Rest in the Word

My Flavor of Salt, My Color of Light (Matthew 5:13-16)                    <My favorite flavor of ice cream>   Do you like ice cream? I was not a huge fan of ice cream, but since I moved to Houlton, I became a fan of Houlton Dairy ice cream which is called "the world's best ice cream". We are so proud that we have Lilley's family of Houlton Dairy Farm in our church.  What is your favorite flavor? There are lots of flavors of ice cream. Our family’s favorite flavor of ice cream is Victor’s homemade Banana nice cream. For making ice cream, there is the transformation from milk to cream, from cream to ice cream. We are transformed from milk to the world’s best ice cream when we decide to follow Jesus as his disciples. We can be called “Jesus’ ice cream” We have all different flavors. We have the same gospel, but we can share it with all different our stories. Imagine if we have no flavor of ice cream in the world, ...

( Isaiah 11:1-9) No peace in the world   Do you have peace? Recently I have been thinking of peace often. The definition of peace is a stress-free state of security and calmness that comes when there is no fighting or war, everything coexisting in perfect harmony and freedom . When I am in the middle of a conflict between two different sides, it is hard to have peace, perfect harmony, and freedom, especially when I am in the middle of arguing and fighting with my children. Our world is filled with genuine pain and trouble. We lost perfect harmony when sin came to the world in the garden of Eden. In 2003, journalist Chris Hedges set out to determine whether there have been any sustained periods of peace on the human record. Defining war as any "active conflict that has claimed more than 1,000 lives," he reviewed 3,400 years of history and discovered just 268 war-free years. In other words, approximately 92 percent of recorded history is marked by active conflict. How a...

                                                           ( Isaiah 9:6-7, Revelation 21:1-6) The First Advent and The Second Advent    Advent's meaning is "coming" or "arrival" This is a season of anticipation. It is a penitential period since an early church. We will celebrate this Advent with Jesus' identity from Isaiah 9:6-7 for 4 weeks; 1. Mighty God, 2. Prince of Peace, 3. Light of the World, 4. Immanuel.              There are two Advents from the beginning to the end. The First Advent is the period from the beginning to Jesus' first coming. The Second Advent is the period from Jesus' first coming to Jesus' second coming.                 The baby would be born and called a Wonderful Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peac...

The Best Photographer  (Isaiah 55: 6-9, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) A picture of the feast in the wilderness  I love taking pictures. Everyone who has known me can assume what I’m going to do when we have some events. Taking a picture to me means praising God to celebrate what He has done, writing a history of our lives, honoring others, and giving a present to others. Recently while I was reading psalm 78, I found the picture I wanted to take. It is a picture of a feast in the wilderness. Some people who were against God said, “ Can God spread a table in the wilderness?” (Psalm 78:19) Do you think we can have a feast in the wilderness? Do you think we can celebrate Thanksgiving while we are grieving our beloved one, while we are in the midst of turmoil, and while we are so busy with many things which make us dry like in the wilderness? Israelites had a feast in the wilderness with manna and quail from heaven. Even they had an air conditioner from a pillar of a cloud, and a heat ...

                                                                                                                                   Tony Cenicola/The New York Times              “Living Wine” (John 2: 1-12)                    -Miracle Maker-   Living water, living bread, and living wine Who is Jesus? We have listened to “He is our living water (John 4), and living bread” (John 6) in the last two weeks. Today, I would like to talk about living wine (John 2). Jesus spent a week at a wedding ceremony among the precious 3 years of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus’ mother is there. Sh...