Good morning, church.
It's a wonderful privilege to come here and spend time with you in worship service today.
Aaron was one of my favorite students.
I loved him and I respected him.
Once I saw an email announcement that Ringgold Church needs a preacher.
It was, I think, December.
I wanted to come, but I had other appointments.
So I wrote to Pastor Aaron that, you know, if you have any need, I will come.
So today I'm here.
Normally, during the seven days of the week, I speak English for five days and I speak
Korean in two days.
Saturdays and Sunday.
So today is the day I speak Korean, but I cannot preach in Korean to you.
Anyway, if I, you know, struggle a little bit, understand me, this is a Korean day for me.
Our scripture reading is found in Mark 5, 18, 20.
I want to, I took this as our text and I want to read this together with you again.
And before I read this to you again, read closely and I'm going to give a little quiz
to you.
And the quiz question is very simple.
What is the word, maybe two words, I don't know, that pops up in your mind as we read
this text.
One word that capsulize or summarize this text.
So I'm going to read now.
Mark 5, 18 to 21.
I'm reading from TNIV.
This is NIV revised.
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go
with him.
Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your own people and tell them how much the
Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.
So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for
him and all the people were amazed.
So what word comes up in your mind?
Okay.
Thank you.
So that we said evangelism, right?
Okay.
What else?
Yes.
Miracle.
Salvation, right?
The demon possessed man was saved.
Jesus brought salvation to him.
Now the salvation that he experienced became a noose.
Okay.
A big noose in his life.
Not only in his life, but in the cities he visited, right?
So I see in this text two words, evangelism and evangelium.
I put a Latin word there, evangelium, which means goodness.
Okay.
So he spread the goodness.
Spreading is evangelism and goodness is evangelium.
Apostle Paul, he mentioned about this good news in many places, but I want to pick up
two places from his writings.
One is Galatians chapter one, verse three and four.
Here he said, he wrote, grace to you and peace from God our father and Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for all our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.
So here Paul was saying that the good news is that Jesus gave himself for our sins.
And another text is coming from first Timothy chapter one, verse 15.
Christ, Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.
Now I am the chief.
So here he's saying that Christ died for me.
In the first text, he died for us, then in the second text, he died for me.
One time I asked a student in my class if they watch news on television.
You know, 18, 19, or early 20 something, I thought they were watching news.
I was interested, I wanted to know whether they were interested in the things that are
happening around them.
But surprisingly, most of them were not watching news.
They were more interested in entertainment such as drama and sports.
Now I don't know whether you are watching television or cable channels.
What are you, what's your favorite television or cable channel?
Sports, drama, show, news?
News, okay.
It clicks now.
In my classes, it didn't click.
Now, now if you're watching news, why?
Why are you watching news?
Are you hungry for good news?
What do you get from news channels?
Normally, yeah, commercials, yes.
Normally the news on the channels are bad.
Tragic news, bad news, sad news, tragic news.
Weather, you know, right.
Do you quench your inner thirst for good news by watching entertainment, sports, drama,
show, they are entertaining?
Maybe they will bring a partial quenching of your inner thirst.
Some people are watching news channels for entertainment.
I don't know whether they do that.
So what can you expect from the news channels?
Any good Samaritan stories?
Disasters, accidents, wars, fires, homicides, financial faults, bad weather forecast.
They don't normally emphasize good weather forecast, but when there is bad weather coming.
So do you hear any good news from the news channels?
The answer is no.
Have you watched recent weather news, like the Arctic currents swept through the northern
part of this continent and it took many lives?
Very sad.
What about atmospheric rivers brought huge rainfall in California?
Of course, the rain needed water and moisture for that state, but the rain took people's
lives, homes, many cars.
So many people were killed under these weather conditions.
These news were scary and there were many tragedies.
Do you remember what happened on October 10, 2001?
2001, October 10.
Nobody remembers what happened on that day.
I don't remember either, except that it was my birthday.
But what about this?
Do you remember what happened on September 11, 2001?
Everybody remembers that, except those who were not there yet.
I was in Seattle.
