[New York]“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:”

Just like the light apparel caused by the sunny weather, the expressions and footsteps of New York citizens seem a lot lighter. The Bible Seminar began amidst a warm welcoming sunshine. From April 1st to 5th, it will be held at a Salvation Army Center in Manhattan, New York with Pastor Ock Soo Park and the Gracias Choir.

Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 1, “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. “

For the past month, we preached while having faith in this word and hoped to turn the citizens of Manhattan back to God. At first the short term missionaries were burdened to speak to foreigners because their English was not fluent. However, as the days went by they began to seek God within their hardships, and they saw that although American society seemed abundant outwardly, as they met people who were weak mentally they realized that these people truly needed the gospel.

The Bible Seminar started together with the Gracias Choir’s beautiful music. The Choir fully opened up the hearts of the new souls who arrived, through their beautiful tone and the orchestra’s strong melody. When they performed “Which was Son of”, a song they had prepared for a competition, every time a name inside the genealogy of Jesus echoed through the song, the audience were moved and the grace of God filled the theatre. Some audience members were so moved by the Gracias Choir’s music that they shed all remaining tears.

On the first day, Pastor Ock Soo Park began by preaching about “Elisha and the Widow’s Oil” in 2 Kings chapter 4. Pastor Ock Soo Park spoke about the spiritual life where I try and the spiritual life where I hand over to God. Spiritual life in which I try to forgive my sins, repent and do good deeds is very difficult, however if I hand all things over to God spiritual life becomes easy because there is no reason for me to try. The widow in 2 Kings chapter 4 met the limit of living by her efforts, and gained peace in her heart by turning her heart to God.

Numbers chapter 6 verse 24, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:”

God always wants to bestow us grace. Receiving something without any wages is grace, and so if we try to receive God’s blessing by our efforts instead of by grace, then we will only receive a curse. People meet their limits because they try to do it. If you just gratefully believe that God has prepared a way and accept it, from that point on the Lord begins to work inside of us.

After Pastor Ock Soo Park’s sermon ended, the effect did not wear off. Many souls, who had darkness in their hearts, began to have fellowship in order to find out how to get rid of this darkness. They had fellowship in order to have their questions answered one by one through the Bible, and their attitude of listening was so sincere.

The New York Winter which had been unusually long, nevertheless the start of the Bible Seminar brought forth the end of winter and spring arrived. In the hearts of many souls who came here, winter ended and spring arrived. Our hearts are overwhelmed with thankfulness and hope when we think about the heart of God which wants to bestow grace upon New York.