on to present time, is over 34 years. I've been here in Seoul Bible Church more than 34 years. That's why, as I told my pastor, right, So long time I cannot reject recommendation to be deacon even though I am not qualified to be deacon. So I I accept that recommendation. Thank you very much. This is composed by my personal historian. Thank you, Brother Nalu. You can join Brother Ackley over here. We have here two soldiers. These soldiers have served their countries, but now they are soldiers of the Lord. Both of these men have a history not only with the Lord, but here with soul by the church. They have been well tested in the faith. They have the experience with the church and with Christ. And I believe that Brother Nam's humility notwithstanding both men are well qualified to be deacons here at Soul Bible Church. So I would like to address the voting members of Soul Bible Church, those of you who are members here at Soul Bible Church. If you would like to accept Brother Nam and Brother Ackley as deacons here, at Seoul Bible Church, say amen. Amen. Amen. If there's any objections, raise your right hand. That was a Chad vote. With no objections, we would like to welcome Brother Nam and Brother Ackley as our deacons. I'm going to ask them to come and stand in front of the center of the pulpit on either side of me. I'm going to ask Brother Pastor Chu, if you will sit and stand beside Brother Ackley there, and Brother Hendrickson, We're going to lay hands on these men and pray for them. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for raising up men of God to serve our great God in heaven. We thank you, Father, for Soul Bible Church, this local assembly of your body, Father, we thank you for how you have equipped this church with those who are members, with those who serve the members and serve you. Thank you for these three deacons, for Brother Al, for Brother Dave, for Brother Nah. Lord, help them in this new ministry, in this new sphere of service to serve you, and to serve this local assembly faithfully and well. And Lord, we will give you the glory as they earn for themselves a great reward and a well done in heaven. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I pray that the Lord will give strength to these two people so that they can work hard for the glory of the Lord by being filled with the Holy Spirit, being filled with wisdom, and being praised by others. Father God, when these three disciples work for the Church of God, please let this Church grow, and let the name of the Father of God be glorified, and the glory of Jesus Christ be spread out, and all people be saved, and let the result of praising and glory appear to God. And whether He gives Him a new plans for me. My father, as we come before you today, I ask simply that you take us, vile creatures, creatures of the dust, into whose nostrils you have breathed the breath of life and given us the power of the spirit, to raise us up, not for our own glory, but for yours, And I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. It's in his name we pray. Amen. We will close with, may the Lord find us faithful. You will find that in your handout. We will sing only the first verse. Yeah, we, we clap for that. And it's a prayer for our deacons as well. Let's have them go ahead and stand as we sing because we want them to be faithful in this service as well. May the Lord find us faithful. It's just the first verse here. We will continue at this pace. As our separation works. Ah, has appeared in us His Spirit of fear, and in us His strength to obey. With power and power, with glory unfilled, for we are the sheep of His will. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, this is a prayer on all of our hearts this afternoon. Lord, we beseech, we beg you, may you find us faithful. Every day, whether we live or whether we die, Lord, may we be faithful to yourself. May we be faithful to serve you in all that you call us to do. Help us to be faithful in our families. Help us to be faithful to you at work. Help us to be faithful church members as well. And Lord, we do pray for our deacons that they too would serve you and serve our church faithfully. Lord God, use us all for your glory. And you will receive the praise for it. In Jesus' name, Amen. a a a a Yeah.