My wife was in Fort Lee, New Jersey, alone.
Fort Lee is a bridge away from Manhattan.
My boys were in Blue Mountain Academy, Pennsylvania.
That incident, that event was one of the most horrible events in American history.
I can remember where I was when I first saw on television screen the twin towers burning
after the attack.
As I was walking in the hotel lobby that day, I saw this noisy news on the television and
I froze.
Instantly, the whole world heard and saw the news.
This tragic episode changed the whole world.
When I came home, and a few days later in the morning as I was going out, I saw something
on my car.
So I just, you know, slipped a little bit.
Ash.
The ash blown from Manhattan over to our place.
As I drive on the streets of the city, when I see some church building, I look at the
parking lots.
Parking lots were full of cars for many, many weeks, and suddenly no more cars.
But anyway, that time, something like this.
When I traveled by air, I had to arrive in the airport way early and I had to go through
TSA checkpoints, throw away all the water bottles and take off shoes, belt and others.
Doing all these things were inconvenient and cumbersome.
I noticed that all the airports in the world followed the suit.
They were doing that.
The world was changed by this terrible incident and from its news.
Of course, after that, there was war, right?
I want to travel with you far, far, no, the time far away from now, 2,000 years ago, in
a little time machine with you.
A young man was killed on a cross outside of the city of Jerusalem.
He was only 33 years old.
He was a good man.
He brought so much good to the people of the nation, but he was killed as a criminal.
He was only in the local news, but no radio, no television, no internet, no Facebook, no
Instagram, nothing there.
Eyewitness accounts of this crucifixion carried the sad news, self-seeing to their friends
and relatives.
The spreading of this news took longer than it took for the 9-11 news.
Everybody who heard it was sad except the ones who plotted to kill him.
Nobody knew the meaning of this death until those witnesses were enlightened by the man
risen from among the dead.
This man was Jesus, and he had overcome the death.
When the meaning of the death was revealed, the sad news became the gospel.
Good news, Evangelion.
The sad news did not end there, but it was transformed.
This news became good news, gospel, Evangelion.
Many breaking news are normally sad and shocking, and they end right there.
In contrast with 9-11 news, the news as gospel ends with hope.
The deaths on the fatal day of September 11 were only sad, but this death, the death
of Christ, had a purpose.
The death was a victory in disguise.
Like 9-11 news, this sad but good news changed the world.
It changed individuals.
It reached here.
It reached your heart, and you are not the same after you heard it and accepted the news
for you.
The death news brings life.
It is an irony that sad news is presented as good news.
Christ died.
It is a good news.
The news of death brings life in it.
His death is the power of his kingdom, and it is a power for our salvation.
I'm going back to the text I was looking at, Paul's letters, Jesus Christ, who gave himself
for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.
And Paul said again, and Timothy, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I am the foremost, I am chief.
In Galatians, Paul was preaching.
Yes, Jesus gave himself for us.
He died for us.
In one point in the letter, he said, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?
It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
He died for you.
But again, in Timothy, here Paul made a confession.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief.
But Paul adds some more.
Not only did Christ die for me, but I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the
flesh.
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
This is the goodness.
So did the news impact you?
What was the impact of the news in your life?
Were you changed after you heard it?
Are you changing as you hear again and again?
Is the news coming back to you again and again with renewed impact?
Or are you tired of hearing the same news repeatedly?
Or are you changing continually because of the good news?
I believe this good news is breaking news every moment when you hear that.
You may hear the good news again when you did something wrong.
We may make some mistakes in our lives when we make some mistakes from haste, ignorance,
stubbornness or something else.
When you realize that you did something wrong, did you look at the death of Jesus?
Do you want to hear the gospel again?
You may hear the same news when you are tempted to do something wrong.
When you face challenging moments, do you remind yourself of the gospel you heard?
Are you repeating the good news in your heart?
What does the gospel tell you about this situation?
When you are tempted to do something wrong, are you hearing the gospel again?
Or are you trying to shut off the voice of the gospel?
Are you seeing the death of Jesus for you?
