[Korea] 2017 Bible Seminar with Pastor Ock Soo Park Discussing the Future with World Christian Leade

It was the second day of the Grand Bible Seminar in Seoul. Pastor Ock Soo Park continued to preach about eternal forgiveness of sin through 2 Kings 4. The wife of the son of the prophet became so blessed after listening to the words of Elisha and throwing her own thoughts away and in the same way if we throw away the thought that we are sinners, Pastor said that our vessels will also be filled with the oil of Jesus Christ.

There was a very special event on this day. The Christian Leaders Forum (hereafter, CLF) was finally held in Korea after its being in Hong Kong and New York. The 31st of October was coincidentally the 500-year anniversary since the Religious Reformation of Martin Luther. Therefore, it was a very special setting in which the Christian Leaders could gather together, and discuss true spiritual life, regardless of denomination. 96 Christian Leaders from around the world and 11 VIPs came together to discuss the question, ‘How should we lead with the Bible.’

Pastor Young Kook Park began the event by giving his congratulatory message.

Afterwards, 5 representative Ministers from the groups of Christian leaders came forward to give their presentations. They gave presentations on the God who is leading us, and about the direction in which Christianity should be heading. At the end they were all nodding their heads at the notion spoken by Pastor Ock Soo Park that, ‘All the people in the world must receive the forgiveness of sin regardless of denomination.’

“There are a lot of people who do not know how to live spiritual life. However, as I listen to how Pastor Ock Soo Park treats others people and how he witnesses to them, I can realise, ‘This is how to live spiritual life.’ Through the CLF today, I want to learn through Pastor Park how to live spiritual life” – Orissa, India, Pastor Glad

“It is truly amazing to see the CLF growing. I feel that the word that was preached today was something that was truly needed today. If you see the state of affairs around the world, it is becoming more chaotic and climate change is becoming more severe I think that the world is flowing towards the way that Christianity said it would. We are gathered together to research and discuss a solution to this problem but we find that the only solution is through Jesus Christ.” – Governor of the Methodist Church in Fiji, Professor Tevita Nawandra Vaivanua

In the evening, the third session for the sermon began. 5700 people filled the SK Olympic Handball Arena. Some people did not have space so they had to sit on the stairs between the seats to listen to the word. On this day, the congratulatory message was delivered by Pastor Joseph Serewada of the Victory Christian Centre in Uganda.

“In any given generation God sought for one person, the person who could listen to the voice of God in that generation. In this generation, God has chosen Pastor Ock Soo Park to preach the truth that salvation and forgiveness of sin can only come about through the grace of God. Although Pastor Ock Soo Park is not in the young generation, he is still delivering this heart to the young people.  The heart of Pastor towards these young people is so passionate. Taking care of the youth is the same as taking care of the future. I was so thankful to have been able to meet Pastor Ock Soo Park in Uganda and I am also thankful that I can participate in the work of God. I hope to change the youth of Uganda like the youth of Korea with Pastor Ock Soo Park.”

Before the sermon, Gracias Choir once again delivered some beautiful music. The beautiful harmony of the choir portrayed the message of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who has taken away our sins on the cross. Through songs such as ‘Remember Me’, ‘On a Hill Far Away’ and ‘Because He lives’, the love and thankfulness flowed into the hearts of the listeners.

Just as he did in the morning, Pastor Ock Soo Park began by speaking about the widow of Zarephath, and how God had worked in his life in a way that was different to his own thoughts. He gave a variety of examples such as when he went preach the gospel in the leper colony, also mention the story of the wedding feast when water was served because of the lack of wine. When we see these situations with our thoughts it doesn’t seem good and miserable, but when we lay down our own thoughts and accept God, he spoke about how God fills our lives with blessing.

“With my own heart, God cannot work. God must enter my heart in order to work. I can never serve Jesus Christ with my knowledge and experience, so forsaking my own thoughts is true repentance. No matter what your thoughts may be, if you throw that all away and give yourself to God, God will lead your lives to blessings.”

Even after the Sermon, people did not return home immediately but had individual fellowship.

“Recently, I have heard about Pastor Ock Soo Park and I wanted to have the opportunity to meet him, and it was by coincidence that I was invited to this event through a friend of mine. I had the heart that rather than being stubborn with my own thoughts, because I could be wrong, it would be better to believe in the word.  I heard the music of the Gracias Choir and I originally thought that they would be at the level of an ordinary choir but I was completely wrong. They were such high quality. There used to be a saying that ‘if the father tells you to drag the salt island across the river, the good son is one who does so.’ I accepted that if God’s thoughts are different to my own thoughts then it would be wrong of me to continue to be stubborn with my own thoughts. I have the hart that if the Word tells me that I am justified, then I am justified.”- Choon Soo Kim, 82, Dobongu

“As I was participating in this Bible Seminar, I was able to learn the heart of God and how to accept that heart of God. Although, within our own limits, we try to live our spiritual life but because we are structured to commit sin and I learnt that we were living a very vague spiritual life that has no connection to God whatsoever. In God, there are all things, including happiness, hope, and peace and no matter how miserable or how sad we may be, when our hearts are connected to God much more definitely, the heart of God will flow into our hearts and work. When we realise our evil, forsake our thoughts and accept the word of Jesus Christ, then I believe that there will be amazing work of God.” – Gun Soo Ha, Dongdaemungu.

At this point, half of the Grand Bible Seminar had passed and there were works of the gospel happening all over. The word of God has touched not only the people of Seoul but the Christian Leaders of the world. We believe that the hearts of the people were filled with the gospel until the very last day.