I AM JUST JOEKANG
AFTERLIFE.
Permalink
when is worship real?
I’ve lived my life from one awesome God-encountering worship session to the next. Sometimes the fire burns a little bit after the night is over, but the true test comes the next morning. Who are you first thinking about in the morning? Do you burn even more for Him? When you consider His vision for your life, do you long to pursue holiness and purity?
God, my passion is returning. Please lead me on and let me live this life in abandon with no regard for myself.
Permalink
back to the songs.
I’ve been neglecting my music. It sits on a folder on my desk top, wondering why it hasn’t been opened for months. It feels good to just get so many other things out of the way first. I’m always debating whether I should really unwind and reflect before I write songs…or unwind and reflect by writing songs. We’ll see. Maybe you will too!
Today’s the first time I’ve visited GCC in over 4 years…and the sermon today was on…. dating and courtship. I love you God… LOL.
Permalink
Gift.
If I was to be good at one thing in this life…if there is something that I could get better and better at…if I could use all my creative talents and be summed up into one package…if I could boast of anything about myself…it would be to love. Love God, Love people.
From my paper: When Jesus challenges me to become a brave lover, I’m immediately challenged. He says to me, “The brave lover stands firm in temptations and pays no heed to the crafty persuasions of the enemy” (51). I must find ways to love. It is not something that I do conveniently, but I seek to become good at it. I must become brave and active in how I love others and not myself. I get caught in a selfish routine, but Kempis tells me that “if you seek to have more ease and pleasure, you will never rest or be free from care, for some defect is found in everything and everywhere someone will vex you” (75). In order to become free from this self-centeredness, I must start looking outward. I’m in a situation right now that I can actively reach out to all those around me. I’ve been pretty self-centered in my daily life in my tenure as a Jesus-loving Christian. Before I continue on in any way, I must know that“self-love is more harmful [than] anything else in the world” (75). Because I am wired and programmed to love myself, it feels like suffering when I’m seeking to love God or others. As I mature in Christ, I seek to understand His love in the most personal and richest way possible. He tells me: “my child, I must be your supreme and last end, if you truly desire to be blessed” (54). Jesus is transforming my idea of what it means to love. I can feel my attitude changing. I want to love others in the way He loves me.
Permalink
Shaping my life
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9)
God, help me to grow more hungry for You everyday and let my life reflect that desire. Open my eyes to understand and internalize what you’ve done for me so that it is a revelation. Let my faith be genuine and not a banner that I fly for all to see. Let love be my test of faith. Let me not expect love from people, but love them as my savior has loved me.
Permalink
Ladies:
Be worth pursuing. And not in the selfish-I’m-all-that-princess way. Gents, get your act together and pursue.
And Joe, don’t give up on it.
Permalink
breaking the habit.
If you aren’t breaking the cycle of complacency you’re trapped in, you’re probably developing one. We are creatures of habits. Most of them are sinful and selfish. It is not our natural habit to be sold out for God. Habits only form when we pursue it until it becomes a habit.
God let it be You, and not me.
Permalink
I HAVE ARRIVED
I feel like a fish out of water. I’ve been in and out of this area so much…to actually live here feels so right and so wrong at the same time. This is what I’m looking forward to the most:
-being able to spend more time with everyone
-basketball
-ministry oppurtunities
-working with other pastors more closely
-working with other musicians more closely
-korean food
-spending less on gas
-finding a ….girl…..umm. sorry can’t finish that sentence.
-being available to everyone
-living with other pastors (holla at SAM CHOI)
-being more independent
-more responsibilities
-doing spontaneous crazy things with people
-reaching out
-finding the direction of my life
-seeing God’s Kingdom come
Permalink
the power of God at work.
I’m a big believer in the power of God. I’m also a big believer that the number one purpose of the church is to worship and give glory to God. Everything else is secondary. When you begin to remove yourself from church you begin to deny the presence of God in your life. You are saying, “God, I’m going to stop worshipping you for a while and that should just be ok”. I doubt the sky will start falling on your head, but you’ve turned church into your own personal self seeking emotional crutch that serves you whenever you feel like it. God will not honor those who don’t honor Him. We go to church not for ourselves, but to humbly come before our Lord with our worship. Then we talk and fellowship with others and great things happen, but lets not get it twisted.
It should then be our priority to bring others into the presence of God. That’s why we have service. That’s why we sing songs and listen to sermons. Thats why we have small groups and have personal relationships. While we maintain a committed attitude to love and serve others, we seek to introduce them to church so that they can meet God. That is where they either accept or reject His presence. The church also has to be ready for this. If the church doesn’t take this seriously, God’s presence won’t be there. God will speak through our excellence, and the churches will grow. God’s kingdom will expand. This is how we are to live out the gospel in our area.
Permalink
across the point of no return.
Well, I’m in Bergen now. Parents are supportive. Thats encouraging. The road is open before me. God, open my mind up so that I may dream and do big. Let anything I pursue be worthy of Your glory. Worthy of the gifts and talents you’ve given me.
Permalink
Destiny.
Its funny, in the past 3 years, the craziest God-encountering moments of my life have happened in the car. Which makes sense because I was probably leaving some ministry event and it was my time to reflect. Tues night, as I was driving home from KCCC I started getting rocked by the Holy Spirit…
I saw myself preaching to a Rutgers fellowship group, and it was just an explosion of all the things I’ve felt about ministry, life, and the world. I kept screaming (which isn’t my style) “do something!” DO SOMETHING!
Since I’ve graduated, I’ve kept a foot in the door because I believe that Rutgers is a special place. It’s the launching pad for the 2nd generation Korean church in NJ. All the youth groups and local churches are represented in each generation. . At the same time, Rutgers is an open door to the nations. Virtually every nation or culture is represented and in force.The potential is mind-boggling Yes, its a battleground, but once you graduate you never have the chance to interact and build relationships on this scale. And if you don’t actively reach out in college you won’t do so postgrad. Unless revival comes. Which changes everything.
I’ve been a youth pastor for 5 years now. I keep thinking about their futures. I haven’t really worked or interacted with young adults besides my friends. Everytime I do interact with the “adult” world, a part of me longs to be “normal” with a job and a casual lifestyle.
What is this cycle we’re living in? What does God want us to do with our lives? If we can see the stagnant culture that is being perpetuated, we’re called to be revolutionaries. Don’t just run away to your bubble. Stay involved, stay hungry, search out for where God is at work. Or better yet, because the presence of God is with YOU, bring Him wherever you go.
As for me, I’m ready to meet the demands of independent adulthood while wholeheartedly pursuing the kingdom of God.
Our time is short. Do something.
Permalink
a real entry tomorrow. I promise.
This is only to remind myself of what I’m supposed to do tomorrow. I’m so pooped out, but have so many things to say.
God is good. Even though I have no idea of what I’m doing.