This evangelium, this goodness, not only saves you from your bad past, but it can save you
from your present predicament and from your future destruction.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Jesus is the good news.
He is evangelium goodness.
Hear him out.
But I have two more good news on top of this.
Jesus is our high priest.
And Jesus is coming soon.
He is the coming King.
When you hear the news that Christ is our high priest, what is the impact you have?
He serves in the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary with his own blood to intercede
for us.
What is the impact you receive from this good news?
Jesus promised about his return.
This promise is also an important part of the good news.
Now when you hear the news again about his coming, what impact does this news bring to
you?
What change does it bring to you?
We have good news.
And the good news have three parts.
Jesus died for us.
Jesus forgives us.
And he is coming back to bring you and me to himself and God.
I'm going to tell you a big sad news in my life.
I cannot forget that day.
August 15, 1968.
That year my second boy was born.
I cannot forget the morning when I heard the news of my mother's passing.
She was only 48.
And she died.
I was camping by a stream.
I took a bunch of young people to spend time in prayer.
So around evening time we arrived there and we pitched tents.
And early in the morning I was reading my Bible in my tent.
So I read my Bible and I prayed for my wife, my mother who was in sickbed.
It happened that I was reading John 11.
I did not choose that chapter, but that was in my schedule.
As I was reading John 11, what's in John 11?
Lazarus.
He was resurrected, you know.
So when I was reading that chapter that morning, my heart was deeply moved by the power of
Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead.
Somehow my heart was beamed with the hope of resurrection.
I believed there and then the power of God that brings resurrection.
I came out of my tent and I heard noise from a motorcycle.
I saw a deacon from my church on the other side of the stream.
He was there with his motorcycle.
I felt strange.
Why is he there?
And I realized maybe he's bringing a noose.
He brought the noose that my mother passed previous night.
I was so shocked by the noose, I was saddened.
But I knew God had prepared my mind with the story of Lazarus that morning.
Story of Jesus' death does not end there.
It ends in resurrection.
I believe that Jesus will bring my mother back on that glorious morning.
I want to read some words from your hymnal, 158.
This will be our closing hymn.
I think this hymn will bring you to the place where Jesus was crucified.
And I think it will bring you to the tomb where he was buried and also from where he
was raised.
158.
I'm not going to read everything because we're synced, but I will just read here and there.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when he rose up from the dead?
Oh, sometimes I feel like shouting, glory, glory, glory.
Were you there when he rose from the dead?
This hymn helps us to picture the scene.
This hymn connects us to the suffering and death of Jesus.
Not only so, but it connects us to his resurrection.
His death and resurrection is the good news.
It is Evangelium.
When we hear the goodness, the gospel, we do not hear the death news alone.
It comes in a form that combines death and resurrection.
It causes us to tremble when we hear the death part, but it moves us to shout, glory, glory,
glory, when we hear the resurrection part.
I want to come back to our very text, Mark 5, 18 to 20.
I'm going to read it again.
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go
with him.
Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your own people.
Tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.
So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for
him.
And all the people were amazed.
The man experienced the gospel when he met Jesus.
Let us meet with Jesus on the cross.
When we compare saving the demoniac, the demon possessed person, and death on the cross,
on the surface maybe saving the demon possessed person could be more glorious.
Bigger, when you compare the cross with Exodus, which has bigger scale, huge event, but you
know cross is bigger.
It is large.
It has everything in it.
So let us meet with Jesus on the cross.
The risen Lord and coming King.
This meeting is possible even now as we hear the gospel, Evangelion.
Thank you.
Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that you gave your only Son for us.
The Son of God, Jesus Christ, he gave his life for us.
This is a wonderful news.
But we know that it did not end there.
He rose from the dead.
So we know that this death will bring life to us.
We are so thankful that our Lord Jesus Christ became high priest for us.
Not only that, Jesus Christ will be a coming King, Lord.
He's with us in our hearts about this good news every moment of our lives.
So that we may be renewed in our faith.
Oh Lord, bless us.
The name of Jesus.
Amen.